한흑 도시공간으로서의 레너드 장의 『식료품점』
Black-Korean Urban Space in Leonard Chang's The Fruit 'N Food
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This paper explores the politics of Black-Korean urban economic space and Korean American immigrants' predicaments "caught in the middle" through the perspective of middleman minority theory. It also investigates issues involved in a biracial conflict between Korean merchants and African American customers in urban ghetto areas of New York City. In Leonard Chang's The Fruit 'N Food, African American boycotters protest against the Korean merchants' disrespect of customers and their economic exploitation in black neighborhoods. According to the boycotters' "blaming-the-victim" logic, Korean merchants are the "bad guys," and deserve their economic losses and ensuing traumatic suffering. Korean merchants have been disrespectfully viewed as ugly, greedy and selfish racists who take money out of the African American community. African Americans created a negative stereotype of Korean entrepreneurs as "heartless merchants," "ruthless exploiters," and "money-crazed people."Thomas Pak, a victim of a racial hate crime, goes through a catastrophic experience and trauma resulting from the interracial black-Korean conflict, which is intertwined with severe economic factors. Through this interethnic disturbance, he came to ultimately understand in what way he is Korean, and what it means to be Korean American. Through his sacrificial act of saving an old black man, jeopardizing his own life, he bridges a gap between Korean Americans and African Americans and suggests a blueprint for deep understanding of racial, ethnic and economic relations, in general. By reading The Fruit 'N Food, through the lens of the middleman minority characteristics of Korean merchants, this paper presents Korean merchants as "homo economicus," and black-Korean urban space as the ultimate embodiment of the American materialistic dream. Leonard Chang's ethnographic fiction of the Korean grocery store and black-Korean relations offers a comprehensive understanding of black-Korean perspectives which have been "neglected or misconstructed," through negative stereotyping and hostility.
Abstract
This paper explores the politics of Black-Korean urban economic space and Korean American immigrants' predicaments "caught in the middle" through the perspective of middleman minority theory. It also investigates issues involved in a biracial conflict between Korean merchants and African American customers in urban ghetto areas of New York City. In Leonard Chang's The Fruit 'N Food, African American boycotters protest against the Korean merchants' disrespect of customers and their economic exploitation in black neighborhoods. According to the boycotters' "blaming-the-victim" logic, Korean merchants are the "bad guys," and deserve their economic losses and ensuing traumatic suffering. Korean merchants have been disrespectfully viewed as ugly, greedy and selfish racists who take money out of the African American community. African Americans created a negative stereotype of Korean entrepreneurs as "heartless merchants," "ruthless exploiters," and "money-crazed people."Thomas Pak, a victim of a racial hate crime, goes through a catastrophic experience and trauma resulting from the interracial black-Korean conflict, which is intertwined with severe economic factors. Through this interethnic disturbance, he came to ultimately understand in what way he is Korean, and what it means to be Korean American. Through his sacrificial act of saving an old black man, jeopardizing his own life, he bridges a gap between Korean Americans and African Americans and suggests a blueprint for deep understanding of racial, ethnic and economic relations, in general. By reading The Fruit 'N Food, through the lens of the middleman minority characteristics of Korean merchants, this paper presents Korean merchants as "homo economicus," and black-Korean urban space as the ultimate embodiment of the American materialistic dream. Leonard Chang's ethnographic fiction of the Korean grocery store and black-Korean relations offers a comprehensive understanding of black-Korean perspectives which have been "neglected or misconstructed," through negative stereotyping and hostility.
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