이 글은 한국으로 이주한 조선족이 한국 사회의 하위집단 또는 소수자적 정체성에 머무른 것이 아니라 국민국가와 민족, 계급을 뛰어 넘는 정체성을 구성할 수 있다고 주장한다. 중국의 조선족은 한국으로 이주하는 과정에서 법, 제도, 사회문화적 차별을 경험하게 된다. 다른 재외동포들과 달리 자유로운 체류를 할 수 있는 권리가 없고 사실상 이주노동자로 구분된다. 이주 후 한국에서 이들이 노동하는 공간과 일의 특성만 살펴보아도 조선족이 한국 사회의 필요에 따라 유입되고 주변화 되는 현실을 이해할 수 있다. 반면 이주는 조선족에게 중국과 한국 양쪽에 걸쳐 인적, 물적 네트워크가 확장되는 경험이기도 하다. 또한 조선족들이 이주 후 대부분의 시간을 보내는 일터는 한국인과 다른 국가에서 온 이주자들과의 접점이며, 조선족이 타자와의 관계를 통해 끊임없이 자기를 인식할 수밖에 없는 공간이다. 때문에 이 글에서는 공장에서 일하는 조선족이 타자와 자신을 구분하는 '자기인식(Self Identification)'에 주목한다. 이들의 '자기 인식'은 중국 조선족으로서의 역사적 배경, 이주 과정의 경험, 양국에 걸쳐진 귀속 의식과 네트워크를 바탕으로 국경, 민족, 계급을 뛰어넘는 유연성을 발휘한다. 이 글에서는 이것을 ‘정체성 전략(Strategic Self Identification)’라고 정의한다. 조선족 공장 노동자의 정체성 전략 분석을 통해 이들이 변화된 삶의 기반을 바탕으로 새로운 정체성을 구성할 수 있는 가능성을 보여주고자 한다.
Including migrant workers and migrant spouses, there are diverse immigrant communities in Korean society. Among those communities, compared to other migrants, overseas Koreans are considered to receive special privileges in policies related to entrance to Korea, period of stay, and employment. This is because from the perspective of migrants, Korea differentiates between migrants based on the standards of “foreign ethnicity” and “native ethnicity”. But the truth is, even among overseas Koreans, not all have access to the same rights of stay in Korea. At the entry stage, based on the law and a system of regulations, overseas Koreans also have different conditions of stay.
In order to enter Korea, JoseonJok(overseas Koreans from China) and CIS regions (the former Soviet Union) must fulfill conditions different from overseas Koreans from Japan or the USA. So even in the case of overseas Koreans, differentiations are made based on their country of origin, including differences in their rights to stay in Korea. They entered on visiting employee visas which only allowed them to work within 36 types of manual labor jobs and allowed them to stay in Korea for a maximum of five years. In contrast, those in the country for study abroad, business investment, or classified as professionals are able to receive a overseas Korean visa right away and can enter the country and seek employment freely. Different entry conditions based on nationality creates discrimination based on nationality, as well as carries an element of a class hierarchy.
The main subjects for this paper are Korean Chinese with relatives in Korea or those who have repatriated. Compared to other migrants, the level of discrimination they face in regards to entry, settlement, and employment is the lowest so they can be seen as being in an advantageous situation. However, in reality, even these migrants are not free from sociocultural discrimination. Even in the case of those who have repatriated, within Korea they end up living within the lower working class, unable to be free of the discriminatory label of “Joseon Jok". Even JoseonJok factory workers who receive conditions for stay, guaranteed health insurance, and guaranteed wage levels, a minority, end up doing the labor that most Korean nationals avoid, such as textiles, painting, steel manufacturing, and similar lines of work. In other words, for those entering Korea as migrants, regardless of their community, cannot be free of discrimination based on citizenship, ethnicity, and class.
In this paper, through factory participant observation, I will examine how members of the “JoseonJok" utilize all the positive cultural property they have at their disposal and based on the situation, they command “Strategic self-identification" in order to change their position. Through various “Strategic self-identification", “Chinese JoseonJok" justify their position within Korean society. For example, they contrast themselves favorably from ethnic Chinese who “are lazy and unable to speak Korean well", emphasize that they are overseas Koreans compared to Southeast Asian migrant workers, reiterate that they are the same ethnicity as native Koreans, emphasize their transnational and cosmopolitan scope as compared to native Korean of the working class who have “a narrow, limited scope". In addition, through concepts of “regionalism" they equate discrimination as that against “someone from a different region", weakening the meaning of “citizen" and “ethnicity".
This self-identification points out that migrants perceive the nation-state's exclusive properties, as well its ethnic and class problems. At the same time we can also see that when migrants cross borders, they strategically use their cultural property in order to overcome these forms of discrimination. We can see their strategic self-identification as ethnic minorities, minorities, and culturally weak persons within the nation-state, which is achieved by expanding their transnational lifestyles and roles and relativizing discrimination.
