기러기엄마로 살기': 일상생활의 구성 그리고 관계 맺기

A Qualitative Study on the Wild Goose Mother's Everyday Life, Family Relationship and Social Networking

The purpose of this ethnography is to describe and analyze the wild-goose mother's everyday life, her family relationships, and her social networking. Thirteen mothers from New York, California, and Texas, U.S.A., were interviewed with an unstructured questionnaire. Their residency and everyday schedules are arranged around the children's educational conditions. They have experienced difficult relationships with Korean American immigrants, Korean students, other wild-goose mothers, and Americans. They have failed to develop their social capital effectively due to the language barrier and a cultural capital deficiency. As a kind of family strategy, this separation sometimes strengthens the spousal relationship, preventing divorce, but usually weakens the emotional ties and quality of communication between husband and wife. The acculturation gap between the mother and her children may cause the mother to become alienated and exacerbate the generational conflict.