Article: What it means to be a “model minority”: Voices of ethnic Koreans in Northeast China

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TitleWhat it means to be a “model minority”: Voices of ethnic Koreans in Northeast China
AuthorsGao, F1
KeywordsCultural superiority
Dual economic marginalization
Educational aspirations
Model minority
Social hierarchy
Issue Date2008
PublisherRoutledge. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14631369.asp
CitationAsian Ethnicity, 2008, v. 9 n. 1, p. 55-67 [How to Cite?]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631360701803252
AbstractEthnic Koreans in China have been widely recognized as a 'model minority' primarily for academic success. Using the data collected as part of a larger ethnographic research on Korean elementary school students, this paper examines how 27 Korean families construct meaning out of the model minority stereotype in the context of their lived experience in Northeast China. Research results indicate that Koreans constructed the multi-faceted nature of 'model minority' as a matter of cultural superiority and dual economic marginalization in the Chinese and South Korean mainstream societies, and valued education as a practical means to achieve economic upward mobility into the Chinese mainstream. This paper argues that the model minority stereotype with the cultural explanations for Korean success may reinforce the cultural deficiency argument about the academic failure of 'backward' minorities, silence the disadvantages suffered by Koreans in China's reform period and lead to no active intervention to remedy them.
ISSN1463-1369
2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.026
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631360701803252
DC Field
Value
dc.contributor.authorGao, F
dc.date.accessioned2010-12-23T08:56:28Z
dc.date.available2010-12-23T08:56:28Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractEthnic Koreans in China have been widely recognized as a 'model minority' primarily for academic success. Using the data collected as part of a larger ethnographic research on Korean elementary school students, this paper examines how 27 Korean families construct meaning out of the model minority stereotype in the context of their lived experience in Northeast China. Research results indicate that Koreans constructed the multi-faceted nature of 'model minority' as a matter of cultural superiority and dual economic marginalization in the Chinese and South Korean mainstream societies, and valued education as a practical means to achieve economic upward mobility into the Chinese mainstream. This paper argues that the model minority stereotype with the cultural explanations for Korean success may reinforce the cultural deficiency argument about the academic failure of 'backward' minorities, silence the disadvantages suffered by Koreans in China's reform period and lead to no active intervention to remedy them.
dc.description.natureLink_to_subscribed_fulltext
dc.identifier.citationAsian Ethnicity, 2008, v. 9 n. 1, p. 55-67 [How to Cite?]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631360701803252
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631360701803252
dc.identifier.epage67
dc.identifier.hkuros178358
dc.identifier.issn1463-1369
2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.026
dc.identifier.issue1
dc.identifier.openurl
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-57749122878
dc.identifier.spage55
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/130555
dc.identifier.volume9
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherRoutledge. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14631369.asp
dc.relation.ispartofAsian Ethnicity
dc.rightsThis is an electronic version of an article published in [include the complete citation information for the final version of the article as published in the print edition of the journal]. [JOURNAL TITLE] is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ with the open URL of your article
dc.subjectCultural superiority
dc.subjectDual economic marginalization
dc.subjectEducational aspirations
dc.subjectModel minority
dc.subjectSocial hierarchy
dc.titleWhat it means to be a “model minority”: Voices of ethnic Koreans in Northeast China
dc.typeArticle
Author Affiliations
  1. The University of Hong Kong