Sohee Ryuk
Colgate University
Project
Unveiling the Layers of Identity: Ethnic Koreans in the former Soviet Union
Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan
I will explore the multi-faceted identity for ethnic Koreans in former Soviet Union. There are several communities of Koreans living in these regions, ranging from Central Asian Koreans who were forcibly resettled in the 1930s, the Sakhalin Koreans, and more recent immigrants, students, or missionaries. I plan to collect personal narratives and ask questions to learn how these individuals see themselves as Korean and how they express their identities in everyday life. I will study the ways in which individuals reconciled conflicting parts of their identities throughout history.