OMNES : The Journal of multicultural society
[ Article ]
OMNES: The Journal of Multicultural Society - Vol. 11, No. 2, pp.72-99
ISSN: 2093-5498 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Jul 2021
Received 30 Apr 2021 Revised 20 Jul 2021 Accepted 26 Jul 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14431/omnes.2021.07.11.2.72

Re-envisioning Diversity Discourses and Practices in South Korean Higher Education through Curricular Interventions

Sarang Kim
University of California, San Diego, United States

Abstract

Despite increasing racial/ethnic diversity on Korean college campuses and the society as a whole, few educational spaces exist for Korean college students to meaningfully and critically engage with the issues related to race and diversity. Drawing upon the literature on diversity in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States as a conceptual roadmap, this study explores the potential utility and applicability of curricular diversity in the context of Korean HEIs and argues that more intentional efforts need to be made to raise critical consciousness about race and diversity among Korean college students through curricular interventions. To this end, this paper first examines the dominant diversity discourse and practices in Korean HEIs to set the context for the current paper’s argument. Then, the paper discusses the implications of curricular diversity on Korean college campuses at the individual and societal levels and provides recommendations for implementing such curricular strategies at the classroom level. The paper concludes with a discussion on the limitations of the current inquiry and suggestions for future research.

Keywords:

Korean higher education, curricular diversity, college students, critical consciousness, race and diversity

References

  • Ahn, J. (2018). Mixed-race politics and neoliberal multiculturalism in South Korea media (East Asian popular culture series). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65774-5]
  • Barnhardt, C. L., Sheets, J. E., & Pasquesi, K. (2015). You expect what? Students’ perceptions as resources in acquiring commitments and capacities for civic engagement. Research in Higher Education, 56, 622–644. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-014-9361-8]
  • Bowman, N. A. (2010). Disequilibrium and resolution: The nonlinear effects of diversity courses on well-being and orientations toward diversity. The Review of Higher Education, 33(4), 543–568. [https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.0.0172]
  • Castellanos, M., & Cole, D. (2015). Disentangling the impact of diversity courses: Examining the influence of diversity course content on students’ civic engagement. Journal of College Student Development, 56(8), 794–811. [https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2015.0089]
  • Chang, M. J. (2002a). Preservation or transformation: Where’s the real educational discourse on diversity? The Review of Higher Education, 25(2), 125–140. [https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2002.0003]
  • Chang, M. J. (2002b). The impact of an undergraduate diversity course requirement on students’ racial views and attitudes. The Journal of General Education, 51(1), 21–42. [https://doi.org/10.1353/jge.2002.0002]
  • Chang, M. J. (2013). Post-Fisher: The unfinished research agenda on student diversity in higher education. Educational Researcher, 42(3), 172–173. [https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X13486764]
  • Chang. M. J., Witt, D. Jones, J., & Hakuta, K. (Eds.), (2003). Compelling interest: Examining the evidence on racial dynamics in colleges and universities. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Cho, Y., & Kim, K. (2017). The effects of university students’ personal variables and multicultural acceptability on the perception and attitude of Korean-Chinese in Korea. Multiculture and Peace, 11(3), 24–50. [https://doi.org/10.22446/mnpisk.2017.11.3.002]
  • Cho. Y., & Palmer, J. D. (2013). Stakeholders’ views of South Korea’s higher education internationalization policy. Higher Education, 65, 291–308. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9544-1]
  • Coburn, C. E. (2003). Rethinking scale: Moving beyond numbers to deep and lasting change. Educational Researcher, 32(6), 3–12. [https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X032006003]
  • Denson, N. (2009). Do curricular and co-curricular diversity activities influence racial bias? A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 805–838. [https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309331551]
  • Denson, N., & Bowman, N. A. (2017). Do diversity courses make a difference? A critical examination of college diversity coursework and student outcomes. In M. B. Paulsen (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 35–84). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48983-4_2]
  • Denson, N., Bowman, N. A., Ovenden, G., Culver, K., & Holmes, J. M. (2020). Do diversity course improve college student outcomes? A meta-analysis. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. [https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000189]
  • Denson, N., & Chang, M. J. (2009). Racial diversity matters: The impact of diversity-related student engagement and institutional context. American Educational Research Journal, 46(2), 322–353. [https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831208323278]
  • Dos Santos, L. M. (2020). The challenging experiences of international students in South Korea: The neo-racism perspective. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(12B), 8102–8109. [https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2020.082612]
  • Finnigan, K. S., & Daly, A. J. (2012). Mind the gap: Organizational learning and improvement in an underperforming urban system. American Journal of Education, 119(1), 41–71. [https://doi.org/10.1086/667700]
  • Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. (2021, March 11). Gi-Wook shin on racism in South Korea. Retrieved from https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/gi-wook-shin-racism-south-korea, .
  • Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
  • Gurin, P., Dey, E., Hurtado, S., & Gurin, G. (2002). Diversity and higher education: Theory and impact on educational outcomes. Harvard Educational Review, 72(3), 330–366. [https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.72.3.01151786u134n051]
  • Hogan, D. E., & Mallott, M. (2005). Changing racial prejudice through diversity education. Journal of College Student Development, 46(2), 115–125. [https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2005.0015]
  • Hurtado, S. (2007). Linking diversity with the educational and civic missions of higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 30(2), 185–196. [https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2006.0070]
  • Hurtado, S., Mayhew, M. J., & Engberg, M. E. (2012). Diversity courses and students’ moral reasoning: A model of predispositions and change. Journal of Education, 41(2), 201–224. [https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2012.670931]
  • Hurtado, S., Milem, F. J., Clayton-Pederson, R. A., & Allen, R. W. (1998). Enhancing campus climates for racial/ethnic diversity: Educational policy and practice. The Review of Higher Education, 21, 279–302. [https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.1998.0003]
  • In, T. (2009). The study on conscious research of university student’s in Busan city and Kyungsangnamdo toward ethno-racial distances and cultural diversity. Journal of International Area Studies, 13(2), 339–369. [https://doi.org/10.18327/jias.2009.07.13.2.339]
  • Jahng, K., & Lee, S. (2013). A poststructuralist analysis of multicultural education in South Korea. KEDI Journal of Educational Policy, 10(2), 293–314.
  • Jon, J. (2013). Realizing internationalization at home in Korean higher education: Promoting domestic students’ interaction with international students and intercultural competence. Journal of Studies in International Education, 17(4), 455–470. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315312468329]
  • Jun, E. (2019). “Voices of ordinary citizens”: Ban damunwha and its neoliberal affect of anti-immigration in South Korea. Critical Asian Studies, 51(3), 386–402. [https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2019.1619466]
  • Jung, M., & Park, O. (2014). A study on the effects of multicultural education experience of university students on social distance and multicultural acceptance: Focus on university students of Cheungbuk. Multicultural Education Studies, 7(2), 81–105. [https://doi.org/10.14328/MES.2014.06.30.081]
  • Ka, Y. (2016). Going global and adapting to local context: Handong global university in South Korea. In I. Jung, M. Nishimura., & T. Sasao (Eds.), Liberal arts education and colleges in East Asia: Possibilities and challenges in the global age. (pp. 39–49). Singapore, Singapore: Springer. [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0513-8_4]
  • Kezar, A. (2018). How colleges change: Understanding, leading, and enacting change (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315121178]
  • Kim, E. (2015). A critical analysis of empirical studies on schooling experiences of multicultural adolescents. The Journal of Youth Studies, 18(11), 305–330.
  • Kim, J. [Jonghun]. (2014). The politics of inclusion/exclusion: Critical discourse analysis on multicultural education policy documents in South Korea. Multicultural Education Review, 6(2), 1–24. [https://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2014.11102910]
  • Kim, J. [Jaekyun]. (2015). Yellow over Black: History of race in Korea and the new study of race and empire. Critical Sociology, 41(2), 205–217. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920513507787]
  • Kim, J. [Jin-Hee]. (2016). Racism, equity, and quality of education for international students in South Korean higher education institutes. Frontiers of Education in China, 11, 338–355. [https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03397126]
  • Kim, J. [Jin-Hee]., & Jeon, H. (2017). Anti-multiculturalism and the future direction of multicultural education in South Korea. Curriculum Perspectives, 37, 181–189. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-017-0025-7]
  • Kim, J. K., Basile, V., Jaime-Diaz, J., & Black, R. (2018). Internal orientalism and multicultural acts: The challenges of multicultural education in Korea. Multicultural Education Review, 10(1), 3–17. [https://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2018.1423540]
  • Kim, M. (2019). A critical multicultural approach to Korean English education for socially just diversity. OMNES: The Journal of Multicultural Society, 9(2), 78–99. [https://doi.org/10.14431/omnes.2019.07.9.2.78]
  • Kim, N. Y. (2008). Imperial citizens: Koreans and race from Seoul to LA. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Kim, N. Y. (2015). Race-ing toward the real South Korea: The cases of Black-Korean nationals and African migrants. In J. Lie (Ed.), Multiethnic Korea? Multiculturalism, migration, and peoplehood diversity in contemporary South Korea (pp. 211–243). Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies.
  • Kim, S. (2012). Racism in the global era: Analysis of Korean media discourse around migrants, 1990–2009. Discourse & Society, 23(6), 657–678. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926512455381]
  • Lee, J., Jon, J., & Byun, K. (2016). Neo-racism and neo-nationalism within East Asia: The experiences of international students in South Korea. Journal of Studies in International Education, 21(2), 136–155. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315316669903]
  • Lee, M. (2014). Analysis of European Diploma in Intercultural Competence (EDICC): Implication on the multicultural education in Korean university. Contemporary Society and Multiculture, 4(2), 1–35.
  • Lee, S. (2011). A study on multicultural education cases by role of university: Focusing on domain of education, research and service. Journal of Korean Practical Arts Education, 24(4), 113–137.
  • Lee, Y., & Yoon, I. (2020). Exploring race consciousness among South Korean college students through sport. Quest, 72(3), 338–357. [https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2020.1749860]
  • Lewis, C. (2015). What is improvement science? Do we need it in education?. Educational Researcher, 44(1), 54–61. [https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15570388]
  • Lim, D. K., & Kim, C. S. (2011). A study on Korean college students’ perception of multi-cultural society and its antecedent factors: Focusing on social distance, image of foreign residents, and qualifications for being a Korean. Korean Journal of Communication Studies, 19(1), 5–34.
  • Marin, P. (2000). The educational possibility of multi-racial/multi-ethnic college classrooms. Washington, DC: American Council on Education and American Association of University Professors.
  • Milem, H., Chang, M., & Antonio, A. (2005). Making diversity work on campus: A research-based perspective. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
  • Min, H., Xie, L., & Park, J. (2019). Troubles in the globalization of Korean universities: The lack of communication and emerging tension between domestic and international students. Korean Journal of Communication Studies, 27(1), 5–32. [https://doi.org/10.23875/kca.27.1.1]
  • Moon, R. J. (2016). Internationalization without cultural diversity? Higher education in Korea. Comparative Education, 52(1), 91–108. [https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2015.1125679]
  • Moon, R. J., & Shin, G. (2016). Korean higher education: Internationalization, but not diversity. In Oh, Y., Shin, G., & Moon, R. J. (Eds.), Internationalizing Higher Education in Korea: Challenges and opportunities in comparative perspective (pp. 89–108). Stanford, CA: Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.
  • Nelson Laird, T. F. (2005). College students’ experiences with diversity and their effects on academic self-confidence, social agency, and disposition toward critical thinking. Research in Higher Education, 46, 365–387. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-005-2966-1]
  • Nelson Laird, T. F. (2011). Measuring the diversity inclusivity of college courses. Research in Higher Education, 52, 572–588. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-010-9210-3]
  • Nelson Laird, T. F., & Engberg, M. E. (2011). Establishing differences between diversity requirements and other courses with varying degrees of diversity inclusivity. The Journal of General Education, 60(2), 117–137. [https://doi.org/10.1353/jge.2011.0012]
  • Nelson Laird, T. F., Engberg, M. E., & Hurtado, S. (2005). Modeling accentuation effects: Enrolling in a diversity course and the importance of social action engagement. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(4), 448–476. [https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2005.11772292]
  • Park, S., & Ko, J. (2015). Factors affecting diversity experiences of college students: An analysis of institutional difference. Korean Journal of Educational Administration, 33(2), 319–342.
  • Parker, E. T., Barnhardt, C. L., Pascarella, E. T., & McCowin, J. A. (2016). The impact of diversity courses on college students’ moral development. Journal of College Student Development, 57(4), 395–410. [https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2016.0050]
  • Philip, M. T. (2011). An “ideology in pieces” approach to studying change in teachers’ sensemaking about race, racism, and racial justice. Cognition and Instruction, 29(3), 297–329. [https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2011.583369]
  • Piaget, J. (1971). The theory of stages in cognitive development. In D. R. Green, M. P. Ford, & G. B. Flamer (Eds.), Measurement and Piaget (pp. 1–111). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
  • Shin, G. (2012). Racist South Korea? Diverse but not tolerant of diversity. In K. Rotem, & D. Walter (Eds.), Race and racism in modern East Asia: Western and Eastern constructions (pp. 369–390). Boston, MA: Brill. [https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004237414_016]
  • Smith, D. G. (2009). Diversity’s promise for higher education: Making it work (1st ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Strachan, J. C., & Owens, C. T. (2011). Learning civic identity outside of the classroom: Diversity and campus associational life. Journal of Political Science Education, 7(4), 464–482. [https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2011.615198]
  • Tanghe, S. (2016). Promoting critical racial awareness in teacher education in Korea: Reflections on a racial discrimination simulation activity. Asian Pacific Education Review, 17, 203–215. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-016-9424-y]
  • Vianden, J. (2018). “In all honesty, you don’t learn much”: White college men’s perceptions of diversity courses and instructors. International Journal of Teaching Learning in Higher Education, 30(3), 465–476.
  • Warikoo, N. K., & Deckman, S. L. (2014). Beyond the numbers: Institutional influences on experiences with diversity on elite college campuses. Sociological Forum, 29(4), 959–981. [https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12128]
  • Warikoo, N. K., & de Novais, J. (2015) Colour-blindness and diversity: Race frames and their consequences for white undergraduates at elite US universities. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38(6), 860–876. [https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2014.964281]
  • Winkler, E. N. (2018). Racism as a threshold concept: Examining learning in a ‘diversity requirement’ course. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(6), 808–826. [https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1294564]
  • Yi, Y. (2017). The status quo of racial discrimination in Japan and the Republic of Korea and the need to provide for anti-discrimination laws. Columbia Journal of Race and Law, 7(2), 410–467.
  • You, D., & Matteo, E. (2013). Assessing the effectiveness of undergraduate diversity courses using the multicultural experiences questionnaire. Journal of College and Character, 14(1), 59–66. [https://doi.org/10.1515/jcc-2013-0008]
  • Yuk, J. (2016). The (mis)understanding of race and racism in multicultural Korea. Korean Journal of Sociology, 50(6), 125–145. [https://doi.org/10.21562/kjs.2016.12.50.6.125]
Biographical Note

Sarang Kim (she/her) is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Education Studies at the University of California, San Diego. She received her B.A. in East Asian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and M.A. in English Language Teaching at the International Graduate School of English in Seoul, South Korea. Sarang Kim’s current research focuses on the issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity in higher education from a comparative perspective between Korea and the US. Email: sak014@ucsd.edu