Return Migration of young Korean New Zealanders: Transnational journeys of reunification & estrangement

Abstract

Since early 2000, the number of long term immigrants to New Zealand deciding to return to their homelands has increased. Simultaneously, Korea has made changes to its residency policy in an attempt to attract 'global talent' back to its shores. The result has been an increase in the number of overseas Koreans returning from their emigration destinations, making a growing contribution to Korean development. The processes driving this movement and the experience(s) of returnees upon re-settlement have received little attention in research. This research focuses on the everyday experiences of the 1.5 generation Korean immigrants of Auckland, New Zealand who permanently returned to Korea between 1999 and 2009. Moreover, the journeys of those returnees who moved back to New Zealand after living in Korea for a short period are deconstructed. Drawing on the theoretical framework of transnationalism, particular attention is given to how and to what extent transnational connections shape and impact upon their everyday lives. In total, the lives of 40 returnees and nine re-returnees are explored through an ethnographic method including semistructured interviews and participant observation. A number of general and complex stories of the returnees' decision-making processes which led them to return to Korea are revealed. Their experiences affirm the status of return migrants as minorities in both host and home countries; firstly as Asian immigrants and later as overseas Korean 'Gyopo.' Despite various experiences of alienation and estrangement upon return to Korea, participants were able to make a significant contribution to their individual work places with their skills gained from New Zealand and elsewhere. As they did so, they (re)constructed and (re)negotiated their identities in relation to their sense of 'home' in a myriad of complex ways. The thesis argues that although transnational linkages facilitate movements and allow immigrants to make strategic life choices across borders, longings for home as well as a sense of national identity and belonging remain prevalent among recent Korean New Zealander returnees. While most returnees learn to value and embrace their hybrid identities and find ways to settle permanently in Korea, some eventually move back to New Zealand in the ongoing quest for 'home' .