Korean and Korean American Life Writing in Hawai'i

Korean and Korean American Life Writing in Hawai'i PDF Author: Heui-Yung Park
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498507689
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Korean and Korean American Life Writing in Hawai'i examines such self-representing genres as lyric poems, oral history, autobiography, and memoirs written by Korean and Korean Americans from the early twentieth century to the present, in order to explore how these people have shaped their individual or collective identities. Their representations, produced in different periods by successive generations, reveal how Koreans in their diaspora to Hawai‘i came to terms with their ethnic and local selves, and also how the sense of who and what they are changed over the years, both within and beyond the initial generation. Looking into their individual and collective identities in lyric poems, oral history, autobiography, and memoirs reveals how the earliest arrivals, their children, and their grandchildren have come to terms with their national, ethnic, and local selves, and how their sense of identity changes over the course of time, both within and beyond the initial generation. In the lyric poems found in Korean-language periodicals of the native-born generation, we can trace the significance of the motherland and Hawai‘i for these writers’ sense of identity. The oral histories of first-generation women, most of whom arrived as picture brides, also represent another “us”: often vulnerable Koreans who define themselves in relation to both the present culture and to Korean men. The self developed by the second-, third-, and in-between-generation Koreans diversifies because their identity is not defined exclusively by their ancestral land, extending to Hawai‘i and to America. This study focuses on three main areas of emphasis: Hawai‘i; Korean language and culture; and life writing. By tracing how identity changes with each generation, this study reveals how identity formation for Hawai‘i diasporic Koreans has evolved.

Korean and Korean American Life Writing in Hawai'i

Korean and Korean American Life Writing in Hawai'i PDF Author: Heui-Yung Park
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498507689
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 197

Get Book

Book Description
Korean and Korean American Life Writing in Hawai'i examines such self-representing genres as lyric poems, oral history, autobiography, and memoirs written by Korean and Korean Americans from the early twentieth century to the present, in order to explore how these people have shaped their individual or collective identities. Their representations, produced in different periods by successive generations, reveal how Koreans in their diaspora to Hawai‘i came to terms with their ethnic and local selves, and also how the sense of who and what they are changed over the years, both within and beyond the initial generation. Looking into their individual and collective identities in lyric poems, oral history, autobiography, and memoirs reveals how the earliest arrivals, their children, and their grandchildren have come to terms with their national, ethnic, and local selves, and how their sense of identity changes over the course of time, both within and beyond the initial generation. In the lyric poems found in Korean-language periodicals of the native-born generation, we can trace the significance of the motherland and Hawai‘i for these writers’ sense of identity. The oral histories of first-generation women, most of whom arrived as picture brides, also represent another “us”: often vulnerable Koreans who define themselves in relation to both the present culture and to Korean men. The self developed by the second-, third-, and in-between-generation Koreans diversifies because their identity is not defined exclusively by their ancestral land, extending to Hawai‘i and to America. This study focuses on three main areas of emphasis: Hawai‘i; Korean language and culture; and life writing. By tracing how identity changes with each generation, this study reveals how identity formation for Hawai‘i diasporic Koreans has evolved.

Yobo

Yobo PDF Author: Nora Okja Keller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Cultural Writing. Poetry. Fiction. Asian American Studies. This special issue of Bamboo Ridge (No. 82) is guest edited by Nora Okja Keller (Comfort Woman, Fox Girl), Brenda Kwon, Sun Namkung, Gary Pak (The Watcher of Waipuna, The Ricepaper Airplane), and Cathy Song (Picture Bride, The Land of Bliss). Contributors include HONOLULU Magazine editor-at-large David K. Choo, Ploughshares editor Don Lee (Yellow), Chris McKinney (The Tattoo, The Queen of Tears), and former Hawai'i State Representative Jackie Young. From the earliest plantation experiences to modern life and culture in the 50th state, topics explored by the writers chronicle the Korean-American experience through evocative essays, poetry, and prose.

Beyond Ke'eaumoku

Beyond Ke'eaumoku PDF Author: Brenda L. Kwon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135685371
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This book reclaims Korean history in Hawaii through the examination of works by three local writers of Korean descent: Margaret Pai, Ty Pak, and Gary Pak.

In the New World

In the New World PDF Author: Peter Hyun
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824816483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In 1924 seventeen-year-old Peter Hyun arrived in Hawaii with three younger siblings, leaving behind family and friends in Japanese-occupied Seoul and the Korean community of exiles in Shanghai. The early chapters of this spirited autobiographical account, the sequel to Man Sei!, recount Hyun's life as a young Korean coming of age in Hawaii and as a college student studying philosophy and theatre arts in Indiana. After college, Hyun moved to New York and in 1930 began working as an assistant stage manager with Eva LeGallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre. He later went on to direct theatre companies in New York, Massachusetts, California, and Montreal. As Hyun was one of only a handful of minorities working in the avant garde theatre in the 1930s and 1940s, his account contributes to our understanding of the place of Asians in art outside the mainstream. He also provides a personal perspective on key periods in American race relations, particularly during World War II and the Korean War. In the New World celebrates a rich life full of diversity. Throughout his life, Hyun believed that the making of a Korean American was essentially a cultural marriage - a marriage often requiring a lengthy and difficult engagement to succeed. In the New World is the story of Hyun's engagement, with all its triumphs and misfortunes, told with candor and wit. Peter Hyun died in 1993 at the age of eighty-seven.

The Koreans in Hawaii

The Koreans in Hawaii PDF Author: Roberta Chang
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824826857
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
The Koreans in Hawaii: A Pictorial History, 1903-2003, brings together hundreds of photographs to tell the powerful story of the people who have shaped the Korean immigrant experience in America over the past one hundred years. Although Koreans faced the same hardships and barriers as other East Asian immigrants in the New World, the story of their migration, settlement, and assimilation into American society has received relatively little attention. This volume not only commemorates the centennial of Koreans in Hawaii, but also offers readers an unprecedented look at the rich history of a community that continues to develop and change to this day. The photographs, which illuminate and complement writings and oral histories found elsewhere, provide insight into Hawaii's Korean immigrant community, politics, and everyday life. They reveal the struggles and successes of the first and subsequent generations, allowing viewers to connect with the past. Together with chapter introductions, the wide range of photographs (many only recently discovered in archives and family albums) represents an engaging record that uncovers the deep roots of Korean Americans in Hawaii.

The 1.5 Generation

The 1.5 Generation PDF Author: Mary Yu Danico
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824843797
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The "1.5 generation" (Ilchom ose) refers to Koreans who immigrated to the United States as children. Unlike their first-generation parents and second-generation children born in the United States, 1.5ers have been socialized in both Korean and American cultures and express the cultural values and beliefs of each. In this first extended look at the 1.5 generation in Hawaii, Mary Yu Danico attempts to fill a void in the research by addressing the social process through which Korean children are transformed from immigrants into 1.5ers. Dozens of informal, in-depth interviews and case studies provide rich data on how family, community, and economic and political factors influence and shape Korean and Korean American identity in Hawaii. Danico examines the history of Koreans in Hawaii, their social characteristics, and current demographics. Her close consideration of socio-cultural influences firmly establishes the 1.5 generation in the mainstream discussion of identity formation and race relations.

Asian American Fiction, History and Life Writing

Asian American Fiction, History and Life Writing PDF Author: Helena Grice
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136604855
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
The last ten years have witnessed an enormous growth in American interest in Asia and Asian/American history. In particular, a set of key Asian historical moments have recently become the subject of intense American cultural scrutiny, namely China’s Cultural Revolution and its aftermath; the Korean American war and its legacy; the era of Japanese geisha culture and its subsequent decline; and China’s one-child policy and the rise of transracial, international adoption in its wake. Grice examines and accounts for this cultural and literary preoccupation, exploring the corresponding historical-political situations that have both circumscribed and enabled greater cultural and political contact between Asia and America.

Swimming in Hong Kong

Swimming in Hong Kong PDF Author: Stephanie Han
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780983231769
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Stephanie Han's award-winning stories cross the borders and boundaries of Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States. This is an intimate look at those who dare to explore the geography of hope and love, struggle with dreams of longing and home, and wander in the myths of memory and desire. Book jacket.

The Ilse

The Ilse PDF Author: Wayne Patterson
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824851145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
On January 13, 1903, the first Korean immigrants arrived in Hawai'i. Numbering a little more than a hundred individuals, this group represented the initial wave of organized Korean immigration to Hawai'i. Over the next two and a half years, nearly 7,500 Koreans would make the long journey eastward across the Pacific. Most were single men contracted to augment (and, in many cases, to offset) the large numbers of existing Chinese and Japanese plantation workers. Although much has been written about early Chinese and Japanese laborers in Hawai'i, until now no comprehensive work had been published on first-generation Korean immigrants, the ilse. Making extensive use of primary source material from Korea, Japan, the continental U.S., and Hawai'i, Wayne Patterson weaves a compelling social history of the Korean experience in Hawai'i from 1903 to 1973 as seen primarily through the eyes of the ilse. Japanese surveillance records, student journals, and U.S. intelligence reports--many of which were uncovered by the author--provide an "inner history" of the Korean community. Chapter topics include plantation labor, Christian mission work, the move from the plantation to the city, picture prides, relations with the Japanese government, interaction with other ethnic groups, intergenerational conflict, the World War II experience, and the postwar years. The Ilse is an impressive and much-needed contribution to Korean American and Hawai'i history and significantly advances our knowledge of the East Asian immigrant experience in the United States.

Begin Here

Begin Here PDF Author: Rocio G. Davis
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 082483092X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
An analytically innovative work, Begin Here widens the current critical focus of Asian North American literary studies by proposing an integrated thematic and narratological approach to the practice of autobiography. It demonstrates how Asian North American memoirs of childhood challenge the construction and performative potential of national experiences. This understanding influences theoretical approaches to ethnic life writing, expanding the boundaries of traditional autobiography by negotiating narrative techniques and genre and raising complex questions about self-representation and the construction of cultural memory. By examining the artistic project of some fifty Asian North American writers who deploy their childhood narratives in the representation of the individual processes of self-identification and negotiation of cultural and national affiliation, this work provides a comprehensive overview of Asian North American autobiographies of childhood published over the last century. Importantly, it also attends to new ways of writing autobiographies, employing comics, blending verse, prose, diaries, and life writing for children, and using relational approaches to self-identification, among others.