Narrative Identity Negotiation between Cultures: Storytelling by Korean Immigrant Career Women

Abstract

It has been more than a century since the first group of Koreans emigrated to the United States. However, there are very limited studies on the acculturation process of career women. Acculturation is the process of reconstructing one's identity by negotiating between cultures in a foreign location. The method of reconstruction and negotiation is related to self-narrated storytelling. The purpose of this study is to scrutinize self-described identity revision of Korean career women in America. Analysis of in-depth interviews with four participants shows two significant findings. First, immigrant career women experience a frustration-negotiation cycle while finding their "place comparable to the past" in the United States. Second, they first go through a social identity challenge and then subsequently through a cultural identity challenge.