Itaewon's suspense: masculinities, place-making and the US Armed Forces in a Seoul entertainment district

Abstract

The US military presence in Korea has had unintended consequences in an entertainment district in Seoul, where competing performances of masculinity function as a key place‐making strategy. Itaewon's suspense – the uneasy positioning of the neighbourhood between allure and repulsion – arises out of a suspension of the area between contesting sovereignties, and at times allows fraternal bonding between an unlikely cast of actors. With Itaewon's multifarious identities increasingly becoming commodified, the democratic liberalisations (which have partly emerged from and partly acted upon the place of Itaewon) have ironically also opened the gates for rampant economic liberalisation.

“Korean Women All Make Bad Wives”: Misogyny and Nationalism in Online Discourses Promoting Interracial Relationships Between Korean Men and White Women

“…The popularity of the videos featuring interracial relationships between Korean men and white women should be analyzed in relation to the history of interracial relationships in Korea. Historically, Korean women were subject to more interracial relationships than Korean men, which led to some men feeling a sense of emasculation and disempowerment (Schober 2014). The interracial relationships between Korean men and white women are giving the former an agency that many of them rarely experienced in the interracial dating scene.…”

Degentrification? Different Aspects of Gentrification before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The Itaewon area was formed by different authorities and is organized as an urban space by the effect of the United States, government, and capital, while the media plays a role in producing governmental ideology, interpellating minorities as others and excluding them. The discourses on the urban space tend to mask the problems of the urban space for the reproduction of capital [12,13].…”

“…The beginning of speculative real estate is heralded not only by the increase in rents but also by the creation of premiums, which did not exist before. As the burgeoning commercial facilities penetrated into these neighborhoods, the engagement of speculative real estate agents has instigated landlords to increase rents or to create premiums [13,16].…”

Szemelvények a BGE kutatásaiból

“…Az utcában éjszakánként számos fiatal gyűlik össze, melegek és heteroszexuálisok egyaránt, nemcsak a bárok nevei angol szójátékok, hanem a drag queenek és a pincérek is ugyancsak folyékonyan beszélnek angolul, s másodlagos fizetőeszközként amerikai dollárt is elfogadnak. Az is megszokott, hogy a vendégek, vagy akár az arra járók az utcán fel-alá sétáló drag queen-ekkel fényképet készítsenek(Schober 2014). Ám a meleg, ill. LMBTQ közösséget a tér diszkurzivitásának egyéb elemei is hozzásegítik ahhoz, hogy a többségi társadalom számára fokozatosan láthatóvá váljon.…”