Running for Korea: Rethinking of sport migration and in/flexible citizenship

Abstract

Human migration is one of the defining features of a transnational age. Challenging the conventional knowledge that identity and citizenship are connected to one territorial state, both migrant and repositioned subjects create a new understanding of identity, belonging, and citizenship within multiple transnational connectivities. Sport particularly produces a new version of belonging referred to as flexible citizenship, including various kinds of skilled workers crossing national borders. In the process of migration, governments play a crucial and a decisive role by determining permission via specific legislation enactment; South Korea’s immigration policy, Special Naturalization, is a notable example. Despite the legally encouraged mobility that favors flexible citizenship by state power, this repositioning is regulated and limited by the intricate socio-political logics of race, class, and national identity. Focusing on the controversial issues of the Kenyan-born marathoner Wilson Loyanae Erupe and his bid for Korean citizenship, this study critically examines the tensions surrounding sport migration, flexible citizenship, race, and nationalism. Drawing on the theoretical ideas of critical race studies, specifically, it queries the conflicting encounters of transnational migration and being a Korean citizen to illuminate the structures of racial domination in Korea often seen as a racially and ethnically homogeneous society.

Major League Baseball and Racialized Masculinities in Korean Digital Media

“…In this way, media narratives create a hierarchical social relation between Korean men and White U.S. men, reflecting Koreans’ cultural ethos favoring Whites. Although Whites are rare in Korean society, many Koreans do hold pro-White attitudes 1 (Y. Choi, 2018).…”

A New Starting Point: The Factors That Made Taiwanese Professional Baseball Players Migrate to Mainland China After the 1997 Match-Fixing Scandal

“…73 Moreover, the role of government is crucial in the process of sport migration. 74 In the case of basketball, Taiwanese players are categorized as 'internal players' (local Chinese players) in the Chinese professional basketball league and are not subject to the quotas or regulations that apply to foreign players. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government has loosened the regulations, thereby allowing sport migration to mainland China.…”

Has the World Cup become more migratory? A comparative history of foreign-born players in national football teams, c. 1930-2018

“…As the South Korean government places a high value on the ethnic and cultural homogeneity of its population it is hard for foreigners to acquire Korean citizenship through naturalisation. The Korean government, however, has made its naturalisation processes more flexible since 2011, especially for highly skilled migrants like talented athletes (Choi, 2018). Frankfurt-born Cha Du-ri, within a Korean family, is up to now the only foreign-born footballer who represented South Korea at the World Cup.…”

“…The other five foreign-born players that represented South Korea (in the 1954 World Cup) were born in North Korea. Despite the changing (political) opinions on immigrants in Korea, the selection of foreign-born players in South Korea's national football team is still unique (Choi, 2018).…”