Crossing Borders in Search of A South Korean Women’s Utopia
#south korean female diaspora #intersectional feminism #transnational solidarity #anti-racism movements #postcolonialism
This publication, based on autoethnographic experience and case studies, analyzes the diasporic phenomenon of South Korean women who, while not officially acknowledged or categorized within S. Korea, have experienced social and gender-based oppression and voluntarily migrated abroad in pursuit of a better society. It pays particular attention to the social change achieved through the transnational solidarity evident in the post-migration activities of these women, interpreting such migration not merely as survival or escape but as a process of reclaiming agency and rights through transnational solidarity enacted at the intersection of decolonization, feminism, and anti-racist movements, while also highlighting how this process serves to address and heal the traumas experienced from their homeland and during the migration itself.
Furthermore, it aims to explore how diasporic S. Korean women, through their activities, imagine and realize the possibilities of utopia, while reexamining and redefining the very concept of ‘utopia.’
Thesis supervisor: Darunee Terdtoontaveedej
The publication will be available during Dutch Design Week 2025.
This publication(Digital/Print) resulted from research conducted as part of the individual thesis project in the master department Social Design at Design Academy Eindhoven (April 2025) ©JUHWA LEE
For more on the project’s context and beginnings
Homophone ₊·—̳͟͞͞♡✮⋆˙.
The South Korean word ‘여권’ carries two meanings in the same pronunciation.
One refers to a document that guarantees personal identity and allows one to cross borders—a passport. The other,
which is less commonly discussed and sometimes regarded as sensitive in South Korea, refers to women’s rights.
Whenever I cross borders or relocate across borders, possessing the document simultaneously makes me reflect on the other meaning of the word. It prompts me to question my own women’s rights and the measure of rights I can internalize, whether in S. Korea or in Europe.
The physical trajectory of movement, for me, which began with questions about ‘여권(women’s rights),’ is inseparably combined with the artifact of the ‘여권(passport).’
©2025 JUHWA LEE