Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper discusses how twenty second generation Korean American college women participate in a process of “othering” whereby individuals who self-identify as of the same race and gender create social boundaries among one another through language that reflects and perpetuates particular hierarchies originally put forth by the dominant society. In an effort to extend sociological understandings regarding identity formation, this piece focuses on othering as it reveals the social construction of race and gender without giving primacy to one form of inequality. Consistent with scholarship that identifies college as a key time period for individual exploration and self-definition, I aim to contribute to a better understanding of how youth and Asian American youth, in particular, make sense of their racialized/gendered identities.