Koreatowns: Exploring the Economics, Politics, and Identities of Korean Spatial Formation

This collection defines Koreatowns as spatial configurations that concentrate elements of “Korea” demographically, economically, politically, and culturally. The contributors provide exploratory accounts and critical evaluations of Koreatowns in different countries throughout the world. Ranging from familiar settings such as Los Angeles and New York City, to more unfamiliar locales such as Singapore, Beijing, Mexico, U.S.-Mexico borderlands, and the American Midwest, this collection not only examines the social characteristics and contours of these spaces, but also the types of discourses and symbols that they exude.

Jinwon Kim is assistant professor in the Department of Social Science at New York City College of Technology.

Soo Mee Kim is lecturer in sociology at California State University, Los Angeles.

Stephen Cho Suh is assistant professor of sociology and women’s and ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Source: publisher’s website

Contents

Part I: Koreatowns as Economic Formations

Chapter One: The Emergence of a Transborder Koreatown in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region | Minjeong Kim
Chapter Two: A Tale of Two Enclaves: Divergent Trajectories among South Korean Educational Migrants in Los Angeles’ Koreatown | Carolyn Choi
Chapter Three: Transnational Entrepreneurship in Manhattan’s Koreatown | Jinwon Kim

Part II: Politics of Koreatowns

Chapter Four: The Split Enclave: Transnationalism and Co-ethnic Conflict in Beijing’s Koreatown | Sharon J. Yoon
Chapter Five: Another Koreatown: Korean Military Brides and Their Forgotten Communities | Yuri W. Doolan
Chapter Six: Being Seen and Not Heard: Impact of Redistricting on Koreatown | Soo Mee Kim

Part III: Koreatowns and Culture

Chapter Seven: The Emergence of Koreatown in Singapore and a Global Community of K-culture Fans | Hyo Kyung Woo
Chapter Eight: The Reterritorialization of Mexico City’s Koreatown, “Little Seoul,” through the Overseas Popularity of Hallyu | Cassandra Gutierrez
Chapter Nine: Reframing the “Riots”: Locating Koreatown in Contemporary Korean American Retellings of the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising | Stephen Cho Suh