The Chaoxianzu (Joseonjok or Chosonjok in Korean) are an ethnic minority group associated with the Yanbian Chaoxianzu Autonomous Prefecture in northeast China. As a part of Korea’s historically displaced people – the Korean diaspora – the Chaoxianzu have evolved an identity that is tagged with the term “contested,” as their historical narratives, the history of their autonomous prefecture and other areas in northeast China, and their identity as “Koreans” all feature contested complexities, controversies and multiplicities. This dissertation explores the construction of the Chaoxianzu’s contested ethnic identity, as reflected primarily in Chaoxianzu oral traditions, and in part through early 20th century Manchuria Chaoxian writers and contemporary Chaoxianzu return migration literature.
This dissertation examines the construction of Chaoxianzu identity through personal narratives, songs, and stories collected during fieldwork conducted from 2000 to 2004. This collected material has been transcribed and translated into English, and is presented as examples of constructed Chaoxianzu identity as both ethno-culturally Korean and ethno-nationally Chinese. In Chapter 1, the contested historical and territorial narratives of Chaoxianzu and the early Chaoxian migrants in Manchuria are discussed to provide a contextual background for understanding the formation of the Chaoxianzu Korean ethnic minority group in China. This chapter also includes selected Chaoxianzu literary works on return migration to South Korea. Chapter 2 presents translated transcripts of a Chaoxianzu storyteller’s personal narrative and one of his favorite stories that establish a basis for discussing the definition of what constitutes a Chaoxianzu story and Chaoxianzu identity. Chapter 3 presents an oral history of Chaoxianzu oral tradition collection projects, as told by a Chaoxianzu folklorist who participated in pre- and post-Cultural Revolution period collection and preservation efforts. Chapter 4 presents a translated transcript of a storytelling performance and the interactions between a prominent Chaoxianzu scholar and a Chaoxianzu storyteller in 2001. This storytelling session, along with the conversations between the parties, illustrates the story selection processes used in constructing Chaoxianzu Korean ethnicity. Chapter 5 explores Chaoxianzu oral tradition and the early Manchuria Chaoxian people’s written literary tradition to address the problems of preserving ethnicity through selective processes.
Based on my research, it is clear that the ethnic category “Chaoxianzu” has been strongly influenced by the historic and geopolitical conditions in which the early displaced Chaoxian people of China (and later the Chaoxianzu) had to carefully negotiate between their ethnicity and polity. The return migration of Chaoxianzu to their ancestral land has created Chaoxianzu “Korean dream” experience stories, and their experience as the “Korean Others” triggered the re-examination of the hyphened identity of Chaoxianzu as Korean-Chinese.