Professor Park draws on her ethnographic study of Dongdaemun Market in the city of Seoul, South Korea, to show the history of this urban market as it weaves the personal histories of the individuals who have simultaneously nurtured and sustained their intimate relationships and their work. Dongdaemun, the hub of transnational fashion industry and an emerging urban form of 24-hour city, has undergone an uneven transition to a 24–7, energetic, shopping and entertainment district that has fostered a sense of swift social transformation of East Asia. Park illustrates the experiences and social relationships of manufacturing workers, designers, and entrepreneurs in Dongdaemun, highlighting their fast-paced daily lives and labor. This labor engages siblings, friends, and colleagues alongside and within the interwoven spaces of home, home-factories, and markets. In this talk, Park argues that intimacy and the market are co-produced and mobilize one another, and that this process makes the fast pace and viability of Market possible.
