Abstract

The history of Korean im/migrants on the African continent is relatively recent and on a smaller scale compared to Korean diasporas elsewhere. Migration from South Korea to South Africa does not fit the stereotypical migration pattern from a country in the Global South with a lower income to a higher income country in the North. Hence, it is difficult to explain by either conventional migration theory focusing on income discrepancies, or the neoclassical and functionalist push-and-pull model. Drawing on in-depth interviews, this study aims to map out the spatial trajectories of migration taken by Korean im/migrants to, from, and within South Africa. Central to this work are the multi-directional and onward geographic migratory trajectories. Complex issues and motivations that have informed these embodied movements and migration trajectories are explored. In tracing the migration trajectories of Korean im/migrants to, from and/or within South Africa, this study examines the economic and socio-cultural dynamics of migratory trajectories and migrants’ changing subjectivities. This facilitates analysis of the way in which lifetime migration trajectories are enmeshed within the socioeconomic and cultural circumstances of both origin and destination countries.