Social Well-being among Older Migrants in Non-Highly Urbanised Areas of South Korea

[PUBLIC LECTURE] Social Well-being among Older Migrants in Non-Highly Urbanised Areas of South Korea

Speaker: Johanna O. Zulueta, Ph.D. (Faculty of Sociology, Toyo University)
This public lecture is co-hosted by UP KRC and UP CIS (UP Center for International Studies) in celebration of the UP CIS’ 25th anniversary.
Venue: UP CIS Classroom C, G/F Benton Hall, UP Diliman
Date & Time: 17 February 2025 (Monday) 10AM

Abstract:
This study examines the experiences of migrants in South Korea as they reach their older years. In particular, this research focuses on women from the Philippines who arrived in South Korea beginning in the early 1990s, and are currently living in the country’s non-highly urbanised areas (rural and/or semi-rural areas). Most of these women came to the country as marriage migrants to Korean men living in these regions. Based on qualitative data gathered through interviews and fieldwork in selected areas in Chungcheongnam-do, Jeollabuk-do, and Gyeonggi-do in 2023-2024, this study analyses ageing, migration, and social well-being from feminist and transnational perspectives.

Specifically, this study explores these migrants’ perceptions of their ageing process outside their countries of birth, as it relates to their own perceptions on social well-being—particularly its social and cultural aspects—as long-term migrants and members of so-called multicultural families (damunhwa kajok) in South Korea. It is argued here that the ageing experience of migration is gendered and intertwined with one’s own cultural and social capital. In addition, language and communication, one’s status of residence, citizenship, spirituality and religion, and the presence or absence of family are also deemed significant. This study aims to shed light on the challenges that older female migrants in South Korea are facing as they navigate their own ageing along with societal changes in their host country.

Bionote:
Johanna O. Zulueta is Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Sociology of Toyo University, Japan. She received her A.B. (Social Sciences) from the Ateneo de Manila University and her Ph.D. (Sociology) from Hitotsubashi University. She does research on migrations in East Asia, looking at issues related to ethnicities, military basing, gender and families, citizenship, and aging. Her recent monograph is titled: Okinawan Women’s Stories of Migration: From War Brides to Issei (Routledge, 2022). She held visiting appointments at Thammasat University, University of Malaya, Taylor’s University, University of South Australia’s Hawke Research Institute, and Seoul National University Asia Center.

This event is free and open to the public.

Original image source on poster: https://www.jejudomin.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=1063 (artwork done by UPKRC)

Source: UP Korea Research Center Facebook