Intimate University

Abelmann Nancy Abelmann

Description

The majority of the 30,000-plus undergraduates at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign-including the large population of Korean American students-come from nearby metropolitan Chicago. Among the campus's largest non-white ethnicities, Korean American students arrive at college hoping to realize the liberal ideals of the modern American university, in which individuals can exit their comfort zones to realize their full potential regardless of race, nation, or religion. However, these ideals are compromised by their experiences of racial segregation and stereotypes, including images of instrumental striving that set Asian Americans apart. In The Intimate University, Nancy Abelmann explores the tensions between liberal ideals and the particularities of race, family, and community in the contemporary university.Drawing on ten years of ethnographic research with Korean American students at the University of Illinois and closely following multiple generations of a single extended Korean American family in the Chicago metropolitan area, Abelmann investigates the complexity of racial politics at the American university today. Racially hyper-visible and invisible, Korean American students face particular challenges as they try to realize their college dreams against the subtle, day-to-day workings of race. They frequently encounter the accusation of racial self-segregation-a charge accentuated by the fact that many attend the same Evangelical Protestant church-even as they express the desire to distinguish themselves from their families and other Korean Americans. Abelmann concludes by examining the current state of the university, reflecting on how better to achieve the university's liberal ideals despite its paradoxical celebration of diversity and relative silence on race.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• University
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822391586
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

the intimate university

duke university press

durham & london

2009

the intimate university

korean american students and the problems of segregation

Nancy Abelmann

∫2009 Duke University Press All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper$

Designed by Katy Clove

Typeset in Scala by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

For my sister Ruth And in memory of Tamie Murakami

∞ ≤ ≥

∂ ∑ ∏ π

contents

Acknowledgmentsix

Introduction1

part i: the landscape

Here and There in Chicagoland Korean America23

The Evangelical Challenge to College and Family43

Shattered Liberal Dreams66

part ii: a family

An (Anti–)Asian American Pre-med87

Family versus Alma Mater106

Intimate Traces123

It’s a Girl Thing143

Conclusion158

Notes169

Bibliography183

Index195

acknowledgments

Thanks to my remarkable writing partner and friend Catherine Prendergast, this book is my shortest. Cathy, how did I ever write without you? But I have been helped along the way by far too many people for these acknowledgments to be short. My deepest gratitude goes to those of you who appear as pseudonyms in this book, and to many of you who shared your experiences but did not make it into these pages. You made time in college to talk to me, a harried professor; you were gen- erous, open, and interesting and brought (sometimes weekly) accounts of revelation and transformation. You introduced me to your parents, relatives, and friends. To Mary, Owen, and Tony in particular, thank you. Matt Malooly, Audrey Suh, and Na- Young Kim, you really got me started—many thanks. What can I say to the many who gave me the gift of research assistance? Thank you so much Steve Gump, Hye-young Jo, Jiyeon Kang, Grace Kim, Hyunhee Kim, Shanshan Lan, Ros- well Quinn, Steven Vaughan, and Katharine L. Wiegele. Hyun- hee, Shanshan, and Steve, you made important contributions to this book’s arguments, analysis, and reference material; Katie, you are deservedly named in this book for the contribu- tions you made to chapter 2; and Jiyeon, you were there to help in the final stretch. Coryn Shiflet, many thanks for the map and kinship chart and Jan Williams for the index. Hyunhee Kim, Hye-young Jo, Judi Smith, and Nancy Sarabi, your painstaking transcriptions are at the heart of this book. In addition to Cathy, a handful of you read this book in full. What generosity. Thank you, Steve Gump, Shanshan Lan, Keith Osajima, and Eun Hui (Emily) Ryo. Eun Hui, you have gone through every book of mine and the grant application that began this project as well! Others of you were kind enough to