The Cost of Belonging: An Ethnography of Solidarity and Mobility in Beijing's Koreatown

March 12, 2021

Friday, March 12, 2021 | 3 - 4:30 pm (EST) | via Zoom

In the past ten years, China has rapidly emerged as South Korea's most important economic partner. With the surge of goods and resources between the two countries, large waves of Korean migrants have opened small ethnic firms in Beijing's Koreatown, turning a once barren wasteland into the largest Korean enclave in the world. The Cost of Belonging: An Ethnography of Solidarity and Mobility in Beijing's Koreatown fills a critical gap in East Asian and migration studies through an investigation of how the rise of transnationalism has impacted the social and economic lives of South Koreans searching for wealth and stability in China. Based off in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, this book studies the tensions, relationships, and perceptions in the ethnic enclave of Wangjing between Korean Chinese cultural brokers and South Koreans starting out as entrepreneurs.

Prof. Sharon J. Yoon is Assistant Professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. She received her Ph.D. in sociology at Princeton University. Her research focuses on the Korean diaspora in China and Japan. She is the author of The Cost of Belonging: An Ethnography of Solidarity and Mobility in Beijing's Koreatown (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Chair: Hyun Ok Park (Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Korean Office for Research and Education (KORE) at York University)

This event is organized by Hae Yeon Choo (University of Toronto) and is presented by the Korean Office for Research and Education (KORE) at York University which is funded by the Academy of Korean studies, and the Centre for the Study of Korea (CSK) at the University of Toronto.

View the PDF version of the event poster

For more information: kore@yorku.ca