"Split Lives: Korean-Chinese Transnational Bodies and Time" lecture at Pitt, October 17.

June Hee Kwon, the newly-arrived Korea-Japan Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Anthropology, will present "Split Lives: Korean-Chinese Transnational Bodies and Time" on October 17, as part of a regular Brown Bag Lecture Series. A summary, via the University Center for International Studies:

This talk examines the transnational temporality—back and forth—created by the combined effects of visa regulations, the characteristics of transnational labor, and transnational female working bodies. On the basis of ethnographic research on Korean Chinese migrant workers moving between China and Korea, I highlight the spatial division created by this repetitive migration: Korea is a place for making money, whereas China is a place for spending money; Korea is a place for working (productive labor), China is a place for resting (reproductive labor). Under this split in spatial practices, I argue, migrants have internalized a rhythm—a back and forth—that serves as a governing force on the laboring body, thereby making care for the body more difficult, and prolonging its exploitation in intensive labor.

Her 2013 dissertation on the topic, Mobile Ethnicity: The Formation of the Korean Chinese Transnational Migrant Class, is available online to those with access to the University of Pittsburgh Library System.

The talk runs from 12:00 to 1:00 pm in 4217 Posvar Hall (map), and is free and open to the public.