Asian and Asian American Transnational Migration

New migration flows from Asia to the U.S. include not only immigrants and permanent settlers but also de facto and de jure temporary migrants that exert significant influence on the experiences of Asian-origin immigrants and their children in the host society. My dissertation, Transnational Making and Remaking of Education: Private Supplementary Education in Korea and Korean America, is a qualitative study of the transnational transmission and transformation of educational norms, practices, and institutions between immigrants, temporary migrants, and non-migrants of the same ethnic origin, examining how coethnic migrants and non-migrants hold different values and norms, develop different strategies in navigating the same educational institutions, and shape one another’s experiences across sending and receiving countries. To understand the transnational transmission and transformation of norms and practices surrounding education, I conducted 115 in-depth interviews with non-migrant Korean, Korean American, and temporary Korean and Korean American migrant students, parents, and teachers in Korea and the U.S. on their perception and implementation of private supplementary education, for-profit, private education that takes place outside of school.

Transnational Mobility

I research the experiences of temporary migrants in transnational social spaces and their relationships with non-migrant and immigrant counterparts. I am particularly interested in a group of temporary migrants that I categorize as “transnationally mobile migrants.” Transnationally mobile migrants are temporary migrants that move between the home and host countries, spending significant pre-planned periods of time in the host country for specific purposes such as education and employment. Growth of transnationally mobile migrants that move fluidly between sending and receiving countries is not a phenomenon limited to Korea and U.S. While transnational migration literature has traditionally emphasized permanent or settled migrations, I build on the more recent bodies of work that recognize the growing temporary migrant population and their impact on both home and host societies. 

Education Outside of Schools

My interest in migrant and non-migrant students’ engagement with private supplementary education (PSE hereafter) extends to investigating how PSE creates and reinforces class inequalities. Students increasingly partake in academic and non-academic organized activities that take place outside of schools. There are, however, social class differences in the degree and types of student engagement with PSE. While my dissertation considered the role of transnational mobility in the reproduction of educational privilege across borders, a study outside of my dissertation  examines how upper-class children and middle-class children end up in qualitatively different PSE programs.