Space and Environment

Abstract

Gentrification has become a buzzword in recent years as social conflicts betweentenants and landlords over Commercial Tenancy Act have expanded. TakeoutDrawing, a cafe and cultural space in Hannam, has emphasized that these are notprivate problems but social disasters and tried to overcome its disaster through culturalresistance. By addressing the case of Takeout Drawing, this paper discussesthe social, physical and psychological aspects of urban disasters, and analyses thecontribution and limitation of cultural resistance. In comparison with the previousanti-gentrification movements focused on squatting, Takeout Drawing’s cultural resistancehas emphasized the public context of displacement and contributed to theexpansion of social consensus of urban disaster. The anti-gentrification movementof Takeout Drawing has yielded insights into the gaps between tenants’ right andlandlords’ right, as Takeout Drawing obtained for all its space around its use valuesagainst exchange value.

Abstract

Recent activism and studies are seeing an increased use of the terms, enclosureand commoning, in entangling the relationship of physical displacement and normativecontrol of urban spaces and galvanizing practices. Taking the conceptual lensof enclosure and commoning, this study looks at a case of Takeout Drawing, anindependent artspace/café in Seoul. Diverse artists, cultural activists, and researchersgathered to combat forced eviction attempts by the landlord in 2015, labeling itas gentrification. This study is based on a 9-month long militant research in thefield and on media representations of the unfolding events. Findings suggest thatthe public perception embodies more than a mere spectator’ position, leading toauthoritarian legalism to judge and justify violence. Takeout Drawing attemptedto broaden their struggle to include shared concerns of those deprived of their rightsin current urban crisis. ‘Disaster’, ‘refugee’, and ‘great asylum’ are symbolic languagesTakeout Drawing used to create ruptures in the current power relations. In conclusion I argue that the uneven boundaries of ‘actually existing urban commons’are negotiated by ceaseless insurgencies, allowing re-imagination on cities ascollectively produced commons.

Abstract

This paper investigates the socio-spatial changes and the place-making of Guro,a southwestern district of metropolitan Seoul. Home to the old ‘Guro IndustrialComplex’ in the 1960～90s, the area used to be consisted of organically formedworking class neighborhoods alongside low-rise factory buildings. Since the early2000s, the Complex has obtained a new name ― ‘G Valley(Digital Complex)’ ―through a state-sponsored, corporate-led industrial restructuring project that causeddisplacement on a massive scale. Old manufacturing industries of textile and electronicsgave way to new industries such as ICT and fashion, which located themselvesin newly built high-rise apartment-style factory and residential buildings. This restructuringsplit the district’s residential area into different segments, each populatedby old-time residents, community activists, young ‘creative’ industry workers, andKorean-Chinese returnees. In particular, artists and cultural entrepreneurs thatmoved into these run-down parts of the neighborhood have recently contributedto the physical preservation as well as symbolic reconstruction of the town. All thesechanges are interwoven in the name of urban regeneration and community building,which consists of both top-down policy and bottom-up activism at the same time. Thus Guro has become politically and culturally sensitive again because of the intersectionbetween industrial mobility, international migration, community activism,and local governance. Neither deindustrialized/gentrified nor dilapidated/deserted,Guro is an interesting place that may betray something unique about East Asianurban regeneration.

Abstract

This study looks at the process of place-of-memory making regarding the SewolFerry disaster through the concept of ‘the territorialization of memory.’ Based onarchival analyses, in-depth interviews, and site visits, the research investigates theformation process of memory classes in Danwon High School, Gwanghwamun Plaza,and a place of memory in Jeju. It focuses on the three aspects of the territorializationof memory, including occupancy of materialized conversion of memory, actors’ occupancyand conflicts, and the expansion of territory through dark tourism. The resultsof this study are as follows. First, the memory became territorialized through thematerials victim students used in their daily lives. Main actors such as recordingactivists and victims’ parents engaged in a discourse competition with other parentson the right to study. As a result of the conflict, the memory becamede-territorialized. Second, the Gwanghwamun Plaza represents a case of politicalterritorialization of memory through actors’ physical occupancy. Victims’ parentsand supportive citizens territorialized the memory by occupying the public space. Conservative organization members and the police sent by the national governmentattempted to dissolve the occupancy, and the Seoul government supportedthe occupancy by permitting the victims’ parents and citizens to do it. Third, thememory became re-territorialized by leaving the Korean peninsula for an alternativeplace, Jeju. The re-territorialization of memory was dependent on a network of culturalmigrants, victims of national disasters, and tourists. This research contributesto the understanding of the spatial politics of memory and suggests policy implicationson memory places associated with the Sewol Ferry accident.

Abstract

깁슨-그레엄은 절대적·상대적 공간개념이 모두 여성의 몸과 공간의 생산적 힘을 설명할 수 없다고 비판하면서, 이를 위해서는 공간을 ‘코라’로 이해할 것을 제안한다. 그렇다면 코라는 어떤 공간인가?이에 필자는 우선 코라 공간을 처음으로 언급한 플라톤의 『티마이오스』를 상세하게 분석하면서 이후 포스트구조주의자들이나 여성주의자들이 강조해 발전시키는 코라의 내재적 힘이 코라의 구성성 및 운동성에 대한 플라톤의 언급과 연관되어 있음을 밝히고자 한다. 나아가 필자는 여성주의적·포스트구조주의적 언어이론이 플라톤의 코라가 갖는 힘과 영향력을 어떤 방식으로 전유하고 있는지를 살펴볼 것이다. 다시 말해서 필자는 크리스테바의 여성주의적 포스트구조주의적 언어이론에 나타난 코라의 의미를 살펴보고, 이를 데리다 및 라클라우와 무페의 이론과 연결시키는 가운데, 코라의 내재적 힘이 이질적인 힘들의 ‘절합’에 의해 나타나는 것이며, 이런 점에서 코라는 동일성(의미, 본질, 형상)의 ‘구성적 외부’로 개념화될 수 있음을 보여주고자 한다. 이러한 논의들을 기반으로 하는 가운데 마지막으로 필자는 깁슨-그레엄의 여성주의적 정치경제 지리학에 나타난 코라 공간론을 재구성해 볼 것이다. 이에 따르면 깁슨-그레엄이 말하는 코라는 단순히 대문자 자본주의(동일성, 형상)를 받아들이는 수동적 용기가 아니라 비자본주의 또는 소문자 자본주의들이 ‘절합’되어 차이와 지연을 생산하는 ‘구성적 외부’이다. 따라서 코라 공간으로서의 여성의 몸과여성의 공간은 동일성의 실현이 끊임없이 지연되고 차이가 발생하는 가임의 공간이 된다.

Abstract

This study, based on Amartya Sen’s Capability approach, examines the influenceof schools as a socio-political space on the students’capability formation process. The research subjects are university students who have mainly graduated from AForeign Language High School(referred to as “A School” henceforth). 18 in-depthinterviews were conducted, including 12 in-depth interviews of students who graduatedfrom A School. The study argues that the career prospects of A School’sgraduates ― mostly high-income professions ― are the results of their limitedcapability. The school acts as a microcosm of neoliberal competition, facilitatingKorea’s national morale in utilizing education as a tool for economic returns. Theirmain message to students to enter into the ‘best universities’echo passivity and uniformityas the most important values of education. This research shows that, evenafter graduation, students maintain institutional membership by referencing theirconnections to A School as a networking gateway to high-end professions. Ultimately, A School and A School’s graduates have become a driving force in maintainingcurrent social structures by reproducing the morale of Korea and its neoliberalcompetition. The main contributions are as follows: 1) conceptualizing schoolsas a socio-political space, 2) examining its implications for individuals’capability limitations,and 3) demonstrating these individuals’systemic roles in maintaining theboundaries of Korean society.

Abstract