The People In-Between

This book explores three Korean groups (migrant parents, children/students, and educational agents) and their migratory/educational choices, trajectories and strategies between two states, China and South Korea. Going beyond studies of immigrant education that predominantly focus on the younger generation’s education outcomes and their socio-cultural adaptation and integration into the mainstream schooling environment, my focus on migrant education demonstrates that the younger generation can be misaligned with the singular state-led schooling system. Transnational mobility enables them to be incorporated in divergent academic environments, in which they are able to make blended choices and plans, and further develop multifaceted identities. Integration into the mainstream educational system is by no means a necessity, instead, it is regarded as an undesirable obstacle in the pursuit of cosmopolitanism.

The topic of migrant education serves as a significant lens through which to look at migrants’ experiences, practices and perceptions, which have emerged and evolved in China as a rising destination for international migration. The first finding is that Korean migrants make multitudes of choices and adopt various trajectories and strategies in relation to their homeland, the host country and the wider world. These practices reveal that Koreans in China are transnationally positioned in heterogeneous ways.