Abstract

This ethnographic study of female North Korean defectors in the UK opens discussions on the notion that agency and social navigation can countermand economic and political precarity to the point of empowerment. I challenge existing literature and schools of thought that precarity is double edged and suggest the term of social navigation, which these women employ to traverse their shifting environment leading to unintentional empowerment. By documenting North Korean women’s plight from the 1994 to 1998 famine in North Korea to their defection to South Korea and subsequent resettlement to London’s New Malden, I plot their progression and growing confidence as they parlay precarity to empowerment. Research collected on their lives during the economic crisis in North Korea before defection revealed their resourceful and somewhat defiant ventures into capitalist-style markets. Analysing the results of the fieldwork conducted in a suburb of New Malden’s Koreatown, I discovered that these women’s adaptability and ethnic networks enabled them to not only survive uncertain situations but thrive. The shift from care-giver to bread-winner that started in North Korea was consolidated in the UK as they once again turned adversity to an advantage when the UK government decreased financial support. In the Korean community, by focusing on educational and cultural activities instead of political turmoil, those women have been able to focus on moving forward. As a result, they have found a power in themselves to make differences in their lives.

摘要

这项对英国女性脱北者的民族志研究开启了关于代理和社会导航可以抵消经济和政治不稳定到赋予权力的观点的讨论。我挑战现有的文献和思想流派，即不稳定是双刃剑，并提出社会导航一词，这些女性使用它来穿越不断变化的环境，导致无意中获得授权。通过记录朝鲜妇女从 1994 年到 1998 年朝鲜饥荒到叛逃到韩国以及随后重新安置到伦敦新莫尔登的困境，我描绘了她们的进步和日益增长的信心，因为她们将不稳定因素转化为赋权。对他们在朝鲜经济危机期间叛逃前的生活进行的研究表明，他们足智多谋且有些挑衅地进入了资本主义风格的市场。分析在新莫尔登韩国城郊区进行的实地调查结果，我发现这些女性的适应能力和种族网络使她们不仅能够在不确定的情况下生存下来，而且能够茁壮成长。始于朝鲜的从照顾者到养家糊口的转变在英国得到巩固，因为当英国政府减少财政支持时，他们再次将逆境转化为优势。在韩国社区，通过专注于教育和文化活动而不是政治动荡，这些女性能够专注于前进。结果，他们发现了自己的力量来改变他们的生活。