Borderland Dreams: The Transnational Lives of Korean Chinese Workers

Borderland Dreams by June Hee Kwon explores the "Korean dream" of Korean Chinese workers migrating from China to South Korea, transforming them into a transnational ethnicized class. Kwon analyzes the desires of Korean Chinese to "leave to live better" in the context of neoliberalizing regimes in China and South Korea.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 17 November 2023
Publisher: Duke University Press

In her captivating ethnography, Borderland Dreams, June Hee Kwon delves into the profound journey of the "Korean dream," which has driven a significant migration of Korean Chinese workers from the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in northeast China to South Korea since the early 1990s. Through a meticulous exploration of the interplay between bodies, money, and time, Kwon unveils the transformative effects of this migration on these workers, transforming them into a transnational ethnicized class. Kwon's analysis delves into the enduring aspiration of Korean Chinese individuals to "leave to live better," situated at the crossroads of the neoliberalizing regimes of post-socialist China and post-Cold War South Korea. By closely examining the complex dynamics between the Korean Chinese, North and South Koreans, and Han Chinese whose lives intertwine in the borderland, Kwon captures the diverse and multifaceted aspirations of these workers, caught between the rising Chinese dream and the waning Korean dream. This insightful work sheds light on the intricate social, economic, and cultural forces that shape their lives and offers a poignant reflection on the complexities of identity and belonging in a rapidly changing global landscape.

Weight: 522g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478020516