The Novel by Katja Petrowskaja “Perhaps Esther”: Fictional Topography of a Family

The literary debut, the novel “Maybe Esther” by Katja Petrowskaja, was published in 2014 in the Berlin publishing house “Suhrkamp” in German and immediately fell into the bestseller category. The work caused a considerable resonance in the German-speaking cultural environment. Even before the appearance of a full-fledged novel, the author received one of the most prestigious literary awards – the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for reading of a fragment from a future book, which would later appear in a work called “Babi Yar”. However, the laureate wasn’t an ethnic German woman, but an immigrant – Ukrainian by origin, born in Kyiv. The young author tells the story of his multicultural family (Ukrainian / Polish / Jewish / Russian) going deeper up to the 19th century. Through specific events of a small family such significant phenomena as revolution, war, ghetto, concentration camp, Holocaust, Babi Yar, occupation, various kinds of persecution etc. are seen. Therefore, a mosaic of small self-sufficient stories emerges, which create a large historical panel. The author is the bearer of a multifaceted and complex genetic memory.

Comparison of Association Between Divorce and Access to Healthcare Services Among Married Immigrants

The number of married immigrants is increasing in Korea, and family dissolution is also growing in this population. Although divorce could impact immigrants' health status, it is unclear whether they have difficulties accessing healthcare and medical services. Thus, we examined whether divorce in married immigrants is independently associated with access to healthcare services. A retrospective analysis of 11,778 adults who participated in the 2018 National Multicultural Family Survey. We used three different covariate adjustment methods (multivariate logistic regression, inverse probability of treatment weighting, 1:1 greedy propensity score matching) to examine the association between divorce and access to healthcare services after accounting for various demographic and clinical characteristics. Overall, 5.8% (n = 691) of married immigrants reported a history of divorce. The divorce group included 107 (15.5%) males and 584 (84.5%) females, with an average age of 45.17 years (SD = 10.9). The non-divorced group included 1992 males (18.0%) and 9095 (82.0%) females, with an average age of 39.1 years (SD = 10.5). After propensity score matching, all variables were balanced (all p>0.05). Individuals who experienced divorce were more likely to have difficulties in healthcare service access than those who did not experience divorce (adjusted odds ratio 1.423, 95% CI [1.075, 1.882]). Our findings revealed that divorce increased the risk of limited healthcare services among immigrants in Korea. Healthcare policymakers should be aware of the healthcare access issues in this minority population. In addition, to improve the lifestyles of minority populations, it is necessary to study their overall lives.

A Study of Social Integration through Sports Program among Migrant Women in Korea

This study aimed to examine sports programs at multicultural family support centers located throughout the country and present the possibility of social integration through the sports programs. The multicultural sports program showed that it affected the ability of migrant women in international marriages to socially integrate with other women like themselves, their husbands, and the natives, and also affected themselves. In order to clarify the purpose of the research, in-depth interviews were carried out. The collected material was transcribed, encoded, and classified. The results were analyzed from the perspective of sports’ physical, psychological, and social functions. This social integration was shown to be more effective than any other program at the multicultural family support center. Regarding their relationship with their husbands, the program provided opportunities for deepening their mutual understanding. The sports program was also utilized as a place of leisure for the women as well, and it was discovered that sports activities were being used as a means of resolving stress. The migrant women’s life radius and interpersonal relations were small due to their limited linguistic abilities. They provided opportunities to form confidence in their Korean life.