Situated agency in mobility: Korean–Chinese children from transnational families in China

ABSTRACT

The past few decades have witnessed an unprecedented outflow of Korean Chinese migrating from the People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) to the Republic of Korea (hereafter South Korea), leaving increasing numbers of Korean–Chinese families separated. Existing research predominantly depicts the Korean–Chinese children of transnational families as a vulnerable group that lacks parenting and is prone to problematic behavior. Based on in-depth interviews with Korean–Chinese university students, this article investigates the extent to which mobility represents a burden or enrichment for the children from transnational families. By adopting the conception of situated agency, children’s role in maintaining cross-border family bonds and embracing the practical and symbolic value of mobility for self-development are uncovered.

KEYWORDS:

• Korean–Chinese children
• transnational family
• mobility
• situated agency

Acknowledgments

I thank Prof. Dr. Yonson Ahn, the guest editors, and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and comments that greatly improved the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Seed Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies [AKS-2015-INC-2230004].