Campbell deftly weaves the narratives of her subjects with the wider theoretical literature on nationalism and identity.... A great read. --Andrew I. Yeo, Catholic University of America An important contribution to the literature on nationalism and contemporary Korean studies. --Nora Kim, University of Mary Washington Why have traditional views of national identity in South Korea¿views that for years drove a demand for reunification¿been challenged so dramatically in recent years? What explains the growing ambivalence and even antagonism of South Korean young people toward unification with North Korea? Emma Campbell addresses these related puzzles, exploring the emergence of a new kind of nationalism in South Korea and considering what this development means for the country¿s future. Emma Campbell is visiting fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University.

The unprecedented economic success of South Korea since the 1990s has led in turn to a large increase in the number of immigrants and foreign workers in Korean industries. This book describes and explains the experiences of discrimination and racism that foreigners and ‘new’ Koreans have faced in a multicultural South Korea. It looks at how society has treated the foreigners and what their experiences have been given that common discourse about race in Korea surrounds issues of Korean heterogeneity and pure blood nationalism. Starting with critiques of Korean scholarship and policy framework on multiculturalism, this book argues for the need to revisit the most fundamental aspect of multiculturalism: the host population’s ability to respect new comers rather than discriminate against them. The author employs a critical realist understanding of racism and attempts to identify long-lasting institutional factors which make Korean society less than welcoming ‘new’ or temporary Koreans. A large number of new reportages are identified and systematically analysed based on the principles of grounded theory method. The findings show that nouveau-riche nationalism and pure-blood nationalism are widely practised when Koreans deal with ‘foreigners’. As a newly industrialised and highly successful nation, Korean society is still in transition and treats foreigners according to economic standard of their countries of origin. As one of the very first books in English about foreigners’ experiences of Korean nationalism, multiculturalism and discrimination, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Sociology, Ethnic studies, Asian studies, Korean studies, Media studies and Cultural studies.

This research project investigates the growing ambivalence and antagonism of South Korean young people toward unification with North Korea. Historically, ideas of nation and identity, and thus unification, have been based upon the ethnic and cultural homogeneity of all Korean people. More recently, there has emerged a new type of nationalism based on strikingly different notions of identity. This work addresses the central puzzle of how long-held views of Korean nation and national identity have been challenged so dramatically in recent years - in particular amongst the young. Using data obtained from over 90 interviews, surveys and other documentary evidence collected in the field, I show how negativity toward unification with North Korea is increasing and argue that a new South Korean nationalism has arisen amongst South Korea's young people. This new nationalism is demonstrated both by the changing attitudes to unification and North Korea and by a growing sense of national pride and confidence in South Korea. The new nationalism can be described as a globalised-cultural nationalism, reflecting the central role played by globalisation in its construction and expression. This work contests the assumption that unification 'is the hope of all Koreans' and the inevitable outcome for the Korean peninsula. It contributes to understanding short-term challenges as more North Koreans move to the South and provides insights into longer-term preparations for possible reunification. From a theoretical perspective, this thesis builds upon existing nationalist literature by exploring the development of nationalism in established nations, and describing the importance and role of globalisation in the evolution of modern nationalist sentiment.

This book explains the roots, politics, and legacy of Korean ethnic nationalism, which is based on the sense of a shared bloodline and ancestry. Belief in a racially distinct and ethnically homogeneous nation is widely shared on both sides of the Korean peninsula, although some scholars believe it is a myth with little historical basis. Finding both positions problematic and treating identity formation as a social and historical construct that has crucial behavioral consequences, this book examines how such a blood-based notion has become a dominant source of Korean identity, overriding other forms of identity in the modern era. It also looks at how the politics of national identity have played out in various contexts in Korea: semicolonialism, civil war, authoritarian politics, democratization, territorial division, and globalization.

Erudition and the Republic of Letters is a peer-reviewed journal devoted primarily to the history of scholarship, intellectual history, and to the respublica literaria broadly conceived. It encapsulates multifarious aspects of higher learning as well as the manner in which such knowledge transcends confessional and geopolitical boundaries.

The Development of Modern South Korea provides a comprehensive analysis of South Korean modernization by examining the dimensions of state formation, capitalist development and nationalism. Taking a comparative and interdisciplinary approach this book highlights the most characteristic features of South Korean modernity in relation to its historical conditions, institution traditions and cultural values paying particular attention to Korean's pre-modern civilization.