한국 이주 아랍 무슬림의 혼인과 정착, 그리고 문화적응에 관한 연구

Marriage, Settlement and Acculturation of the Arab Muslim Immigrants in Korean Society

This paper focuses on Marriage, Settlement and Acculturation of the Arab Muslim Immigrants in Korean Society, as the second year subject of the project on "Acculturation and Adaptation of Immigrant Muslims in Korean Society: Coexisting with Koslims in a Multi-Cultural Society". The main purpose of this paper is to understand how Arab immigrants got married to Korean people, how they could settle down in Korean society, and what kind of acculturation strategies they adopt between Korean culture and their own. As for their marriage to Koreans and structural settlement are classified respectively by marital and structural assimilation based on Yinger and Gordon's classification of assimilations. Acculturation strategies of the immigrant Muslims were analyzed out upon Berry's theory which divides them into four types - assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization - according to immigrants' attitude toward their own culture and the culture of new society. The number of intermarriage between Koreans and immigrant Arabs in Korean society can be counted by the number of Arab immigrants who are naturalized in Korea, newly acquired Korean citizenship, and hold F-2-1 visa. According to the statistical data by the Ministry of Justice in the year 2007, the number of Arab immigrants who were naturalized in Korea or acquired Korean citizenship was only 54, and the number of those holding F-2-1 visa, which is considered as residence qualification for Korean citizens' foreign spouses, was 79. The research method of this paper relied mainly on semi-structured interviews, which contain questions about personal character, marriage process, troubles and solutions regarding marital life, relationship with Koreans, and cultural attitudes. The interviewees include 7 Arab men, and 3 Arab women who got married to Korean people. The Arabic language was used for interviews, in order to make the interviewees feel comfortable to say frankly about their lifestyle in Korea.