Several weeks ago someone posed the question - what is a Kyopo? It took me sometime to remember where I had heard this questions before - it was posed by Mary Yu Danico in her article “Korean Identies: What Does It Mean to be Korean American in Korea,” Transactions, Royal Asiatic Society - Vol. 80 (2005). She is also the author of The 1.5 Generation: Becoming Korean American in Hawai’i. My apologies to the Marmot in advance for the long quotes and hopefully you can clean it up for me a little - still haven’t got the hang of this program.
Here is how she answered, or rather did not answer the question:
“In Korea the label of Korean American brings out the various images in the minds of Koreans, for the term American typically represents those of European descent, hence when one identifies as Korean American, loos of confusion surface. Are these people half American (white) and Korean? Or does the concept refer to anyone who is an American citizen or a legal resident of America? In the U.S. the term Korean American is debated among Korean Americans, Asian Americans, and other ’Americans.’ What does it really mean to be Korea American, Korean, or American for that matter? While many will argue that anyone who is a citizen of the U.S. is American, the reality in the U.S. is that those of Asian descent are seen as foreigners before they are seen as Americans. Even if their passport shows their nationality, when most people think of what an American person looks like, they think of a white person. When people of Asian descent state that they are “American,” they are often asked a follow-up question of ‘but what are you really? Where do you come from? Where do your parents come from?”
At first I thought she was talking about a Gyopo in Korea, but she soon clarifies - Korean Americans “are reminded that they are not seen or perceived of as ‘American.’ Thus Korean Americans, like other Asian Americans, are thought of as perpetual foreigners.”
She goes on to say that in Korea “the concept of a Korean American is foreign since many Koreans think of Euro/white American. Hence when someone identifies as Korean American, there are questions that follow…….There are no real clear distinctions made between Koreans who migrated to Canada, Europe, South America or North America. They are all described as Koreans who left Korea.”
I think it should be pretty obvious by now that she can’t really define what a Korean American or for that matter a Gyopo is either, but what is kind of interesting is a Korean American student at Ehwa who was sure that she could identify fellow Korean Americans. She claimed that it was by “the way they dressed, wore make-up, and presented themselves.’ She added that it was especially easy to detect Korean American women because ‘they wear eye liner, less foundation and powder make-up, and have thinner eye-brows.” Eventually she was forced to concede that her hypothesis was wrong when she could not correctly identify the Korean American students.
While much of what she says I fully agree with, and, while I can not fully understand, I can empathize with the feelings of lostness that so many Korean Americans seem to have - not really belonging to either community.
There is one thing I do disagree with her - I do believe in nationality. If you are American your loyalties lie to your country - the United States. If you are Korean, your loyalties lie with Korea - she wrote:
“The U.S. and Korea often force their citizens to choose sides. You have to decide where your loyalties lie and pick a citizenship or allegiance. Despite the fact that we are livingin in a global community, there is still much pressure to choose one country, one culture, and one way of life.”
I don’t think you have to give up the culture - surely there is nothing wrong with dual cultures - immigrants to America have often kept many of their old cultures - but loyalty must be given.
I would encourage all whether you are a Gyopo or not to read the article, and hopefully the book (although I have not read it yet - I do hope to read it soon).
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23 Comments
“I can empathize with the feelings of lostness that so many Korean Americans seem to have - not really belonging to either community.”
Unfortunately Robert, I cannot empathize with you as I know who I am, being 100% American and 100% Korean.
There is no identity crisis with me, nor have I detected “feelings of lostness” among my fellow Korean Americans.
Also, do you really have the nerve to tell someone who served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army for eight years that you can feel alleged “feelings of lostness”?
FYI, the only time that I’ve ever felt “feelings of lostness” was when I was doing the night land-navigation course, for time, in the middle of a BFE at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas.
FYI, KAs (1st generation, 1.5 generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation, inter alia), DO NOT attend Korean univeristies to attain a bachelor’s — ever. Why should we when we can attend U.S. universities?
However, for those highly placed English-speaking Koreans, a.k.a. TCKs (Third-Culture Koreans), who are Korean citizens and have lived a considerable number of years abroad, attending Korean undergraduate institutions are within their provenance.
TCKs (Korean citizens who speak relatively native-like English as a result of having attended international schools during their formative years who are alomost exclusive the children of diplomats and chaebol executives) ARE NOT KAs by any stretch of the imagination, as they are 100% Korean citizens, both legally and in terms of loyalty, so let’s not get confused.
Just to straighten out the lingo:
Korean American = Full-fledged American citizen whose abiding loyalty is with the United States, including 1st Generation, 1.5 Generation, 2nd Generation, 3rd Generation, etc. (Does not include Green-card holder, who are citizens of a foreign country.)
Gyopo = Overseas Korean Resident who is a citizen of a foreign country, e.g., a Korean American (does not include Green Card holder.)
The term “Gyopo” also applies to Koreans who are bonafide citizens of other foreign countries, e.g., Canada, Germany, etc, including Overseas Adopted Koreans.
TCK = English-speaking Korean citizen whose loyalty legally is with Korea.
Yuhaksaeng = Korean overseas student studying overseas on a student visa.
Where can I find the full article?
Ah, the internet; it never ceases to amaze this most unworthy one.
My own undistinguished undergrad record at the Univ of Calif nevertheless fine-tuned my political antennae, sufficient to detect even the distant approach of members of the left-wing professoriate and their student body acolytes (given their overwhelming prevalence this was really no special achievement of course).
But now, thanks to the internet I’m able to do so at intercontinental distances. And properly footnote my results, as a good academician should!
1) Here is Prof. Danico’s curriculum vitae:
http://www.csupomona.edu/~mkydanico/cv.htm
an extract:
2005-2006 Fulbright scholar at Ewha Womans University, Korea Sociology Department Fulbright senior scholar, taught 3 undergraduate and one graduate course during 10 months. Conducted field work and interviews of Korean Americans living and working in Korea.
2003-present — California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, Associate Professor, Psychology and Sociology Department (name changed from Behavioral Sciences Department) on sabbatical leave from 2005-2006
When I skimmed her cv (also other links pertaining to her), I detected an academic depth of interest in “pan-Asian-American” issues. A commendable example for the Korean academicians amongst whom she recently did her sabbatical (I assume there are similar psych/soc profs at ROK universities, ones who study and critique with properly furrowed eyebrows the acceptance and integration into Korean society of Chinese-Koreans, Japanese-Koreans, Filipino-Koreans, etc etc)?
(BTW, I reckon by “Korean” I must mean “South Korean”, as I suppose very few non-Koreans choose to reside and work in the DPRK; though the “gulag” camps up there may well set an “equal opportunity” example).
2) And a recent article (Cal Poly student newspaper I think) quoting her at length, about the recent NorK nuke test: http://www.thepolypost.com/story/news14.php
It’s all about Bush, naturally. Oh, if only we “Americans” (however one chooses to define this term — I use the word “ideology”, meaning adherence to the US Constitution, rather than “nationality”) could reform ourselves to be more open to other nationalities — maybe then we could finally get everyone to like us.
A further quote:
“….she [Dr. Danico I presume?] wrote:
“The U.S. and Korea often force their citizens to choose sides. You have to decide where your loyalties lie and pick a citizenship or allegiance. Despite the fact that we are living in a global community, there is still much pressure to choose….”
Though I’m in favor of overall drastically scaling back the US “presence” in the UN, nevertheless I’d like to see the US Congress dedicate some remaining UN funding towards a prospective “UN passport” program — for those US citizens who feel ashamed and embarassed to shelter under the protection of their “national” one.”
I think the League of Nations had some type of documentation like this back in the “good old days” (pre WWII Asia), taken advantage of chiefly by exiled “white” Russians in China who found themselves with nowhere to go (US immigration laws being much more restrictive back then; the contemporary US professoriate presumably wasn’t adequate to pointing out their fellow Americans’ many moral deficiencies).
I think the chief problem with these “passports” (need to research it further) was that no national government chose to grant them any type of status; but, since we’re much more progressive these days, maybe it’s time to give a similar program another shot & see what happens.
With the strict proviso that of course such passport holders would have to be “last in line”, when it came to the US embassy protections afforded “regular” US passport holders (for example, during a hopefully hypothetical evacuation of Seoul under fire). But I’m sure prospective US-UN passport holders who are progressive “citizens of the world” would gladly undertake any level of risk, in order to set a “Ghandian” example for us all.
As the infantry troops (such as Mr H Kim) might say, in hopefully unaccented English, oops, I mean American: “If you’re going to talk the talk, let’s see you walk the walk, doc”.
Uh-oh, I may have inadvertently left unexploded ordnance behind me in comment #4. Better render it safe immediately before it goes off.
“White” Russians refers to their political affiliation (not their skin color). Meaning “anti-communist” (or, commonly, “anti-bolshevik”), as opposed to “Red” Russians (pro-Communist, pro-bolshevik) who by 1920-21 had won the Russian civil war, a big theater of which occurred in the Russian far east.
Ref League of Nations passports, here’s a link (had to strain the aging brain cells for awhile to remember enough for a search):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansen_passport
“Nansen”, in spite of its similarity to an English phonetic equivalent of an Asian place name, is in fact the proper name of a distinguished Norwegian, truly a “renaissance man”:
“….a professor of zoology and later oceanography at the Royal Frederick University in Oslo…[who] contributed with groundbreaking works in the fields of neurology and fluid dynamics….Nansen was one of the founders of the neuron theory stating that the neural network consists of individual cells communicating with each other…”.
A distinguished academician prior to his diplomatic career, and thus a colleague of Dr. Danico’s!
“…died May 13, 1930 (in Lysaker, outside Oslo)… a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridtjof_Nansen
I wonder if there were a lot of Nansen passport holders resident in pre-WWII Korea? Maybe there is one displayed in a museum in the ROK somewhere, and Prof Danico chanced to see it during her recent stay.
Sorry for hijacking the thread, I shouldn’t always automatically assume that others will share my interests; but it’s true what they say about getting older, it becomes ever harder to change your ways.
Apparently, the one who is lost here is the one who wrote the article. It seems the person who wrote the article is presenting his/her own confused state based on some old stereotypes.
I don’t think most Korean-Americans are as confused as this person. I find Korean culture to be interesting but people moved to American to be an Americans, not Korean, and most Asians in America are not perceived as foreigners.
In fact Asians, especially East Asians have been better excepted and integrated into American society than most minorities.
What is a Kyopo?
It’s kinda like asking “What is a Jew?” The answer, of course, is not a simple one.
There are many different nuanced shades and gradients to Kyopo-ness. One generally acknowledged sociological metric used to distinguish the different flavors of Kyopo is to see where the subject falls on the assimilation spectrum where “Insular FOB” is on one end and “Hardcore Twinkie”. There is also another, tangential aspect to this scale, which kinda branches off and leads to “AZN-pride thug wannabee who wear their caps backwards and their pants look like its about to fall off”. But for the sake of simplicity, we shall ignore this charming quirk of a phenomenon which manifests itself amongst the Kyopo from time to time and focus on the Insular FOB to Hardcore Twinkie spectrum and everything in between.
Insular FOB - remains firmly entrenched within the KA communities in large metropolises such as LA and NY. Speaks little to no English. Typical occupations or livelihood: nail salon, greengrocers, deli, dry-cleaners, etc. The church is the main focal point of social life.
“1.5″ generation - resides either in the KA communities or own homes in the suburbs. Less affluent 1.5ers may dwell in urban ghetto areas populated mostly by Blacks and Hispanics. Speaks some English, but is highly limited. Mostly prefer to remain within the Korean circles for socialization and marriage. Usually work for Korean firms or businesses, own their own business (typically the same as the ones listed above), or is employed in a profession (doctor, lawyer, engineer, architect, etc). The church is the main focal point of social life. Many have a poverty-complex and those who came from low backgrounds in Korea, came to the US, started successful businesses and managed to join the nouveux-rich merchant class tend to be rather stuck-up, snobbish, love to brag about their kids who are doing so well in school, proud of their nice homes in the suburbs, Mercedes, Lexus, BMWs, blah.
Example: baduk
2nd generation - the children of 1-gen immigrants. This group is split: there is a subgroup that resembles the 1.5 in flavor, but speak much better English. There is another group that is high on the Twinkie quotient. Knowledge of the mother tongue is minimal to non-existent. Overcompensation, identity crises, confusion is common amongst this group. Most work in professional occupations (finance, teaching, graphic arts, engineering, IT) . Many are college degree’d and even possess impressive credentials. A good portion of this crowd out-marry, generally women. The more affluent segment of this bunch tend to be stuck-up, snobbish, proud of their immaculate pedigrees (Ivy degrees, high-powered careers, Mercedes, Lexus, BMWs, blah)
The Lost Generation - this is a splinter group of the 2nd generation, who grew up in America during times when the KA population was meager or in communities where it was mostly white. Korean adoptees of white couples also fall within this category. Identity crisis and confusion is especially strong within this group. In order to “fit-in” somewhere, they often do usual things that are generally not associated with the mainstream KA identity: turn lesbian, turn gay, social activism, involved in artsy-fartsy careers such as music, art, comic books, stand-up comedy, harrass white people on the blogs of expats, etc.
Ex: Margeret Cho
Reformed Twinkies (or Born-Again Koreans) - former Hardcore Twinkies who decide to “re-discover their roots”, go back to Korea, learn Korean, eat kimchi for the first time, date/marry another fellow KA for the first time, etc.
Hapas - children of mixed marriages, typically Korean mother, white father. Identity crisis and confusion is especially strong within this group. Females tend to be rather ashamed of their Asian side, very hardcore Twinkie in flavor, date/marry only whites, etc. Males tend to be angry, turn into militant AZNs, want to date/marry Coreans, etc. Better looking hapas often find careers in fashion, modeling, the entertainment business fulfilling a fetish for “exotic-ness” within these fields. Depending upon whether they look “more Asian, or more white” can influence how successful they are in America or Korea. If they happen to look more white, they stand a good chance at a highly successful career in the US. If they look more Asian, they get cubble-holed into a niche segment within the industry or find better success back in Korea. If they are female, it doesnt seem to matter.
Addendum (to the 1.5 and 2nd generation groups) - those who are confused about their destiny and arent exactly sure what to do with their lives, or are disillusioned by their previous careers tend to enroll in theological seminaries (to become ministers, full time jundosa’s, missionaries, etc).
Another question, what is a Korean?
Recently I went into CitiBank to enquire about abtaining a housing loan. Despite earning substantially more than the average Korean household, plenty of cash down, wife has an excellent credit rating, and I have an excellent credit card record, I was denied as I’m not Korean (Have wife, F5 visa)
Quoting from Citibank documentation.
대한민국 국적 보유자 만 가능하며 시민권자 및 이에 준하는 경우는 취급불가
Apperently based upon the Citibank definition of what is a ‘Korean’, even a Korean passport holder such as my Ukrainian friend is not a Korean.
Maybe the definition of gypo is this, if you can borrow money from a bank in Korea you are Korean. If you can’t, even though you have Korean ancestry, then you are Gypo.
Forget about all this long winded analysis, the answer is very easy, go ask the loans manager at a bank in Korea.
Loan yes-Korean
Loan no-Gyopo, that is evil foreigner
Easy!!!
Where would you place yourself, bluejives? I think you’ve covered pretty well the range that I’ve seen over the years, with a few exceptions.
And for anyone: Was Margaret Cho EVER funny? (I remember living in Seoul in the late 1980s with AF(K)N when she first broke, thinking “great new concept”, but then seeing her on Carson or Arsenio and thinking she sucked from the getgo.)
being a Jew, as I understand, is that your mother was Jewish or you successfully converted to Judaism. Quite a simple definition.
If your father is Jewish, but he no longer practices and your mother is not Jewish, you are not Jewish. Unless you converted to Judaism.
I knew of a Catholic who decided to become Jewish, and then turned Christian at his deathbed.
I basically picked up on this definition of a Jew during a college course.
If you want to laugh, go here.
http://www.billcara.com/archiv......html#more
Born during the Enlightenment, “American” is an idea, an abstraction. To most Koreans, “Korean” is a race… Americans see two Koreas–a good nation and a bad one. Koreans see one divided race.
This is the core of the identity problem, it seems to me.
Additionally, I think it is interesting that Korea and the US are two of the rare cases in which propaganda is shoved down their throats at early ages. How many other countries pledge the flag every damned morning…? Canada? No. Germany? No. I always say, in this respect, the US and Korea have one thing in common: both have stong convictions of their identities, albeit in very different ways. A Kyopos, at least for a generation or two, are inevitably going to struggle.
Yes, absolutely.
This puts forward the notion that, by today’s standards, it is not ethnicity that counts but economic capability. As my Korean friends often say, “Money solves many problems.”. An education and money will always go further than what somebody thinks because it is what is in one’s mind that is truly important.
Well, bluejives has a point. There are too many personal nuances to group all Korean-Americans in the same pot. But, some similarities naturally exist, mainly linguistic ones. It’s to be expected. After all, language is a product of social, cultural, and historical influences. Not to say that shared socio-linguistic factors between immigrant and non-immigrant members of other ethnic groups do not exist, but research suggests that Korean and Korean-Americans, regardless of whether their first language is English or Korean, possess common socio-linguistic traits. I recommend that you read, “Negotiating conflict within the constraints of social hierarchies in Korean American discourse” (Agnes Kang, 2003).
To be a gyopo in USFK, you must have at least 2 girlfriends in the States and 2 in Korea; you must drive a foreign car; you must party at least 3 nights out of the week; you must live in a luxury apartment; you must not work.
Mark, and you must change in and out of uniform in the office.
Jim Lehrer News Hour this evening (31 October) here in CONUS had a story on Korean Americans’ reactions to NorK nuclear test. Most older generation, anti-Communist and disillusioned with sunshine, though there was a couple of “1.5″ academic types who expressed that it was not the big threat as hyped in stateside media.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/in.....orthkorea/, link says it has a “Realaudio / MP3″, not sure if this means just audio or video/audio, I’m not an ipod/mp3 person.
Pbs.org also has an interview from the same Lehrer broadcast with Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, ref supposed NorK readiness to return to 6 party, available in written transcript.
If they still use uri nara for Korea they’ve said they’re not American.
Good catch, hardyandtiny. Forgot that one.
kyopo
kyopis
kyopit
kyopimus
kyopitis
kyopunt
A kyopo is another fellow from home whom you think of as Canadian as you, and with whom you have worked with and got along fine for a few months. Then, at some random moment usually involving his having consumed a number of drinks, the anguished memory of a time when a little white boy kicked him in the knee in Grade 2 or tried to date his sister in grade 10, or WHATTHEFUCKEVER, surfaces with great angst and dramatics, and gets you cursed out as “you Canadians blah blah blah” and general ranting about something or other “you will never understand” because of your irredimable whiteness, about the fact that you have a Korean girlfriend and he..well, he has one too, but he’d prefer it if you didn’t.
Then a week later he cusses out Koreans over something - “These goddamn people, arghh!”
Several incidents like this later, you learn to keep a friendly small on your face, your back to the wall, and your schedule “too busy to meet ya, sorry” around Kyopo’s. Emotional time bombs, I call em.