First Advisor

Stephen Walton

Term of Graduation

Winter 2022

Date of Publication

3-15-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in French

Department

World Languages and Literatures

Language

English

Subjects

Group identity, Koreans -- Québec (Province) -- Social life and customs, Belonging (Social psychology), Ook Chung (1963- ). Kimchi

DOI

10.15760/etd.7801

Physical Description

1 online resource (ii, 67 pages)

Abstract

The emphasis placed on the questioning of identity in Québécois society since the Quiet Revolution of the mid-twentieth century continues to this day. Whereas this search for a specifically Québécois identity was originally cast in terms of an Anglophone/Francophone divide, the influx of migrants from around the world to the province since the 1970s has rendered such a simplistic, binary discourse impossible. The population of Québéc in general and of Montréal in particular is now multicultural; visible minorities now constitute twenty-six percent of the Montréal populace. While most migrants in Québéc are able to find a niche in Montréal in which they feel they belong, be it within a community of their fellow countrymen or the province's society at large, others are unable to feel a part of the society of their adopted land.

One such migrant is Kim, the narrator of Ook Chung's Kimchi. Born in Japan to Korean parents and raised in Québec, he does not feel completely connected to any of these three countries. In this thesis, I explore the means by which he systematically deconstructs traditional defining factors of identity (race, language, ethnicity). Although he accepts that race, language and ethnicity have a bearing on one's sense of self, particularly in the form of cultural identity, he rejects the argument that they are in themselves sufficient to offer a sense of belonging. I argue that he focuses instead on the creation of community between individuals, irrespective of these factors.

Rights

© 2022 Taurean James Weber-Laurencio

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/37413

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