Moving to the West: Media, Cultural Transnationalism and Identity. Cultural Dynamics of Korean Women in Diaspora

This research project explores the experiences of young Korean women relocating to London, employing an ethnographically informed approach to delve into media, diasporic identity, and cultural transnationalism. The analysis draws from six month of intensive fieldwork, including “following” in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital ethnography. The study aims to investigate the interplay between media, social values, interactions, and the performance of identities within the Korean female diasporic community in the context of circulation and transnational migration.

The primary objective is to discern how social values and interactions, whether mediated or direct, contribute to the cultural transmission within Korean female diasporic groups and shape specific meanings associated with transnational identities. Within this framework, meta-themes such as transnational imagination, Western centrism, alternative multicultural interpretations, and performativity emerged, guiding further data analysis.

The research findings underscore the pivotal role of media in shaping the imagination that prompts young Korean women’s transnational mobility. Additionally, it reveals the complex contradictions within their transnational social spheres, fostering a unique symbolic transnational space where identity politics continuously evolve through negotiation and struggle.

This study offers a comprehensive examination of cultural transnationalism, spotlighting a contemporary migration pattern. It showcases the correlation between media, non-Western contexts, Western centrism, identity, and everyday transnational experiences. At a micro level, this analysis fills significant research gaps regarding the intersectionality of transnationalism, media, and migration studies within the narrative of young Korean women’s transnational experiences.