Korean American Culture Analysis

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Most second generation of Korean Americans generally feel that they are not accepted or they cannot properly fit in both Korean and American societies. Specifically, they sometimes receive the sense of isolation from American society because of their Asian appearance and Korean blood, but they also feel strangeness when they return to Korea as local Korean people see them as outsiders as Americans. Many of them are unlike their parents who are the first generation of Korean-Americans, their parents were cultivated in traditional Korean culture and their parents’ past experiences in Korea already made them generate the sense of belonging before they came to America. However, the second generation of Korean American are Americanized and …show more content…
Joanne described her childhood in the transcript that she was educated in several White American community schools and her neighbors dominantly constituted with White Americans. Due to her Americanized social and culture background, she inclined to consider herself as American because of the social and cultural environment. The influence of cultural environment can also be seen in her life in South Korea, she feels that she is not part of South Korean society as she describes her feeling “ it is very strange, but, I… I kind of feel like a foreigner here.” (Lee, 22) The only way that makes people feel they are foreigner is because of the constraint of nationality. Joanne thinks she is a foreigner in the land where she ethnically supposes belong to, but she admits that she does not feel familiar with this territory and its society. Hence, her recognize part of her identity as American is based on her nationality. In addition, she expressed her furious feeling when she was informed if she was not able to apply for American passport, she might needed to apply for Korean passport instead. She says in the transcript,“ because I feel more like an American than Korean. Yeah… especially like in society- society-wise.” (Lee, 17) This indicates that her identity as American can be considered as the result of the massive impact of her solid perspective of her nationality and cultural and social