Space and Environment
- P-ISSN1225-6706
- E-ISSN2733-4295
- KCI
ISSN : 1225-6706
Vol.31 No.3
Abstract
By understanding the speculative housing practice of the urban middle class as an interaction between patriarchal familism and gender norms, this study differs from the existing perspective that considered the household as a gender-neutral individual unit. By applying Bourdieu’s field theory to the analysis of women’s housing life history, the constriction process of speculative capital through interaction between individual households, markets, and the state through women’s housing practices is analyzed. In this process, the cultural consensus structure for speculation was made, and Korean urban middle class became conservative as a result of the consolidation of speculative habitus. As a result, the urban middle class in Korea forms a unique class character characterized by instability; it kept its life trajectory of constant movement and reinvestment even after house-ownership.
Abstract
본 논문은 20대, 30대 비혼여성들이 근대적 공·사 구분과 규범적 시공간성에 의해 구획되는 도시·주거환경 속에서 어떤 이유로, 그리고 어떤 방식으로 함께살기(living together)를 실천하고 있는지를 살펴보고, 이 같은 실천들은 도시·주거환경 속에서 어떤 함의가 있는지를 살펴보는 데 목적이 있다. 본 연구의 문제의식은 정책 과정이나 주류 담론 속에서 ‘비혼’이 종종 ‘혼자 사는 것’ 혹은 ‘임시의 것’으로만 여겨지는 세태에서 출발했다. 즉 이 연구는 비혼여성들의 함께살기 실천을 통해 ‘비혼’의 ‘독거 아님’과 ‘지속적임’의 가능성을 보다 적극적으로 파헤치려는 시도이다. 규범적 시공간성의 촘촘한 영향력 아래에서 비혼여성들에게 적절한 주거공간으로 제공되는 선택지는 많지 않다. 이러한 세태 속에서 비혼여성들은 규범적 시공간성의 틈새를 벌리고, 기회를 보고, 또 새로운 공간성을 마련하기 위해 분투하고 노력할 수밖에 없다. 이때 어떤 여성들은 혼자가 아닌 함께 사는 것을 선택하기도 한다. 이 연구를 통해 혼자 살지 않고 다양한 방법으로 다른 사람들과 주거공간을 공유하며 살아가는 이들이 정상가족의 테두리 바깥에서 어떻게 살아가는지, 이들이 집을 어떻게 의미화해내는지 살펴본다.
Abstract
Feminist activists and scholars have recently considered the intersectionalities of institutionalization politics in South Korea. However, there is still a gap of research on spatial politics of de/institutionalization in various human geography fields of South Korea. In this context, I critically review the concepts of carceral geography derived from North America and Western Europe to expand the intersectional understanding of institutionalization in South Korea. For this, I intend to view theories and concepts of carceral geography as multiple topologies, not organized and neatly sorted ‘knowledge’. The first part examines these topologies by analyzing the debates among three journal articles on the meaning of the carceral published in Progress in Human Geography in 2018. I interpret these debates as small événement showing the multiple intellectual and political topologies among carceral geographers. The second part investigates topologies of carceral boundary, coercive/punitive mobility, and carceral circuitry. In conclusion, I seek to intertwine topologies of carceral geography and the intersectionalities of institutionalization discussed in South Korea.
Abstract
This study examines the meaning that a newly formed place can play in performance of the Minzu Wudao (traditional ethnic/national dance) by a Chinese marriage migrant dance team in Taiwan. In previous studies of place-making among migrants, places have been defined as dynamic and social areas that incorporate a physical space where migrants continuously conduct exchanges and form connections with the outside world. In the performance of the Minzu Wudao by the marriage migrant dance team, the place is defined as follows. First, there is a specific place where the performance takes place. In this place, the marriage migrants communicate with Taiwanese audiences through dance. Second, in Minzu Wudao performance, an encounter is created between China and Taiwan, between the origin and the destination. The idea of Minzu Wudao has changed throughout the historical ups and downs of China and Taiwan. The marriage migrant dancers who perform Minzu Wudao, mix China's and Taiwan's version of this dance in their performance. This process is identified in this paper as that of the variation of Minzu, which is considered as another form of place-making among migrants.
Abstract
On the basis of the post-territorailist view to the border, this article sees the border not as a mere expression of the state territoriality, but as the socio-spatial construct made through the complex interactions among, and the dynamic practices of, various actors and forces operating in and through the border regions. As a way of deepening this perspective, it aims at exploring how the daily lives and accidental practices of various local subjects can give impacts on the ways in which borders are made, dismantled, or remade. In particular, it attempts to understand the bordering processes of local subjects more concretely by addressing ① how local accidents can give impacts on the ways in which the state spaces and territories are materially and discursively constructed, and ② how the non-representational performances of local subjects, which are made differently from the statist representations on borders and territories, can give impacts on the ways in which borders are socio-culturally formed, and through empirical case studies on the border regions in Taiwan and Korea.
Abstract
In urban studies, the issue of affect has been surveyed from various angles. This paper critically assesses what affects implies to the smart city project. To this end, first, I clarify the fundamental purpose of smart cities. After explicating the notion of affect, I argue that the smart city project faces a dilemma concerning urban affect. Smart cities aim not only to solve or relieve problems of urbanization but also to improve the quality of urban life. Since affect is essential to the quality of life, smart cities must deal with improving positive urban affects as one of their central tasks. If they avoid this task, they will encounter affective alienation, the problem of neglecting affects essential to quality of life. If they do, they must collect and process massive biometric data of citizens, and this will lead to body surveillance, which is deeply problematic in terms of human rights. This situation raises a dilemma: if smart cities attempt to improve positive urban affect, they inevitably commit to the body surveillance, and if they do not concern urban affect, affect alienation occurs. As far as information and communication technologies, which enable massive data collecting and processing, are constitutive of smart cities, and in so far as affects are bodily phenomena in nature, it is hard to see how the smart city project can address this dilemma. If the analyses and arguments in this paper are on the right track, they will help us to reconsider what is missing in the smart city project.
Abstract
Based upon the discussions of critical geopolitics, we explore how particular discourses and practices on Japan emerged and developed in South Korea through social issues sparked by the Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo’s controversial commercial that was accused of mocking South Korea’s victims under Japan’s colonial rule. Specifically, we examine the social and geopolitical context in which the controversies around the Uniqlo commercial erupted and how the discourses caused by this ad evolved into various social practices such as boycotts and protests. In addition, we investigate how bottom-up geopolitical and geoeconomic discourses and practices intensely contested counter-discourses and practices and were grafted onto another social conflict. Through this analysis, we criticize the approach to naturalize nationalism as a tool for strengthening state legitimacy and note private companies (non-state actors) as a significant geopolitical player who can bear on inter-state conflict. While existing critical geopolitical approaches have been criticized for textualism, we expect that our analysis can enrich critical geopolitics through shedding light on dynamic processes of production of discourses, expansion into various practices and political contestations.
Abstract
This study is a conceptual approach to the spatial aspect of social value that is lacking in previous studies. It reinterprets existing critical geography and urban studies on space to link them to discussions on social value. This research helps clarify the approaches in critical geography and urban studies so that they ultimately pursue and develop social value in spatial capability. To that aim, the concept of social value in spatial capability is suggested in three areas including place-making, the use of places, and mobilities. The intertwinement of social value and spatial capability refocuses the intent of critical geography to suggest flexible and creative innovations for social change.
Abstract
This paper aims to show the drawbacks and limitations of Korea’s current foreigner policies through the voices of locals in Ansan. This can be observed through how the connotation of foreigner policies have changed by time, and through the development of the multicultural village within Ansan. In the political perspective, Ansan’s city government has used the word “multi-culture” in most of their foreigner policies in order to promote multiculturalism, but in the reality they confined their support only to marriage migrants and their families. In the spatial perspective, Ansan created a multicultural space to promote exchanges between foreigners and domestic groups, but in reality this space that focuses only on the welfare of foreigners. This reduced interactions between groups and led to spatial separation.
Abstract
This paper explores the case study of the “Central Asian Street” in Seoul to investigate how cross-border small-scale trade still operates in the district. This paper evolved from two primary questions: ①Why do traders prefer cross-border small-scale trading over the distribution services available to them, including wholesale and transportation companies, which are ubiquitous; and ②What are the economic benefits that traders receive through cross-border small-scale trading? Through the conduct of fieldwork and in-depth interviews, I focused on two main activities that traders engaged in: face-to-face contact with wholesalers and retailers and the personal transit of goods by hand. This research reveals that cross-border small-scale traders from Central Asia are flying back and forth between Korea and their home countries with luggage to overcome high tariffs and long-distance transit via trains or trucks. However, traders can still profit from the use of rail and truck transportation via cargo companies, depending on the situation and items they are handling. Additionally, the unique social relationships that are fostered through face-to-face interactions, enable traders to stabilize transactions, effectively obtain business information, negotiate prices, and reduce the risks associated with inventory by making small purchases. This paper uses the concept of social capital to demonstrate the trading mechanisms and factors that facilitate the continued success of cross-border small-scale trade networks. It offers evidence that the importance of in-person interactions in trade cannot be overlooked.