This chapter deals with the South Korean healthcare “guest workers” who settled in Germany from t... more This chapter deals with the South Korean healthcare “guest workers” who settled in Germany from the 1950s to the 1970s. It focuses on the objectives and activities of their continued short-term return visits to South Korea in the context of their migration trajectories. It is based on in-depth life history interviews with 14 former Korean nurses or nursing assistants, which were conducted in Hesse, Germany. The interview results showed that the nature of these guest workers’ “home” visits was: family reunions, vacations, or trips undertaken to fulfill familial obligations. Subsequent analysis sheds light on the role of short-term visits in the formation of im/migrant identities and how these regular visits are transnational practices that play a significant role in retaining complex senses of belonging in the migrants’ country of origin and country of settlement.
In the framework of the former West German government’s “guest worker” (Gastarbeiter) recruitment... more In the framework of the former West German government’s “guest worker” (Gastarbeiter) recruitment policy between 1955 and 1973, more than 11,000 South Korean nurses and nurse assistants moved to Germany to work in medical or nursing institutions to fill a gap in the provision of healthcare services as “guest workers.” Drawing on personal accounts, the current empirical study explores mothering practices primarily between the 1960s and 1990s in the families of Korean migrant healthcare workers who resided in Germany over the course of their working lives and/or returned to Korea. This study charts the manner in which these migrant mothers navigated and balanced competing social discourses around mothering that emerged from the different cultural and historical backgrounds in a new host society. The concepts around mothering consist of the ideology of “intensive mothering,” the Confucian ideal of “wise mother and good wife,” and the German notion of the “raven mother.” Special attenti...
This work analyses the complex and contentious issues of mutual affection and codependency in rel... more This work analyses the complex and contentious issues of mutual affection and codependency in relationships between Korean ‘comfort women’ and Japanese soldiers during World War II. Drawing on a combination of interviews and published resources, it explores the groups’ perceptions of one another within the framework of ‘traumatic bonding’. Despite traumatic violence and stark inequalities, this article finds nuanced contributions from the parties involved. For the soldiers, the relationships provided a form of emotional relief from the violence of war and from the oppression they themselves were subjected to by those of superior rank within the military hierarchy, while the women often sought kindness and protection from the military men with whom they had formed relationships. However, underneath the yearning for human connection, these relationships were highly complex and deeply affected by the overarching power dynamics of gender and the racialised colonial hierarchy.
This chapter deals with the South Korean healthcare “guest workers” who settled in Germany from t... more This chapter deals with the South Korean healthcare “guest workers” who settled in Germany from the 1950s to the 1970s. It focuses on the objectives and activities of their continued short-term return visits to South Korea in the context of their migration trajectories. It is based on in-depth life history interviews with 14 former Korean nurses or nursing assistants, which were conducted in Hesse, Germany. The interview results showed that the nature of these guest workers’ “home” visits was: family reunions, vacations, or trips undertaken to fulfill familial obligations. Subsequent analysis sheds light on the role of short-term visits in the formation of im/migrant identities and how these regular visits are transnational practices that play a significant role in retaining complex senses of belonging in the migrants’ country of origin and country of settlement.
In the framework of the former West German government’s “guest worker” (Gastarbeiter) recruitment... more In the framework of the former West German government’s “guest worker” (Gastarbeiter) recruitment policy between 1955 and 1973, more than 11,000 South Korean nurses and nurse assistants moved to Germany to work in medical or nursing institutions to fill a gap in the provision of healthcare services as “guest workers.” Drawing on personal accounts, the current empirical study explores mothering practices primarily between the 1960s and 1990s in the families of Korean migrant healthcare workers who resided in Germany over the course of their working lives and/or returned to Korea. This study charts the manner in which these migrant mothers navigated and balanced competing social discourses around mothering that emerged from the different cultural and historical backgrounds in a new host society. The concepts around mothering consist of the ideology of “intensive mothering,” the Confucian ideal of “wise mother and good wife,” and the German notion of the “raven mother.” Special attenti...
This work analyses the complex and contentious issues of mutual affection and codependency in rel... more This work analyses the complex and contentious issues of mutual affection and codependency in relationships between Korean ‘comfort women’ and Japanese soldiers during World War II. Drawing on a combination of interviews and published resources, it explores the groups’ perceptions of one another within the framework of ‘traumatic bonding’. Despite traumatic violence and stark inequalities, this article finds nuanced contributions from the parties involved. For the soldiers, the relationships provided a form of emotional relief from the violence of war and from the oppression they themselves were subjected to by those of superior rank within the military hierarchy, while the women often sought kindness and protection from the military men with whom they had formed relationships. However, underneath the yearning for human connection, these relationships were highly complex and deeply affected by the overarching power dynamics of gender and the racialised colonial hierarchy.
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