{"title":"Young Children’s Racial-Cultural Identity Negotiation and Development:A Phenomenological Case Study","authors":"Heejeong Han","doi":"10.17206/APJRECE.2015.9.2.97","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article reports on a phenomenological case study following one Korean-American child’s \nnegotiation and development of racial-cultural identity in the United States during the first three years of \nschool. This study aimed to closely explore, understand, and explain the critical incidents experienced by \na Korean-American child to recognize and negotiate her racial-cultural identity, and the strategies she \nused to navigate through the school culture. As a result, four themes were identified with the following \nmetaphors: (a) Just give me a sandwich – Avoiding attention; (b) I must have been a slave – Trying to fit \nin; (c) It is my cultural water – Speaking up; and (d) I can be both – Reconstructing flexible identities. \nThis study offers a glimpse into a complex nature of a Korean-American child’s racial-cultural identity \nnegotiation and development in the United States calling for an expanded discourse around the issue, and \nsheds a light on what roles teachers and parents can play to collaboratively address and scaffold the \nexperiences.","PeriodicalId":37367,"journal":{"name":"Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education","volume":"10 1","pages":"97-120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2015-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.17206/APJRECE.2015.9.2.97","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article reports on a phenomenological case study following one Korean-American child’s
negotiation and development of racial-cultural identity in the United States during the first three years of
school. This study aimed to closely explore, understand, and explain the critical incidents experienced by
a Korean-American child to recognize and negotiate her racial-cultural identity, and the strategies she
used to navigate through the school culture. As a result, four themes were identified with the following
metaphors: (a) Just give me a sandwich – Avoiding attention; (b) I must have been a slave – Trying to fit
in; (c) It is my cultural water – Speaking up; and (d) I can be both – Reconstructing flexible identities.
This study offers a glimpse into a complex nature of a Korean-American child’s racial-cultural identity
negotiation and development in the United States calling for an expanded discourse around the issue, and
sheds a light on what roles teachers and parents can play to collaboratively address and scaffold the
experiences.
期刊介绍:
The journal serves as a vehicle for reporting and sharing the results of studies by early childhood education in the Pacific area. It is peer reviewed to insure that only high quality manuscripts are accepted for publication. The journal is multi-disciplinary and serves educators and other professionals concerned with the education and care of young children. It focuses primarily on research activities in the Pacific Rim area, though research reports from other areas are not excluded. The journal includes research articles related to the education and care of children from birth to age 8 and to related topics. These include reports of empirical research, reviews of research, critiques of research, and articles related to the applications of research to practice.