Reimagining independence: Relational selves in the Korean disability justice movement

Abstract

This ethnographic study examines how Korean mothers of young adults with severe developmental disabilities reinterpret Western notions of independent living through locally embedded frameworks of selfhood. Drawing on 2 years of fieldwork with the Korean Parents’ Network for People with Disabilities and in-depth interviews with 31 activist mothers, this article argues that activist mothers reframe independence not only as self-sufficiency but also as the capacity to claim socially recognized roles through community participation based on a sociocultural understanding of personhood. Concretely, through the vision of a ‘meaningful daytime’, mothers seek pathways for their children to restore their independent selves by entitling social titles and responsibilities embedded in social relationships. This reinterpretation further prompted mothers to reflect on their own erosion of identity as long-term caregiving extended. Foregrounding fluid, contextual, and performative approaches to selfhood, this article concludes by theorizing the cultural translation of mobilizing ideas within non-Western disability justice and human rights movements, expanding current sociological debates on globalization, intersectionality, and rights discourse.