A Sense of Belonging

Joyce Wong
#8
Section A01

In Park's article "Korean American Youth and Transnational Flows of Popular Culture Across the Pacific", she first addresses how though Asians are seen as the "model minority", there are many things that people on the outside do not understand that many Asian Americans struggle despite this stereotype. Park focuses on the Korean Americans, where she presents examples of Koreans from the 1.5 generation, or the paiksu. Many of the paiksus feel as though they are not a part of the United States. As Park sums up, many young Korean Americans feel that "their cultural citizenship was not fully granted as their sociocultural entitlement and membership are, more often than not, overlooked and negated".  Being from an immigrant family, I understand how these Korean Americans feel. There are many instances where I feel that although I have citizenship here in the United States, I do not belong because I do not have the advantages or the history that many non-minority or advantaged students do. In addition, there is always a huge difference between those with an advantage versus minorities, which creates a huge gap in belonging.