INDIVIDUALIZED MASCULINE CITIZENSHIP: STUDY ABROAD MEN and MILITARY SERVICE in SOUTH KOREA by HEE JUNG CHOI DISSERTATION Submitt
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INDIVIDUALIZED MASCULINE CITIZENSHIP: STUDY ABROAD MEN AND MILITARY SERVICE IN SOUTH KOREA BY HEE JUNG CHOI DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Ellen Moodie, Chair Professor Nancy Abelmann, Director of Research Professor Emeritus Alma Gottlieb Assistant Professor Jeffrey Martin Professor Chulwoo Lee, Yonsei University ABSTRACT This dissertation is a study of the politics of citizenship in the context of South Korea’s ardent globalization and neoliberal reforms, through the stories of men who have spent extensive period time studying outside of South Korea, whom I call “study abroad men”1 in this thesis, and their military service in South Korea. My ethnographic research demonstrates that these study abroad men are both legally and culturally limited in their belonging abroad when they come of age and attempt to work and settle down after their education. Thus, despite their life and education abroad from an early age, these transnational young men deeply value enhancing the possibility of a viable future in South Korea; those who want to open up their possible futures in South Korea even come to appreciate compulsory military service (currently required to serve at least for two years, only for men) as an opportunity to secure full membership, a militarized masculine citizenship, in South Korea. Analyzing the ways in which study abroad men who value flexibility and mobility along with cosmopolitan aspiration make sense of and give meaning to military conscription in South Korea, I argue that study abroad men secure individualized masculine citizenship through a military service that is highly classed and largely pursued for individual benefits; as such their service differs from the dominant discourse in South Korea that legitimizes military conscription as an equal sacred duty of every male citizen for the sake of nation. I further argue that this pursuit of national membership through military service is not necessarily contradictory with cosmopolitan aspirations or flexible citizenship strategies. I specifically locate this project in contemporary South Korea, a site which offers a productive vantage point from which to grasp the tension between the global and national. 1 Here, by the term “study abroad men,” I refer to those who studied abroad alone beginning from primary education or those who studied in international schools in various countries accompanying their parents stationed overseas and then went to American colleges. I provide more detailed definition of study abroad men I studied ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Nancy Abelmann. My heart aches occupied with this name, as soon as I began to write acknowledgements. She had (has) been my wonderful advisor since I began graduate training in 2007 at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and she was the person who encouraged me to pursue this dissertation project with her usual excitement and enthusiasm. I do know that it would have been impossible for me to write this dissertation were it not for her continuous support and advice. I also want to recognize that Nancy’s love and warmth gave me strength to finish this dissertation and my graduate training, as well as her academic support. Prof. Nancy Abelmann passed away about three months before my defense, but she has been always with me from the beginning of this project to this time of writing acknowledgements. I dearly miss her. Nancy’s academic advice and loving spirit will be with me for the future life of this project and for my future career after graduation. I am also grateful to the men I met in South Korea, who generously shared their lives, stories, and future dreams with me. Regardless of whether I wrote about their individual stories in following chapters or not, I appreciate all of them who participated in my research. Without them, this project would not have been possible. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my dissertation committee members. Prof. Ellen Moodie kindly agreed to be my advisor and a chair of the dissertation committee at the final stage of my graduate career. A-year-long seminar on social theory/ethnography I took with her (also with Prof. Virginia Dominguez) provided me firm foundation for anthropological analysis, which was invaluable for my pursuit of this project. She also gave me insightful comments in various stages of my writing until I prepared final draft for defense. Prof. Alma Gottlieb always reminded me of the fact that this project is deeply gendered from the beginning, iii and she pushed me to think about ways for more gendered perspectives and analysis. The methodology course I took with her also provided me important training for field research (and writing). I also appreciate Prof. Jeff Martin’s wonderful comments and suggestions for further development of this project during defense. I finally want to express my appreciation to an external member, Prof. Chulwoo Lee. As an expert on citizenship and migration issues in South Korea and also as the only Koreanist in my dissertation committee (at the absence of Nancy Abelmann), he gave me detailed comments and suggestions particularly on my analysis of legal transformation of citizenship and conscription in South Korea. Weekly advisee meeting with Nancy and her students was one of the core parts in my graduate training. From brainstorming, proposal writing, and to sharing dissertation chapters, I am deeply indebted to this academic community. When I felt lost and exhausted time to time during my graduate career, it was warm and strong emotional support from the community (Nancy and my colleagues) which gave me strength. Among many, I would like to particularly thank Yoonjung Kang, Sujung Kim, Sangsook Lee-Chung, Yukyung Kang, Agnes Sohn, Hyunhee Kim, Chungkang Kim, Heejin Kim, John Cho, Josie Sohn, Q-Ho Lee, Jin-heon Jung, Alex Lee, Jeongsu Shin, Dohye Kim, Ga Young Chung, So Jung Kim for their valuable comments, warm support, and friendship. I would like to thank Nancy Abelmann again for organizing this advisee group, building a warm community, and of course for her invaluable comments on our writing. At the department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, I am grateful for many other professors who taught insightful seminars during my coursework; Liz Spears who took care of all the administrative works during my graduate training. I would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support including department fellowships, summer research iv fund, numerous assistantships, and tuition and fee waivers. In addition, one year of my writing was funded by 2013-14 graduate fellowship for the INTERSECT initiative on “Cultures of Law in Global Contexts.” Outside of the University of Illinois, I would like to acknowledge Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and Social Science Research Council (SSRC) for holding dissertation workshops respectively. My attendance in two dissertation workshops through AAS and SSRC before and during field research respectively benefited me greatly to further develop this project. Finally, I would like to thank my family. My parents, Soonkyu Choi and Sunja Kim, made it possible for me to pursue this academic career, and have continued to support me with their usual encouragement and love. Without them, I do know that it would not have been possible for me to have this “done-dissertation” with two little children. I am also grateful for my brother Hosuk Choi, sister-in-law Heejin Lee, mother-in-law Hwaja Kim, brother-in-law Inchan Park and many other extended family members for their warm support and love during my study and life abroad. And my two daughters, Soyun Park and Boyun Park. Soyun was born at the beginning of my field research, and Boyun was born at the beginning of writing stage. While I do need to say that it was not easy to write a dissertation with two little infants/kids, Soyun and Boyun kept me happy and made me laugh even when I felt exhausted with writing. I appreciate their sharing smile and enthusiasm for something fun with me, and their understanding/endurance of “dissertation-writing-mom.” I am also deeply grateful to my partner, Chunwoong Park. He always supported and encouraged my work, and made me laugh with his own kind of humor even in the middle of arduous times of graduate career. I appreciate our writing together in our favorite local cafes in Urbana-Champaign and in Seoul, our late night v happy time with a bottle of beer, and most of all our sharing “unforgettable” memories raising little Soyun and Boyun simultaneously writing our dissertations in Urbana-Champaign. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: MILITARY SERVICE FOR NATIONAL AND FLEXIBLE CITIZENSHIP ..... 45 CHAPTER 3: LIFE ABROAD LEADS TO THE MILITARY: BEING COSMOPOLITAN AT HOME .................................................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 4: FROM “ENVIABLE OTHER” TO “ONE OF US”?: INDIVIDUALIZED MASCULINE CITIZENSHIP THROUGH MILITARY SERVICE …………………………..118 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 151 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................