ABSTRACT
This ethnographic study describes how immigrant Korean women teaching at a community-based Korean heritage language (HL) school were committed to teaching heritage language literacies and cultural traditions, and in doing so, expanded their literate practices. The study was situated in the intersection of gender and ethnic identities, transnationalism, and a view of gender as a sociocultural construction performed in daily practices based on cultural expectations and norms. The focal participants were first-generation immigrants who shared their heritage language and literacies at a community-based heritage language school. Findings illustrated how immigrants continued to construct and perform their identities valued by their ethnolinguistic communities, but their newly lived experiences transformed their gender and ethnic identities. These Korean women’s lived experiences as immigrants and as mothers influenced their roles as teachers; how they transmitted cultural practices and preserved cultural heritage through literacies; how their views of gender roles influenced their values and behaviors as teachers; and how these experiences provided opportunities for them to reshape their literacy practices. The study provides insights into the nuances and challenges in women’s roles in preserving heritage languages, literacies, and cultures.
