Affiche_2711_Chi_Migration

The practices, discourses and experiences of migration and diasporas, or the border-crossing and mobility of people, are an integral part of the history of modern East Asia. Moreover, such experiences are connected to global orders of modernity, colonialism, the Cold War, and globalization. This lecture will examine various issues of migration and border crossing phenomena such as undocumented migration, stowaway and repatriation in East Asia. The lecture will focus on the following: (1) to examine the various ways in which ethnic and national identities of migrants are defined, institutionalized, and reproduced, (2) to shed light on the “untold” tales of migration in East Asia and how that has affected the complex trans-bordered sphere of life of both Koreans and Japanese after 1945, and lastly (3) to explore ways to reconceptualise “migration” in East Asia through the various case studies. By exploring the experiences of the people who crossed and re-crossed the physical borders between Japan and Korea will demonstrate that migration or the movement of people between these borders is not a simple tale, but rather an intricate web of intersecting identities and borders.