Week 10 - Charles Miin

Charles Miin
ASA 114
November 22, 2015

Week 10 - Transnational Communities

            Often when one thinks about the state of world in the modern age with regards to transnationalism, the first thoughts will think about how remittances are more frequent, travel is easier, and communication is far cheaper and much simpler. These things while all true, do neglect to include some of the more interesting representations of our world in being more connected and global such as the textile industry across countries. According to data cited by Kyeyoung Park, there were about 100,000 Koreans spread out amongst Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay in the late 90’s. In Brazil at the time, approximately 60% of the industry was controlled by Koreans. On the Northern end of the continent, Korean immigrants own the largest percentage of businesses in Los Angeles where a large number are the very same Korean immigrants based out of Brazil. Though a large number were Koreans who remained in Brazil, an equally large number who migrated once again to the United States to help form the dominant make-up we see today. Interestingly enough, the reason that two polar ends of the Americas see these similarities has to do with the conditions created by the U.S. itself along with the Soviet Union during the age of the Korean War. While we see that immigrant groups will often adopt the same line of work due to knowing fellow immigrants in the business that are already established, here we are seeing different migrant groups who have separately established themselves coalescing together. Not only that, but with these large numbers, a good portion were Korean women defying their previous roles in society and forging paths for themselves. Such to the point that the phenomena differ whether you look at Brazil or the U.S. Korean progression in Brazil often saw families penetrate and continually perpetuate the family business while Korean-Americans sought out to expand even farther, abandoning their family holdings.

Is there a possibility of an entirely new social force forming from the different communities of Korean migrants to both Brazil and U.S. in regards to textiles and even other industries?

                                                Works Cited

Park, Kyeyoung. "10,000 Senora Lees’: The Changing Gender Ideology of Korean-Latina-American Women in the Diaspora." Amerasia Journal 28.2 (2002): 161-80. Print.