‘Everything is a Spectrum’: Korean Migrant Youth Identity Work in the Transnational Borderland

Multicultural digital media practices of 1.5-generation Korean immigrants in Canada

“…The third stream of studies, which can be called the “transformation approach,” suggests that digital media plays a facilitating role in the formation of new cultural identities among young people from ethnic minorities and the children of immigrants (Green and Kabir, 2012; Kim and Dorner, 2014; Parker and Song, 2009). According to these studies, the marginalization of the children of immigrants can be reduced or redirected, as young people are able to exercise different individual identities of their own choice and engage in the digital media space (Kim and Dorner, 2014: 290).…”

“…The third stream of studies, which can be called the “transformation approach,” suggests that digital media plays a facilitating role in the formation of new cultural identities among young people from ethnic minorities and the children of immigrants (Green and Kabir, 2012; Kim and Dorner, 2014; Parker and Song, 2009). According to these studies, the marginalization of the children of immigrants can be reduced or redirected, as young people are able to exercise different individual identities of their own choice and engage in the digital media space (Kim and Dorner, 2014: 290). For the previously isolated young people from immigrant families, the Internet is a platform through which they can be empowered (Parker and Song, 2009), become “global citizens with opinions on political activity at home and abroad” (Green and Kabir, 2012) and explore new ways of being that move beyond the limitations of racialized offline worlds (Kim and Dorner, 2014).…”

“…According to these studies, the marginalization of the children of immigrants can be reduced or redirected, as young people are able to exercise different individual identities of their own choice and engage in the digital media space (Kim and Dorner, 2014: 290). For the previously isolated young people from immigrant families, the Internet is a platform through which they can be empowered (Parker and Song, 2009), become “global citizens with opinions on political activity at home and abroad” (Green and Kabir, 2012) and explore new ways of being that move beyond the limitations of racialized offline worlds (Kim and Dorner, 2014). Thus, digital space is considered a potential public sphere in which ongoing offline racialization and discrimination can be challenged or reflected on (Parker and Song, 2009).…”

Children, Young People and Borders: A Multidisciplinary Outlook

“…Studies in the first group have examined the cross-border practices, perceptions, and identities of children and young people in borderlands (Jukarainen 2001;Bejarano 2010;Mendoza Inzunza and Fernandez Huerta 2010;Ongay 2010;da Silva 2014;Christou and Spyrou 2014;Sandberg 2016;Venken 2017;Kaisto and Brednikova 2019;Brambilla 2021) and at contested borders and urban spaces (Akesson 2014;Grinberg 2014;McKnight and Leonard 2014;Christou and Spyrou 2017;Lundgren 2018); the activism and political work of borderland children and young people (Bosco 2010;Burrigde 2010;Fickers 2017); and ethnic minority youth's experiences and perceptions of the state and the nation in borderlands (TrầnThị and Huijsmans 2014;Wung-Sung 2017). Studies in the second group have explored how unaccompanied minors experience border crossings (Aitken, Swanson, and Kennedy 2014;Buil and Siegel 2014;Clacherty 2019); how migrant children and youth negotiate practicalities, identities and belonging in new societies (Aitken 2010;Kim and Dorner 2014;Halicka 2017;Assmuth and Siim 2018;Hakkarainen 2018); and how they and their families experience transnational life (Pratt 2010;Kutsar, Darmody, and Lahesoo 2014;Ruiz Marrujo 2014). In addition to this research, scholars have been interested in how young people understand borders conceptually and how their border-crossing experiences influence their perceptions of borders and other nations (Ahponen 2011;Nielsen 2019;…”