University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Geography Geography 2020 Becoming Gentrifier/d: Aesthetics, Subjectivities, and Rhythms of Gentrification in Seoul, South orK ea Myung In Ji University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1903-2662 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.492 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Ji, Myung In, "Becoming Gentrifier/d: Aesthetics, Subjectivities, and Rhythms of Gentrification in Seoul, South Korea" (2020). Theses and Dissertations--Geography. 70. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/geography_etds/70 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Geography at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Geography by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Myung In Ji, Student Dr. Richard Schein, Major Professor Dr. Matthew Zook, Director of Graduate Studies BECOMING GENTRIFIER/D: AESTHETICS, SUBJECTIVITIES, AND RHYTHMS OF GENTRIFICATION IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA ________________________________________ DISSERTATION ________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Myung In Ji Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Richard Schein, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2020 Copyright © Myung In Ji 2020 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1903-2662 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION BECOMING GENTRIFIER/D: AESTHETICS, SUBJECTIVITIES, AND RHYTHMS OF GENTRIFICATION IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA Gentrification has been extensively studied beyond Euro-American societies. In particular, previous research of Seoul’s residential gentrification has broadened our understanding of the role of the developmental state and property speculation in urban clearance and renewal. However, little attention has been paid to the contemporary retail gentrification in Seoul that has different aesthetics, subjectivities, and rhythms compared to residential gentrification. In retail gentrification, old urban neighborhoods are no longer demolished but cherished with their nostalgic landscapes and atmospheres. In this context, this dissertation project explores Seochon, a gentrifying neighborhood in Seoul, that was designated as a cultural heritage site in 2010. Since then, this previously underdeveloped neighborhood has become a famous tourist destination for urban adventurers who desire authentic objects, places, and experiences. Combining ethnographic and archival research, this project examines how the cultural politics around authenticity entwine with historic preservation and retail gentrification. Specifically, I address three questions: 1) how the hyperreal simulacra of the past aesthetically assemble Seochon as an authentic urban village, 2) how the fantasy of authenticity endlessly renews the desire for something more authentic while sustaining the paradoxical subjectivities of gentrification, and 3) how the in-betweens on the topological edge of the gentrifier/gentrified embody and enact gentrification in and through the heterogeneous space-times of Seochon. Consequently, the project opens new political possibilities to challenge gentrification-induced displacements by demystifying their physical and psychological processes. In doing so, this project contributes to more nuanced perspectives on Seoul’s gentrification, which has been predominantly identified with state-led, residential urban renewal. At the same time, the project engages with epistemological and ontological limitations in previous gentrification studies through the poststructural lenses of Baudrillard, Lacan, and Deleuze. Specifically, I dismantle the dualistic ideas of good/bad, authentic/inauthentic, and gentrifier/gentrified by analyzing the ever-changing rhythms of gentrification and displacement. Indeed, the paradoxical subjects of gentrification continue to decenter their subjectivities and distort the dynamics of displacement. Thus, they are virtually/actually in-betweens as they become gentrifier and simultaneously gentrified (gentrifier/d). This reconceptualization of ambivalent and mobile subjectivities highlights differences within and beyond the monstrously imagined gentrification while disclosing the potential for the fight against it from its sponge-like inside. Furthermore, this project empirically demonstrates this theoretical reframing based on 13 months of qualitative fieldwork and 47 interviews with 50 participants. I illustrate how the subjects of gentrification place themselves in Seochon by reinventing authenticity and displacing their imagined (in)authentic selves/others. Throughout various cultural politics around what authentic Seochon is, the subjects were ‘becoming gentrifier/d.’ I was one of them as I occupied everyday spaces of the neighborhood, interviewed old-timers and newcomers, participated in a local foodie community, and worked at a hipster-oriented restaurant as a server. Drawing on this autoethnography, the project uncovers the fantasy of authenticity as well as the heterogeneous space-times of gentrification, which are built upon people’s desires, imaginations, embodiments, and performances, including my own. Ultimately, this theoretical and empirical revisit enables us to mirror ourselves onto gentrification and to bear our responsibility in challenging the gentrification-induced displacements that we create. KEYWORDS: Gentrification, Authenticity, Historic Preservation, Urban Tourism, Displacement, Seoul Myung In Ji 10/06/2020 Date BECOMING GENTRIFIER/D: AESTHETICS, SUBJECTIVITIES, AND RHYTHMS OF GENTRIFICATION IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA By Myung In Ji Richard Schein Director of Dissertation Matthew Zook Director of Graduate Studies 10/06/2020 Date In memory of my mother ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following dissertation, while the work of an individual, was only possible because of the care, engagement, advice, and insight given to the work by many people throughout my PhD journey. First of all, I wish to thank all the research participants who I met in the field, especially through Seochon Eaters and Seven Fortunes. They allowed me to make sense of life in Seochon and gentrification by sharing their time and stories with me and letting me into their everyday spaces and lives. Without these people and their generosity, there would be no dissertation. I am truly grateful. I would like to thank my advisor, Richard Schein, for believing in me and helping the ideas take root, grow, and blossom. I am also indebted to Patricia Ehrkamp, Andrew Wood, and Sarah Lyon for their generous guidance and support in serving on my dissertation committee. Additionally, I thank all faculty members at the University of Kentucky who offered encouragement and inspiration in my academic path, in particular Anna Secor, Matthew Wilson, Michael Samers, Lynn Phillips, and Nari Senanayake. A special thanks to my friends and colleagues, whose enthusiasm for intellectual activity and critical thought pushed me as a researcher and an educator. While there are too many to thank individually, I am especially grateful to Jonghee Lee-Caldararo, Jess Linz, Emily Kaufman, Christine Woodward, Curtis Pomilia, Eric Huntley, Dugan Meyer, Jaeyeon Lee, Weejun Park, Tasnuba Jerin, Leif Johnson, Yoon Seon Han, and Changwe Park. Last but not least, my deepest appreciation goes to my mother, Hong Ja Jung, whose love and belief in me enabled me to walk through this long journey towards the iii PhD. I also would like to thank my father, Su Gol Ji, and my brother, Dong In Ji, for listening, sympathizing, and encouraging. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................