다문화 연구에서의 질적 연구 방법론의 활용과 가치 = 구술생애사를 중심으로

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Even though the qualitative research has been applied and practiced in a number of disciplines, the application of qualitative research methods in multicultural studies has not been so long. Therefore, it is appropriate to review how it can be applied to multicultural research and how the latter should be done in the anthropology.
Oral history data are subjective and personal, because it is the records of an individual who writes about his own life in his own words. Because of these characteristics, their value as historical data has been often controversial. But it could be also argued that the value of oral history data is based on the subjectivity and individuality itself. Thus oral history would provide a point of view to consider the society and the structure through the individual.
This study examines how immigrants are actually being reproduced in the oral history data. As a result, it could be argued that, although every collection of oral history data attempts to represent migrants as a subjective agency, they often reveal limits not to show the social and cultural context. So they regard migrants from the ‘victim’s point of view,’ only as ‘objects for mercy’ or as ‘the being without agency’. Oral history is a study that will understand how the concept of society and culture is defined by the individual. Therefore, oral history should be a study that tracks the social context. Then the experience of those who have spoken would be historical.
Use and value of qualitative research methodology in the multicultural studies lies in identifying ‘our’ problems which the current society is faced with, based on the personal, subjective experience and recollection of immigrants, and in deriving a method to solve the problem in the context of their lives.