Suchergebnisse

Theoretical framework : the politics of cultural economy -- Case background : Gwangju's image and developmentalism -- Instrumentalising art and resistance -- We are not united any longer : emerging opportunities and challenges within civil society -- The politics of place-of-memory making -- Making the memory-development nexus.

This paper looks at the role played by Joseonjok (Korean Chinese who live in China) as mediators between newly arrived Korean entrepreneurs and Han Chinese migrant workers in the context of Qingdao, China. Based on archival analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, the paper demonstrates that the interactions and conflicts among Joseonjok (who are second- and third-generation transnational migrants), newcomer Korean entrepreneurs and Han Chinese migrant workers reflect the dynamics of geopolitics and the transnationalism process. The study found that Joseonjok's mediating role diminished as Korean entrepreneurs and Han workers learned to adapt to each other, a development that prompted Joseonjok to consider other options.

Abstract
In this study, we look at the cultural politics surrounding the narratives of cultural festivals in Gwangju, South Korea and Glasgow, Scotland. These two cities illustrate both a general obsession to become world-class, and intervening efforts toward achieving world ranking. Through archives and in-depth interviews with key actors from the Gwangju Biennale and Glasgow's West End Festival, this study observes how different narratives regarding urban cultural festivals interact. It also takes a closer look at how instrumental narratives behind these events constrain community involvement. Our findings suggest that both cities adopted an instrumental approach to their cultural festivals. In both cases, the instrumental focus of festival organizers curtails community participation, by focusing on professionalism in both the public and private sectors. Community groups challenged the approach at different levels. We argue that cultural festivals are places where different narratives, such as goal-oriented instrumentalism and self-realisation, interact, compete, and negotiate with each other. We also demonstrate that an instrumental approach in the awareness of urban competition drives the direction and meaning of both the cultural festival itself and the community involvement in it.

This article looks at the relationship between virtual Buddhist practices that keep Sri Lankan migrants' engaged with Buddhist community and leadership both in South Korea and elsewhere. Based on mixed ethnographic research methods including participant observation and in-depth interviews, the research demonstrates the following findings. First, the key actors of the Buddhist place-making included Sri Lankan migrant workers, a Sri Lankan ambassador, Sri Lankan temples, Korean temples, and virtual temple participants from other countries. Migrant workers' collaboration with them contributed to institutionalizing the physical temple. Second, the making of the virtual temple interacted with the making of physical Buddhist places, rather than replacing it. Hosting a virtual temple via Skype expanded into including Sri Lankan migrants who live in other countries. This study contributes to the mobilities discussion as well as place-making discussion by articulating the specific process of transnational religious place-making.

This study looks at how a regime of urban informality has taken shape in a migrant receiving community in Seoul, South Korea. It investigates how actors from the public sector and the private sector came to help undocumented Chosŏnjok migrants stay in the Kuro/Taerim area of Seoul regardless of their legal status. We view such practices as a response to local changes provoked by shifts in the geopolitical environment and fluctuating national policies. Based on longitudinal fieldwork, including in-depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research, the findings of this study are as follows. First, public-sector actors, including the Korea immigration service, local authorities, and local police, have shifted their roles from controlling to accommodating, being motivated by competition with other departments, promotion, and personal attachment. Second, the private sector has expanded its role, building on relations with Chosŏnjok as easygoing customers and service providers. This study contributes to the understanding of regimes of informal settlements and their spatial contexts. (Pac Aff/GIGA)

AbstractThis article investigates the ways in which cultural economy is formed through negotiation and interaction between local actors in the case of culture‐led regeneration inGwangju,SouthKorea. It looks at the dynamics between the bureaucrats' pursuit of economic growth in the city and the efforts of civil society to maintain a strong political spirit throughout the regeneration process. Through in‐depth interviews with various participants and archival analysis, the politics of cultural economy are examined in relation to theGwangjuBiennale and theCity ofCulture project. The findings show that in these two cases bureaucrats were the dominant force, a tendency that instrumentalized culture. They also illustrate that this dominance brought about resistance from civil society. However, in the process of both engaging in conflict and working with each other, the different discourses of economic growth and cultural meaning were integrated, and in the process mutual learning and adaptation took place among members of the two groups. Civil society also faced cleavages resulting from different approaches to how to collaborate with the bureaucrats and its ensuing self‐reflection on communicative value enhanced its rehabilitation. The article argues that the politics of cultural economy is dynamic, involving processes of renegotiation, adaptation and self‐realization. It also offers the possibility of a new arena for the public sphere. Civil society plays a critical role in the integration of culture and economy.