The territoriality of ethnic enclaves: Dynamics of transnational practices and geopolitical relations within and beyond a Korean transnational enclave in New Malden, London

Abstract

This article looks at how the territoriality of transnational enclaves is constituted by interactions among the lives and the discourses of three groups of ethnic Korean-South Korean, North Korean, and Joseonjok (Korean Chinese)-transnational migrants in New Malden, London. Based on longitudinal mixed ethnographic research, the article focuses on the power relations between longer settled South Korean migrants and newcomers, the latter of whom are disadvantaged in terms of legal status, linguistic abilities, and economic capital. By criticizing the concept of ethnic enclaves as bounded, homogeneous, and static areas, the research puts geopolitical approaches into focus, bringing concepts of transnationalism and territoriality geopolitics into conversation. The empirical findings demonstrate, first, that the geopolitical hierarchy and tensions among the origin societies of Joseonjok, South Korean, and North Korean migrants constituted part of the reterritorialization of the ethnic enclave of transnational migrants. "The home society" was extended into territories where these ethnic Koreans have resided in the past, particularly South Korea. Second, the transnational enclave is being constantly reterritorialized by conflicting and adapting interactions between longer settled South Korean migrants and newcomers. Third, the power relations of origin societies have penetrated through individual migrants' lives by means, in part, of different religious and ethnic organizations. This research demonstrates the importance of transnational practices and geopolitical relationships within and beyond transnational enclaves among migrant communities and how these create a territorialized and relational space within ethnic enclaves.