Negotiating hybridity: transnational reconstruction of migrant subjectivity in Koreatown, Los Angeles

Abstract

Transnationalism has emerged as a key factor in altering immigrant ethnic enclaves by networking them with global flows of capital and labor. A quintessential example is Koreatown in Los Angeles, often portrayed as the ‘overseas Korean capital.’ The area has experienced rapid transition since the mid-1990s that is related to a huge influx of South Korean transnational investment and, concomitantly, migrants of various backgrounds. This study investigates the resulting transformation of the built environment, residential composition, and social relations in Koreatown. Of particular interest are the ways in which Korean and other transnational migrants flexibly alter their identities in terms of the situations in which they exist. Semi-structured and informal interviews with key informants were conducted, focusing on autobiographic narrations related to the discursive structure of their identities. Information from mainstream and Korean-American newspapers and previous academic work also are central to interpreting the qualitative data. We argue that, in contrast to the common view, Los Angeles's Koreatown is a highly multicultural, heterogeneous space. Therefore, it is suggested that this area should be reconsidered as a hybrid, rather than homogeneous, space where intra- and interethnic identities are flexibly reproduced, contested, and combined in the course of localized global interactions.

Keywords:

• Los Angeles Koreatown
• transnationalism
• multiculturalism
• undocumented workers
• flexible identities
• hybrid space

Acknowledgements

This paper was written while Youngmin Lee was a visiting scholar at the Ohio State University Department of Geography, which welcomed him into its excellent professional environment. He is particularly indebted to Larry Brown for his valuable comments and suggestions in writing this paper and to Morton O'Kelly who, as Department Chair, provided essential infrastructure and support for a successful 2006–07 academic year. Editing was carried out by Susan Mantey Vaughn, and her work is much appreciated. Both authors express deep appreciation to the interviewees who gave them valuable time and constitute an integral element of this paper.

Notes

1. In more detail, the sample included 12 documented Koreans (10 male, 2 female); 8 undocumented Koreans (4 male, 4 female); and 1 non-Korean, a documented male Bangladeshi. Among the documented Koreans, 4 were NGO employees, 2 professionals, 2 small business owners, 1 realtor, 1 large business owner, 1 student, and 1 housewife.

2. Affluent Koreans also carry the Kirerki practice to other English-speaking countries such as Canada, Australia, or South Africa.

3. Most Chosun-jok are Koreans from Manchuria, the Northeastern portion of China that borders North Korea, where Yenbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture is located. They migrated there to escape from the Japanese violent colonial rule in Korea in the early twentieth century. Although most of their descendents have maintained the Korean language and culture in China, they are customarily called ‘Cho-sun-jok’ both by themselves and by Koreans (Cho-sun is the name of the last Dynasty of Korea that perished in 1910).

4. They refer to Chinese and their descendents having lived in Korea, who had emigrated from either pre-communized mainland China or Taiwan in the early and mid-twentieth century