Abstract

This paper attempts to examine the invisibility of minorities during the Cold War period in the contexts of colonialism, national division, and the Cold War, rather than at an individual country level. Particularly, it delves into the forgotten history of minorities who crossed the borders of nation-states under the divided regimes of East Asia, such as stowaways, exiles, returnees, and international adoptees. Thereby, it seeks to accentuate the need for an approach to reconstructing the configuration of historicity surrounding national borders, nationality, and border-crossing in the processes of colonialism, the Cold War, and division. It draws attention to invisible minorities for an introspective contemplation of social movements in Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. At the same time, transborder minorities neither shared identical historical backgrounds, nor could they be identified with forced citizens of the nation-state. The Cold War state, groups, and even social movements were implicated in the invisibility of transborder minorities between the cracks of the nation-state.