The 1.5 generation of the Korean Diaspora in South America: Rethinking transnational interactions

Abstract

This article explores the migration of young members or the 1.5 generation, who are the protagonists of significant regional movility in South and North America. The main research question in this article is as follows: how do trasnational diasporas networks promote mobility in search of better work and professional oportunities and improve the prospects for migrants arriving in their new cities? I hypothesize that the trasnational networks and the bicultural capital (of young Koreans) influences the pattern of re-emigration, promoting the mobility and allowing migrants to achieve better prospects in their new homes. Community social capital provides network that support the move and the initial stages of life in the new location, whereas cultural capital, particulary in the form of educational qualifications and the ability to speaks Spanish andf Potuguese, helps migrants find a place in certain Spanish- speakers niches and ensures a certain degreee of professional success. The factors suggest that trasnational networks promote mobility in the search for better professional and work opportunities and make adjusting to life a new city easier and more efficient. The re-emigration of 1.5 generation Korean professionals facilitates the ongoing debate related to the integration or assimilation of migrants maintain thier ethnic identity in terms of ethnic attachment and ethnic solidarity but proffesionally acclimate themselves to working conditions in thier new country.