UC Berkeley

The dissertation explores the negotiation of culture and identity from the literary production of Korean immigrants in Brazil. The dissertation also explores how Korean immigrants begin a process of diasporic narrative as a way to construct an alternative space and a Korean Brazilian identity. By following the status of Self through the writings of Cultura Tropical, a Korean Brazilian identity evolves through three stages of negotiation. The Korean community of 50, 000 is a small minority group but rapidly growing in socioeconomic sectors of Brazil. Their narratives and cultural discourse convey experiences of tension and cultural affiliation. They create a literary space to debate and contemplate how Korea or Brazil is a sanctuary to mix languages, literary genres, voices and reflections related to the Brazilian immigrant life.

The study of this dissertation presents the search and the trace of new Asian voices in Brazil for further understanding of how they view themselves within Brazilian culture and what it means for them to claim "Brazilian" as part of their identity. The focus of this piece will concentrate on Korean immigration in Brazil and thus far the only existent literary journal by the community known as Cultura Tropical. Finding themselves, quickly building a business and social space in São Paulo, their experiences are embodied as short stories, poems and essays in which they manifest a new and contemporary relationship between the Korean and Brazilian cultures. Can the notion of Asian ethnicity pose to be included or excluded in Brazilian society and literary culture? From this, we will be able to further identify if Korean immigrant discourses can be part of the current framework of Brazilian foundational literature and cultural studies.