Based on a rich compilation of research studies conducted by up-and-coming scholars across the field, Koreatowns offers readers the most up-to-date analyses on thepolitical, economic, and cultural re-formation of contemporary Koreatown communities across the world. Based on new and old Koreatowns from gateway and mid-western U.S. cities to Asia, Mexico, and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, this collection analyzes how economic restructuring, cultural consumption, globalization, and social inequality have triggered the transnational extension and re-formation of Korean communities in ways that both connect as well as stratify. Readers can learn about emerging phenomenon, such as K-wave cultural communities, post-riot political and cultural formations, trans-border U.S.-Mexico Korean enclaves, Korean military bride camptowns, and stratified international student pathways. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for a fresh perspective on Koreatown and the Korean diaspora and is sure to generate new ideas and discussions on global ethnic enclaves today.

Angie Y. Chung, University at Albany, SUNY

Covering a wide and varied range of Korean diasporic neighborhoods such as metropolitan areas to border towns, this book examines “Koreatowns” through economics, politics, and culture, while exploring how Korean descendants came to be emplaced throughout the world, especially North America and Asia. It succeeds in advancing literature on immigrant communities, which had focused on spatial concentrations of immigrant enterprises. It also updates Korean socio-spatial formation in the contemporary transnational and global context. It is refreshing to read a sociological work that grounds itself in physical space before engaging topics such as online community and pop culture.

Kyeyoung Park, UCLA