Imagining diversity in Seoul: Gender and immigrant identities

Abstract

While immigrant studies focus on the role of local-level migration and integration policies to respond to the immigrant groups in their areas, the research on how urban policies mediate the social inequality which ethnic minorities face are still not sufficient, particularly in the context of the new immigrant-receiving countries. This article analyzes the construction of immigrant groups and the social oppression experienced by immigrant groups in Seoul. Specifically, this article focuses on multilayered social pressure experienced by low-income foreign-born workers and marriage migrants, who account for 36% and 7.9%, respectively, of the city’s foreign-born population. This article shows that diversity policies in Seoul ultimately reaffirm, rather than challenge, national definitions of the different ethnic groups by strengthening the categories and associated social oppressions of gender, ethnicity, and class. The study is based on a documentary analysis of policies on immigrants in Seoul and interviews with public officials and immigrants.