ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what crafts and other tourist objects can mean to Korean immigrants whose home is in the United States. Craft objects are collectible, portable, displayable, and sharable. When removed from their original cultural contexts and displaced in new contexts, the objects take on new functions that are different from their original meaning. Crafts objects carry stories, typically associations with Koreans’ lives before moving to the United States. Many people bring with them craft objects when they leave their homeland, ranging from half-century-old furniture and utilitarian objects, to decorative displays, such as folding screens, chests inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and wood carvings. The designs, forms, and symbols in many craft objects represent the traditional lifestyle and culture of the country. Craft objects help generate a momentary break from Americanized immigrant life and create a place of refuge that takes immigrants back to their childhood and neighborhood, awakening their intrinsic Koreanness, and invoking nostalgia of the present.
