• American Studies
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.99-132
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• 2019

Like many other Asian American writers, Jhumpa Lahiri writes stories that capture the experiences of immigrant families in America. What sets The Namesake apart is that Lahiri cleverly uses the names of her characters to shape their individual lives and futures not just as a first or second generation immigrant, but as people who are more than what that labelling connotes. Although the struggle faced by Ashoke and Ashima to hold on and adapt as first generation immigrants is contrasted with the search for identity among second generation immigrants seen primarily through the experiences of their children Gogol and Sonia, Lahiri uses their struggles as an immigrant family to serve as a starting point for each member of the Ganguli family to find their own identities and understandings of who they are as individuals apart from their race, history or cultural heritage so that they may truly be "without borders."

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.183-195
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to describe the health care status of Korean Immigrants in New Zealand. The sample consisted of 155 Koreans who were randomly selected from the Korean Immigrants telephone book in Auckland, N.Z. They had health problems that required health management both physically (50.3%) and psychologically(70.3%). During the previous year, the average rate of medical contact with a general practitioner was 1$\pm$1.29 times. Korean immigrants who had health problems first attempted to resolve the problem through self medication rather than utilize health care services. They would only visit a general practitioner if they had severe subjective symptoms or no relief from self medication. Even if they think they need to visit the health care service, 41.9% of the subjects did not go back for follow-up care. Generally, the person who demonstrated positive health care behaviors was male, a college level graduate or higher, lived in N.Z. longer than 2 years, had a high score on health status by self assessment, and he placed few demands on health care services. Barriers to a healthy lifestyle are communication difficulties in expressing subjective symptoms, understanding the physician's treatment and medication plans, difficulty in accessing the appointment system and the high cost of service.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.603-616
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the subjective opinions of first-generation Korean-Americans about survival. Methods: The Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. The 34 selected Q-statements from each of 38 subjects were classified into a shape of normal distribution using a 9 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using a QUANL/WIN program. Results: Four types of survival attitudes from 38 first-generation Korean-Americans were identified. Type I was a satisfaction type based on belief, Type II was an effort type based on purpose, Type III was an isolation type based on ethnicity, and Type IV was a compromise type based on adaptation. Results of this study indicate that approaches to a minority's survival strategies need to be differentiated taking this typology and various subject characteristics into account. Conclusion: This information may provide a basic understanding for healthcare providers who work with first-generation Korean-Americans.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.188-195
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• 2022

Purpose: With the first generation of marriage-based immigrant women in East Asia now reaching their middle or old age, the need to focus investigations on their health-related quality of life has arisen. This study aimed to examine the extent to which physical and mental health, and psychosocial variables can predict health-related quality of life among Japanese middle-aged immigrant women. Methods: This study has a descriptive cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of 197 Japanese middle-aged marriage-based immigrant women from two regions of South Korea were recruited between December 2017 and March 2018. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires on health-related quality of life, menopausal symptoms, depression, perceived health status, disease morbidity, social support, and acculturation. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Results: Depression was the strongest predictor of health-related quality of life, followed by perceived health status, social support, and household income. Menopausal symptoms, presence of disease, and acculturation appeared to have no additional impact on participant's health-related quality of life. Conclusion: In times of rapid growth of global migration and the aging of immigrants in new destination countries, nursing interventions and public health policies for aging marriage-based immigrant women should be prioritized to improve their mental health by facilitating social support and disease management. In addition, social and employment policies that can help immigrant women transition to a healthy midlife are needed.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.175-185
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• 2012

Purpose: This micro-ethnographic study aimed to understand coping experiences of Korean-American (K-A) women after diagnosis with breast cancer due to a hereditary gene mutation. Methods: Participatory observation and in-depth interviews were performed at one breast cancer screening center in Southern California, in 2005 with eleven first generation K-A immigrant women. All transcribed interviews and field notes were analyzed using ethnographic methodology. Results: K-A women's experience varied based on acculturation risk factors including: limited English speaking ability; disrupted family relationships, individualistic family values, or intergenerational communication barriers; lack of Korean speaking nurses; and Korean physicians' who lacked knowledge about hereditary breast cancer risk. These risk factors led to isolation, loneliness, lack of emotional and social support. In comparison to Korean homeland women in a similar medical situation, these K-A immigrants felt disconnected from the healthcare system, family support and social resources which increased their struggling and impeded coping during their survivorship journey. These women were not able to access self-support groups, nor the valuable resources of nurse navigator programs. Conclusion: Professional oncology associations for nurses and physicians have a moral obligation to support and promote knowledge of hereditary cancer risk and self-help groups for non-native speaking immigrants.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.91-107
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• 2012

This study aimed to understand communicative and socialization practices of immigrant bilingual families in everyday learning situations by examining interactions between parents and children in the United States. Drawn on language socialization theory and socio-cultural factors influencing immigrants, this study explored how three Korean American mothers struggled as they helped their children with homework by interviewing the mothers and observing mother-child interaction during homework time. The study paid attention to the emotional values of immigrant parents that they tried to teach their children who are members in two distinctive communities, such as Korean American and mainstream American. The findings showed that parental socialization practices had effects on children's emotional and social competence and at the same time the socialization process was bidirectional. Mothers started with Korean values, but they faced challenges with the English language, different demands for American homework, and children's rejection of their attempts. Mothers needed to change their strategy and borrow American ways of keeping emotional distance from their children by acknowledging their independence. Their struggles are discussed with attention to their language choice and culture.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.329-337
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• 2007

Purpose: Increasing numbers of Koreans have immigrated to the United States since the late 1960s. The first generation of Korean immigrants or their parents become old and institutionalized in American nursing home setting. Although the Korean elders would experience many cultural differences in the nursing home, no study to date has investigated their everyday lives on how they live through their later lives within a different cultural environment from their own. Methods: Using ethnographic methodology, the purpose of this paper was to illustrate Korean residents' experiences and daily lives in a nursing home located in an east coastal city in the U.S. Participant observation, filed notes, semi-structured interviews were utilized by means of data collection. Eighteen Korean residents were observed, and five of them and two nurses participated in informal qualitative interviews. Results: The overriding theme from the findings is "thrown in a different world." Three sub-themes include "constant struggles in making themselves understood", "dealing with culturally inappropriate nursing care," and "maintaining their own ways of life". Conclusions: The discovered themes reflect culturally isolated lives of the participants and open a venue for designing a culturally congruent nursing care for Korean elders living in the U.S. nursing homes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.140-150
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to develop an efficient method for Korean food to make inroads into Paraguay. In-depth interviews with 15 Korean restaurant owners in Asuncion, Paraguay and foodies (food experts) who had experiences with Korean food were conducted. The results are as follows: Paraguay wants to establish economic ties with Korea currently, and economic development is ongoing in Paraguay. The food service industry for the middle class in Paraguay is now in the development stage. There are not many Korean restaurants (currently 15) in Asuncion. First and second generation Korean immigrants are operating these restaurants. It is necessary to provide support for a comprehensive food culture system by developing a menu composition system to meet local tastes, a strategy for improving distribution of Korean food materials, and a plan for sanitary management and operations.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.263-279
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• 2008

Arif Dirlik in Postmodernity's Histories sees the issue of re-ethnicization in the case of John Huang, China's alleged attempt at lobbying the Clinton administration. In this view, Americans with Chinese surnames were suspected by the US Justice Department to be possible spies working for Beijing. Reethnicization here seems to serve the mainstream society in reducing an ethnic minority to a group of aliens operating for their countries of origin. However, re-ethnicization is not necessarily a one-way oppressive operation; it is often made use of by the ethnic minorities in their efforts to adapt to their country of arrival. Haroon and Karim, the protagonists of Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia, are cases in point. They are portrayed as winning social recognition and securing a place of their own within the hostile host society through a strategic use of re-ethnicization, that is, masquerading as 'genuine Orientals.' This study brings to light possible fallacies or misguided expectations concerning the political position of first- and second-generation immigrants. One of the fallacies is found in the racist metropolis, which regards the ethnic minorities as a sort of resident aliens, no matter what immigrant generation the latter belongs to. Another fallacy is found in the kind of postcolonial criticism that automatically regards an anti-racist critique advanced by people like Kureishi as something motivated by a confrontational tactic, that is, an attempt at subverting the colonial power relations. The conclusion of this study is that Kureishi's agenda, as presented in The Buddha of Suburbia, is neither the preservation of an ethnic identity nor the subversion of colonial power relations but survival in the metropolis. On this account Kureish's agenda can be called a micro-politics.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.5-40
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• 2001

We have approached this study on the basis of population and family changes. We have selected two suburban and two general rural areas for this research. The suburban rural areas are located next to Chungju City, which is the biggest city in Chungbuk Province, and the residents are able to commute to Chungju. The general rural areas are located in Boeun Gun, which is a typical agricultural county in Chungbuk Province. We have conducted two round surveys at the research areas: 1995-1996 for the first round and 1999-2000 for the second round surveys. Since the surveys were completed ones interviewed by enumerators, we have used the survey data directly for the analysis by year and region. The population structure by age and sex in general rural areas is shaped as a reverse triangle, which is becoming more serious because of the continuing emigration of young generation. Most of the young generation moves to the urban areas and their old parents only are left in their hometown, rural areas. When the parents become old and die, the number of households in the areas decreases rapidly. If there are no more new family formations, therefore, the rural society itself would cease to exist in near future. However, the situation of suburban rural areas was a different case. Although the rural young generation has moved to urban areas, other young age groups have moved into the areas with their small enterprises and for the low living costs. The original residents become older and the young age groups are replaced with the new immigrants continuously. Therefore, the traditional agricultural society will be replaced with a non-agricultural society, which will have more characteristics of urban areas.