Arriving with Machines, Skills, and Transnational Networks : Korean Immigrants’ Involvement in the Garment Industry in Latin America

Jin Suk Bae

Research Professor at the Sogang Institute of American Studies (SIAS) at Sogang University bae.jinsuk@gmail.com

Abstract

This article examines the migration and economic adjustment processes of Korean immigrants, concentrating on their involvement in the garment industry in Korea and Latin American countries. Koreans, who were originally sent as agricultural immigrants to Latin American countries in the 1960s, unexpectedly carved out a niche in the garment industry. This garment-related entrepreneurial opportunity became one of the precipitating factors for the later Korean influx into South America. Simultaneously, access to the U.S. clothing market led Koreans engaged in the garment business in Korea to Central American countries. This article focuses on Korean immigrants in Latin America who arrived already having clothing-related skills and experience in Korea. It examines how these Koreans’ previous occupational experience in Korea influenced both initial immigration decisions and choice of destination and whether and how patterns of economic adjustment differed from those of Koreans who came to Latin America without relevant experience or skills. Korean immigrants with prior clothing-related skills and experiences have contributed to the further development of Korean-owned garment businesses in Latin American countries. In terms of global Korean diasporic formations, the garment business has played a unique role in the growth and expansion of Korean immigrant communities across the Americas.

Keywords:

Korean Diaspora, Migration, Latin America, Garment Industry, Economic Adjustment

References

Bates, T., (1994), Social resources generated by group support networks may not be beneficial to Asian immigrant-owned small businesses, Social Forces, 72, p671-689. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2579776]
Buechler, S., (2004), Sweating it in the Brazilian garment industry: Korean and Bolivian immigrants and global economic forces in São Paulo, Latin American Perspectives, 31(3), p99-119.
Choi, K. J., (2012), Korean community in Brazil and their cultural identity, Diaspora Studies, 6(1), p123-153.
Guimaraes, L., (2006), The Korean community in Brazil: Challenges, achievements and prospects. Paper to be Presented at the 3rd World Congress of Korean Studies “Cultural Interaction with Korea: From Silk Road to Korean Wave”, p1-12.
Joo, J. T., (2007), Korean return migrants from Brazil: Ethnic and economic aspects, Korea Journal, 47(2), p160-183.
Kim, E. J., (1999), Restructuring of textile industry in South Korea, Jilihaknonko, 19, p62-72.
Kim, I., (1981), New urban immigrants: The Korean community in New York, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press.
Kim, T., & Chang, S. M., (2009), Korean American business: Clothing industry in Los Angeles, In Yu, E. Y., Kim, H., Park, K., & Oh, M. (Eds), The Korean American economy and community in the 21st century, p157-182, Los Angeles, The Korean American Economic Development Center.
Lee, S. H., & Song, H. K., (1994), The Korean garment industry: From authoritarian patriarchism to industrial paternalism, In In Bonacich, E., & Cheng, L. (Eds), Global production: The apparel industry in the Pacific Rim, p147-161, Philadelphia, Temple University Press.
Mera, C., (2008), Korean women’s lives in Argentina: Gender and ethnicity, Gender and Society, 7, p97-125.
Min, P. G., (1996), Caught in the middle: Korean merchants in America’s multiethnic cities, Berkeley, University of California Press.
Moon, S., & Jang, Y. J., (2014), The formation mechanism of ethnic enclaves: A case study of Bom Retiro Korean garment industrial district in Brazil, Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea, 17(4), p876-891.
Park, K., (1999), “I am floating in the air”: Creation of a Korean transnational space among Korean-Latino American emigrants, Positions, 7(3), p667-695. [https://doi.org/10.1215/10679847-7-3-667]
Park, K., (2014a), A rhizomatic diaspora: Transnational passage and the sense of place among Koreans in Latin America, Urban Anthropology & Studies of Cultural Systems & World Economic Development, 43(4), p481-517.
Park, K., (2014b), The “foxes” outfoxed: Contestations between Koreans and Jews in South American textile industries, Dialect Anthropol, 38, p17-39.
Park, K. T., (2000), The development of the textile industry of South Korea, 1945-1990, Jilihaknonko, 20, p145-156.
Shin, E. H., (2009), The interplay of economy and ethnicity: The case of the textile and apparel industry and Korean immigrant communities, In Yu, E. Y., Kim, H., Park, K., & Oh, M. (Eds), The Korean American economy and community in the 21st century, p315-347, Los Angeles, The Korean American Economic Development Center.
Suh, S. C., (2007), The past and the present of Korean migration to Latin America, In Yoo, Y. R. (Ed.), History of Koreans in Latin America, p9-16, Seoul, Korea, National Institute of Korean History.
Waldinger, R., (1986), Through the eye of the needle: Immigrants and enterprise in New York’s garment trades, New York, New York University Press.
Yoon, I., (1995), The growth of Korean immigrant entrepreneurship in Chicago, Ethnic & Racial Studies, 18(2), p315-335. [https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.1995.9993865]

Biographical Note

Jin Suk Bae received her Ph.D. at Brown University’s Department of American Studies. She is currently Research Professor at the Sogang Institute of American Studies (SIAS) at Sogang University. Her academic interest lies in researching the regional and global Korean diaspora in general and the onward or multiple migration of South Koreans in particular. Email: bae.jinsuk@gmail.com