Diverse and Complex Acculturation Strategies: “White-Washed” and “FOB” Koreans
摘要
This chapter explores diverse acculturation strategies among newer-generation Korean New Zealanders by focusing on two minority subgroups—assimilationists (“white-washed”) and separatists (“FOB Koreans”). Unlike early assimilation shaped by necessity, these later identity paths reflect conscious choices during high school and university. Assimilationists distance themselves from Korean culture to integrate into mainstream society, while separatists maintain strong ethnic ties and limit cross-cultural interaction. Positioned by the re-ethnicized majority as cultural outsiders, both subgroups complicate binary understandings of identity. Notably, many identify more with non-Korean Asian New Zealanders, suggesting that cultural orientation, not just ethnicity, defines belonging. This chapter highlights intra-ethnic diversity and the nuanced ways identity is negotiated across generational, social, and cultural contexts.