Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Work of Waiting 6.1

According to June Hee Kwon, the social relationship of migrant workers to their respective waiting partners in the aftermath of the Korean Wind, emphasizes the unrecognized distinction between the labor of the waiting, alongside the chosen spouse migrating to Korea for better opportunity. Social relations are different for the Korean Chinese because their marriage or kinship is highly reliant on remittance through their partners. Kwon's case studies of the families separated due to lack of work and the economic interdependence faced by  Yanbian "botolis," greatly signifies the toxic nature of capitalism and the eventual drift or resentment it causes among these families. 

The case-study I found most interesting was of Mr. Ho whose wife was the sole breadwinner of the family, ultimately shifting her personality to regard money as the most important thing in her life. Mr Ho's account stressed the constructive and destructive natures of money, which transformed the bond between him and his wife, to what was once held by patriarchal constructs is now subjecting Mr. Ho to feelings of feminization and insecurity due to the dominant role of his wife (490). Kwon's analysis of this remittance-based relationship provided an insight into specific capitalistic economies that pushes vulnerable individuals into depths of money oriented relations, where the migrant worker becomes the dominant figure and those who are waiting as constantly dependent and powerless without their spouses.

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