Negotiating Gender within Multicultural Families in Non-Highly Urbanized Areas of South Korea

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology in collaboration with the Korean Studies Program presents: Negotiating Gender within Multicultural Families in Non-Highly Urbanized Areas of South Korea, a lecture by Johanna O. Zulueta, Ph.D of Toyo University

This study examines the lives of marriage migrants, primarily coming from the Philippines, to non-highly urbanized areas (i.e. “rural” areas) of South Korea. It looks at how these women negotiate gender norms and expectations in these multicultural families, within the context of state-led multiculturalism, that, as H.M. Kim (2011) suggests, is a “patriarchal family-oriented welfare model.” Semi-structured interviews with 20 Filipino marriage migrants were conducted from August to September 2023 in selected areas of Chungcheongnam-do (South Chungcheong Province) and Jeollabuk-do (North Jeolla Province). Based on the data gathered, it is found that these women have navigated gendered cultural expectations in the Korean household, thus reproducing gendered norms within the traditional Korean family, and playing a significant role in keeping the family intact. However, there are also instances where these gendered expectations were subverted within these families. This study would like to interrogate whether these women are able to re-imagine a different kind of “womanhood” away from traditional family norms, thus challenging existing models of how marriage migrants are expected to perform in the context of what I call “performative multiculturalism” in ethno-nationalist states such as South Korea and Japan.

** This research was supported by the Korea Foundation Fellowship for Field Research received in FY 2023.

Johanna O. Zulueta is a Professor at the Department of Global Diversity Studies, Faculty of Sociology of Toyo University. She does research on migrations in East Asia, looking at issues related to ethnicities, military basing, gender and families, citizenship, and aging. Among her recent publications are: Women and COVID-19: A Clinical and Applied Sociological Focus on Family, Work, and Community (Routledge, 2024, co-edited with Mariam Seedat-Khan) and Okinawan Women's Stories of Migration: From War Bride to Issei (Routledge, 2022). She is a steering committee member of the Philippine Migration Research Network and is currently on the Executive Board of the Research Committee on Clinical Sociology (RC 46) of the International Sociological Association. She also held visiting appointments at some universities in Asia, including the Seoul National University Asia Center (SNUAC).

For inquiries, please contact the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at socioanthro.soss@ateneo.edu or visit us at LH 100.