Author: Se Hwa Lee
Publisher: Lexington Books, 2021
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From the publisher’s website:
Korean Wild Geese Families: Gender, Family, Social, and Legal Dynamics of Middle-Class Asian Transnational Families in North America explores the experiences of middle-class Korean transnational families, whose mothers and children migrate abroad for children’s education while fathers remain in Korea and economically support their families, throughout transnational separation: before separation, during separation, and after reunification. It discusses the themes of (1) changes in wild geese parents’ relative gender statuses, housework patterns, and spousal relationships; (2) changes in mothering/fathering practices and intergenerational relationships; and (3) wild geese families’ settlement and integration in the host societies and re-adaptation to Korea after family reunification.
Se Hwa Lee interviewed mothers in both the United States and Canada, as well as fathers in Korea, to compare the effects of immigration policies between the two countries in North America and present gender-balanced explanations. Se Hwa Lee also sheds light on Asian documented immigrants’ hardships and different degrees of empowerment and incorporation in the host societies according to legal status, employment, additional education, and co-ethnic community membership. This book offers readers valuable venues to enhance their understanding of increasingly diverse transnational families in North America.
Se Hwa Lee is visiting scholar and research scientist at the University at Albany, State University of New York.
Contents
Introduction: Korean Wild Geese Families: Backgrounds and Motivations
Chapter One: Women’s Empowerment and Three Resources
Chapter Two: Changing Housework Patterns Through Migration
Chapter Three: Transnational Spousal Relationships
Chapter Four: Mothering and Socializing in Korean Immigrant Community
Chapter Five: Transnational Fathering and Father-Child Relationship
Chapter Six: After Family Reunification