• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.251-276
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• 2020

The purpose of this article is to critically read Globalizing Borderlands Studies in Europe and North America to examine trends in border studies conducted so far in Europe and North America and to discuss the expandability and limitations of the narrative. It introduces a variety of case studies covering the borderlands of Europe and North America from ancient to modern times. It consists of a total of 10 chapters, in addition to the introduction chapter to clarify the purpose and definition of the collaboration and the short conclusion chapter on the prospects for the future of borderlands studies. This volume has some important implications for current borderland research in two main respects. First, it can introduce us we the areas and targets that the leading researchers from European and North American academia (usually the United States') have paid attention to. It also examines the current status of borderland research and predicts whether it will be possible to study various border areas where exist in other regions (especially in Asia) based on accumulating academic achievements, as well as the possibility of expansion of so-called 'globalization'. Second, it introduces the borderland as a conceptual space, beyond the border area as a physical space that is commonly thought of when it comes to 'border'. Cases of "conceptual borderlands" can be applied to a number of topics ranging from an individual's identities to the methods of governance, religions, economies, social institutions, families, labor issues, public health services and gender issues. There are, however, also some questions to be noted in the volume: the lack of consistent use of terminology, which can be considered general problems of collaboration studies; the fact that the authors still tend to understand borderlands within the imperialist discourse, perhaps because of their academic background is situated mainly in Europe and North America; the borderlands cases described here as the areas of conflict and struggle only. Nevertheless, the book is of significance in that it suggests a possibility of various borderlands studies and helps us to have better understanding of the current geopolitical situation imposed on the Korean Peninsula, which is located on the borderland between the continental and maritime powers.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.289-303
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• 2015

This paper is an introductory research to theorize women migrants' positionality in the era of globalization and the feminization of migration. It particularly examines three recent theoretical approaches within feminist studies and their application to the feminist migration study. Migration means a process of continuous negotiations of one's social and material positions within ever changing relations and situations through crossing various borders including national boundaries. Women migrants face multifaceted oppressions due to gendered relation and greater challenges to transform their identities. They embody politics of location through migration. The paper revolves around theories that explore a potential of feminist subjectivation of marginalized women such as female migrants through their identity negotiation and transformation. The theories in questions are Borderlands and the New Mestiza introduced by Gloria $Anzald{\acute{u}}a$, Intersectionality of oppressions, and Transpositions and the Nomadic Subjects by Rosi Braidotti who borrowed the theories of Deleuze and Guattari through feminist critiques. These theories all represent power relations and subject transformations through spatial metaphors. rough spatialized understandings, the paper proposes interlocking relations among space, gender and migration, and explores conceptual tools as well as epistemological insights for Korean migration study.