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Transnational Motherhood in the Making of Global Kids: South Korean Educational Migrants in Singapore

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Living Intersections: Transnational Migrant Identifications in Asia

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Migration ((IPMI,volume 2))

Abstract

This chapter explores the intersections of transnational migration, education, and family, by examining South Korean migrant families’ various strategies for facilitating their children’s education in Singapore. Recently, a growing number of Korean young students in their primary and secondary schools have moved to Singapore for their ‘early study abroad’ (chogi yuhak). These young children are usually accompanied by their mothers, while their fathers remain in Korea to financially support their families abroad. Based on ethnographic research among these Korean ‘geese’ families in Singapore, this chapter analyzes the multiple meanings and motivations underlying Korean educational migration in Singapore. Unlike common assumptions of transnational educational migration, this study draws attention to much broader consideration and motivations which even include the acquisition of ‘emotional capital,’ a term that refers to the various forms of emotional practices and resources that facilitate children’s accumulation of other forms of cultural, social, and economic capital. It shows that a shifting attention to this affective dimension of transnational migration, in turn, leads the Korean migrants to re-imagine and reformulate their desired transnational subject as ‘Asian global’, which is an image of a person who is more multicultural, socio-centric, thus locally grounded. Looking at family as an active site of identity construction shows how Koreans’ traditional notions of family and mothering have paradoxically contributed to generating this new type of ‘global kids,’ as mediated through their discourses on emotional capital and their aspiration of becoming global citizens in this rapidly globalizing world.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Overview of Primary, Middle and High School Students who left for the purpose of early study abroad or returned. 2005 report available at http://www.mest.go.kr/me_kor/inform/1/2/1207871_10862.html (Accessed July 11, 2010).

  2. 2.

    Of course, such rising trend of ESA is not simply due to individuals’ or families’ strategies to maximize their children’s opportunities to acquire international education at a global standard. It should be also noted that there are other institutional forces and networks that facilitate children’s ESA (See Collins 2008a and Kwak 2008 for case studies in Auckland and Vancouver). For example, lots of oversea education agencies called yuhakweon in both Korea and the host countries play a crucial role in promoting and facilitating Korean families’ educational migration. The education agencies claim to help student preparation for overseas education when they prepare for their departure in Korea, whereas their counterpart offices in the host countries provide the families with step-by-step assistance as “bridges to learning” (Collins 2008a).

  3. 3.

    “The survey of girogi (wild geese) fathers: About 34% of girogi fathers send three to five million Won (USD 3,000–5,000) for a monthly remittance,” http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200606070088, December 7, 2006 (Accessed December 1, 2010).

  4. 4.

    In reality, however, there are many variations in Korean transnational family arrangements and practices. The conventional ideology of the gendered division of domestic labour can be modified and transformed according to an individual family’s situation. For example, in Singapore, I met a few “geese” fathers who accompanied their children to Singapore as the primary caregiver, while the mothers work in Korea as the breadwinner (Kang 2010).

  5. 5.

    “Geubjeonghaneun Dongnama Chogi Yuhak” [The rapid increase of jogi yuhak in Southeast Asia], Kyung Hyang Daily News, October 27, 2007. http://news.khan.co.kr/section/khan_art_view.html?mode=view&artid=200710261502031&code=900308 (Accessed April 8, 2008).

  6. 6.

    “More Koreans Enrolling in Schools in Singapore,” Channel News Asia, February 10, 2008.

  7. 7.

    Korean Association Singapore, Web site, June 16, 2006, www.koreansingapore.org (Accessed January 18, 2008).

  8. 8.

    Hawker centers refer to typical neighborhood food centers located in Singapore’s residential areas, especially in the apartments of Singapore’s public housing, commonly called HDB (Housing Development Board) flats.

  9. 9.

    Although grammatically incorrect, this is a typical Singlish phrase that many Singaporeans use in their daily communication.

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Acknowledgments

Fieldwork in Singapore was funded by Nanyang Technological University (2008–2010). This project was also supported by Seoul National University (Research Settlement Fund for the new faculty 2011–2012). I would like to thank the editors and an anonymous reviewer for their invaluable comments and suggestions. All errors are my own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    Yoonhee Kang

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  1. Yoonhee Kang
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Correspondence to Yoonhee Kang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Division of Sociology, HSS-05-27, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 6794 6303, Singapore

    Caroline Plüss

  2. Chan Institute of Social Sciences, Flat H, 15/f Century Indus Bldg, Tsing Yeung Street 1, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong SAR

    Kwok-bun Chan

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Kang, Y. (2012). Transnational Motherhood in the Making of Global Kids: South Korean Educational Migrants in Singapore. In: Plüss, C., Chan, Kb. (eds) Living Intersections: Transnational Migrant Identifications in Asia. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2966-7_8

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