Joseonjok is an ethnic Korean minority in China whose roots go back to the late 19th century. Virtually unknown to South Koreans during the years of the Cold War, Joseonjok today is an indispensable part of the labor force in neoliberal South Korean economy. With this historical development as the backdrop, this talk traces representations of Joseonjok in South Korean film and television through the shift from their association with nostalgic longing to their transformation into an object of fear, disgust, and anxiety. The talk ends with preliminary thoughts on how to rethink the checkered history of the Joseonjok within the context of post-WWII Northeast Asian geopolitics in the current environment of growing Sino-Korean tensions.

SPEAKER: Dr. Yu Jiang