Transnational logic of gratitude: Marriage migrants’ narratives on marital satisfaction in South Korea

Transnational logic of gratitude: Marriage migrants’ narratives on marital satisfaction in South Korea

October 7, 2021

Event Description

As contemporary South Korea deals with an increasing level of diversity through marriage migration, there have been important studies that examine the intersection of migration, gender and class in receiving societies. And yet, little is known about the role of transnational background in explaining women’s feelings of gratitude for their Korean husbands. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with marriage migrant women residing in the eastern side of Seoul, Korea, Dr. Jung will discuss the micro-level cognitive processes in understanding women’s gratitude for their husbands. Categorizing marriage migrants into two groups, ‘gratified’ and ‘ungratified’ wives, the speaker demonstrates how the gratified wives’ feelings of contentment is mediated by their active comparison of Korean husbands with local men in their homelands, and how these viewpoints conversely affect their aspirations for return. Bringing the sociology of emotion into an explanation of marriage migrants’ marital satisfaction, this study aims to develop a transnational frame of reference as an underlying dynamic for comprehending marriage migrants’ (in)gratitude

Speaker Bio

Dr. Gowoon Jung is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY, and worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at the Korean Millennials Laboratory in the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests primarily focus on gender/sexuality, religion, transnational family, educational migration, and international student mobility. Her work appeared in various journals such as Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, International Sociology, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of Rural Studies, Religions, YOUNG: Nordic Journal of Youth Research, and Sociology Compass.

This virtual event is organized by Min-Jung Kwak (Geography and Environmental Studies, Saint Mary’s University).

This virtual event is presented by the Korean Office for Research and Education (KORE) which is funded by the Academy of Korean Studies. It is co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Program at Saint Mary’s University.