Manhattan's Koreatown as a Transclave: The Emergence of a New Ethnic Enclave in a Global City

Abstract

This article critically challenges scholarship on ethnic enclaves, from Chicago School scholars to the ethnic enclave debates of the 1980s and 1990s, and introduces a new type of ethnic enclave in an era of globalization: the “transclave.” By using Manhattan's Koreatown as a case study, I define transclave as a commercialized ethnic space that exists exclusively for consumption, leisure, and entertainment, differentiating itself from traditional ethnic enclaves that offer housing and jobs for newer immigrants. Instead, transclaves are spaces where transnational consumer culture and brands from sending nations are transferred to, negotiated with, and anchored in a geographic space in a global city, and shape the landscape of that space. Based on archival research, in‐depth interviews, and participant observation, this article investigates how and why Koreatown serves as an intersection of where Korea's political, economic, and sociocultural influences meet New York City's diverse cosmopolitan mosaic and tourism industry.

Changing the Landscape of an American Town: Immigrantrification of a Korean Ethnoburb and Its Cultural and Economic Consequences

“…This study has also expanded the research on Korean gentrifiers (DeVerteuil et al, 2019 ; Kim, 2018 ; Park & Kim, 2008 ; Vo & Danico, 2004 ), identifying gentrification as the outcome of immigrants’ profit-seeking strategies, whereby investments in real estate are made for revenue-generating purposes, and distinguishing it from the process of revitalization, which usually accompanies the settlement of immigrants in a neighborhood. The sharing of Koreans’ enclaves with the Latino population has been noted in the immigration scholarship (DeVerteuil & Yun, 2020 ; Lee & Park, 2008 ; Park, 1997 ); however, this study presents a more detailed account of the cooperative relationships between Korean gentrifiers and Guatemalan immigrants, who benefit from and partake in the physical transformation of the town.…”

“…The retention of the cultural heritage and traditions, access to social networks, and co-ethnic social capital may be a platform for successful acculturation, especially for the immigrant entrepreneurial class. In contrast to a traditional ethnic enclave that offers residential and employment opportunities, Kim ( 2018 ) describes Manhattan’s Koreatown as “transclave” — a commercialized ethnic place explicitly established for consumption, entertainment, and leisure.…”

“…In his analysis of studentification, Smith ( 2004 ) emphasizes the distinction between conventional gentrifiers and students involved in modified gentrification. Koreans’ entrepreneurial skills have been examined by many scholars who underscore this immigrant group’s role in transforming the architectural and cultural landscapes of American towns and cities by portraying them as gentrifiers (DeVerteuil et al, 2019 ; Kim, 2018 ; Park & Kim, 2008 ). Vo and Danico ( 2004 ) have documented Korean immigrants’ and Vietnamese refugees’ transformation of American communities and institutions as well as the establishment of mini Little Saigons and mini Koreatowns throughout Orange County.…”

Belonging and boundaries in Little Guyana: Conflict, culture, and identity in Richmond Hill, New York

“…Trans-cultural connections: Using the neighborhood to strengthen family and ethnic ties Developing ethnic institutions and markets within the enclave is part of immigrant placemaking in America (Kim, 2018;Zukin, 2016). Ethnic districts in New York are saturated with transnational markets that are used to facilitate the reproduction of cultural rituals.…”

An enclave entrepôt: The informal migration industry and Johannesburg’s socio-spatial transformation

“…This article inserts socially regulated forms of human mobility into discussions of urban mark-making and transformation. While ‘ethnic enclaves’, ‘ethnoburb’ and hyper-diverse neighbourhoods feature in analyses of urban space (Kim, 2018; Li, 2009; Meissner and Vertovec, 2015; Waldinger, 1993), authors often speak of settled populations, peoples seeking permanent membership or dormitory neighbourhoods filled with labourers on temporary contracts. By contrast, the urban footprints and the channels generated by the migrant-trading hub of central Johannesburg uneasily inhabit the urban migration lexicon.…”