Differentiation among the urban poor and the reproduction of poverty: the case of Nanjido

Abstract

This paper describes the internal differentiation within a low income community living on a garbage dump in Seoul. This includes the differences in work within the garbage dump in terms of work undertaken and income. Differences in level of education, expenditure and use of family labour are also explored, as are the different survival strategies adopted by households. The paper also considers why it is so difficult for the inhabitants to escape from poverty and the mechanisms which ensure that poverty is reproduced.

International Events and Mass Evictions: A Longer View

“…Included among those 95 areas were at least three huge urban residential redevelopment projects, each involving many neighborhoods: Sadangdong, Mokdong and Sanggyedong. All three regions became landmark sites of extended violent conflict with existing residents (Lee, 1985;Yôsông, 1985;Kim, 1987;CIIR, 1988;Hong, 1988;Kim, 1989;PURN, 1987;Lee, 1990;Kim, 1991;Sturdevant, 1991;Cho and Cho, 1992;Kim, 1996;Cho and Park, 2010). Even the contemporary existence of so-called 'vinyl house settlements', modern day shantytowns in and around Seoul, are said to have originated in this period of dislocations (KOCER, 2002;Stephens, 2009).…”