Professor Edward Taehan Chang of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) has announced an upcoming national survey with the Young Oak Kim Center as his last goal before retirement. In this upcoming survey, Chang hopes to interview Korean-American immigrants around the nation and their overall happiness with their life in America. Chang hopes that this will be a great opportunity for immigrants to voice their triumphs and concerns as 2024 marks over 120 years since Koreans first immigrated to America.
Professor Chang has been a pioneer in Asian American ethnic studies throughout his academic career. Earning his B.A. in sociology and Ph.D in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Chang was one of six prospective professors in the newly added Ethnic Studies department at the time. In 1994, when Chang earned his Ph.D, he recalls that UC Berkeley was the first college to announce this new department of ethnic studies. Having immigrated from Korea, he was fascinated by the opportunity to be able to learn more and focus on Asian American studies. A salient issue he recalls at the time was the 1992 L.A. Riots, he remembers being politically involved in the protests and writing articles on the historic Black and Korean-American conflicts within Southern California.
As an expert of ethnic issues regarding Korean-Americans and being a voice for his own community for the past 30 years, Chang announces that he is getting ready to retire. In his office, he shows unfinished research and records of comfort women that are uncompleted, and new primary historical documents. He hopes to continue this legacy of research through his esteemed Young Oak Kim Research Center for Korean Americans. The Young Oak Kim Center remains the only research center for Korean Americans.
Regarding his retirement, Chang announced that his last goal is to conduct a nationwide survey to measure overall levels of happiness among Korean American immigrants while taking into account which generation they are a part of and their geopolitical areas that they reside in. This survey will help understand the success that Korean American immigrants have had in certain states or regions as a minority community. Conducting this survey will bolster the voices of Korean American immigrants throughout the nation.
<Heather(Seoyoung) Yang Student reporter>hseoyoungy@gmail.com
Seoyoung Yang is a Student in Immaculate Heart High School. She is interested in Koreatown, its gentrification phenomenon, and Korean American culture.
