Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea

In this unique and insightful book, Markus Bell explores the hidden histories of the men, women, and children who traveled from Japan to the world’s most secretive state—North Korea. Through vivid ethnographic details and interviews with North Korean escapees, Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea reveals the driving forces that propelled thousands of ordinary people to risk it all in Kim Il-Sung’s “Worker’s Paradise”, only to escape back to Japan half a century later.

Markus Bell is an anthropologist specializing in migration, with over a decade of experience working with displaced people and migrant workers in the Asia Pacific. He has taught at the Australian National University, University of Sheffield, and Goethe University Frankfurt.

Contents

Introduction. When There’s Nothing Left
1. Remembering the Exodus
2. Marriage and Mobility
3. Becoming a Foreigner in North Korea
4. Choosing Japan
5. Freedom, the Impossible Gift
6. Mobility, Memory, and the Fractured Self
Conclusion. Reimagining Refugees: From Crisis to Solution in Modern Japan

Source: publisher’s website