제목: Repositioning Southern cities in transnational city networks: Notes from South Korean-Vietnamese sister cities
일시: 2024년 5월 23일 14:00-16:00
발표자: My Hang Thi Bui( 아시아연구소 연구원)
장소: 서울대학교 아시아연구소 304호
주최: 서울대 아시아연구소 동남아시아센터
문의: 동남아센터 (02-880-2695, seacenter@snu.ac.kr)
강연 내용:
This study challenges the conventional discourse on North-South urban hierarchies by advocating for
the repositioning of cities from the Global South in transnational city networks. Drawing on the two
sister city pairs between South Korea and Vietnam—Yongsan District and Quy Nhơn City, and
Namyangju City and Vinh City—this study argues for the recognition and contribution of Vietnamese
cities in negotiating transnational partnerships and collaborating in placemaking with their Korean
counterparts. First, the research findings shed light on the quiet participation of Vietnamese cities in
transnational sister city placemaking. Despite their significant financial contribution towards
initiatives like charitable Happy Houses in Quy Nhơn or the Namyangju Dasan Street in Vinh, both
Vietnamese cities have been relatively discreet in disclosing their investments, instead emphasising
the contribution of the Korean side. Moreover, the case of the Korea-named street in Vinh is indeed a
repayment by Korean small and medium enterprises from Namyangju and the surrounding Gyeonggi
area, acknowledging the role of the Vietnamese city in facilitating their entry into the Vietnamese
market. Second, this study highlights the unorthodox negotiation of Vietnamese cities in transnational
city networks. In fact, decisions regarding partnership matching are carefully weighed by Vietnamese
cities based on the geographical and economic compatibility of the Korean candidates, as evidenced
by Vinh’s successful engagement with Namyangju while declining an offer from another Korean
municipality. This study emphasises the importance of incorporating localised knowledge in
elaborating on the politics of Southern cities in transnational city networks. By juxtaposing the
experiences of Southern cities alongside the conventional focus on Northern leadership in
transnational city networks, this study contributes to an understanding of the worlding of small Asian
cities and their production of transnational space within the ‘new geographies of urban theory’.
강연자 소개:
My Hang Thi Bui is a Research Fellow at the Asia Center, Seoul National University. Her interdisciplinary research engages political geography, migrant studies, and inter-Asian engagements. She holds a PhD in Geography from Seoul National University, with her dissertation examining the politics of sister city placemaking in transnational urban partnership regimes between South Korea and Vietnam. Dr. Bui is currently working on a new research project, Rethinking Transnational Marriages in the Age of Inter-Asian Mobilities, which considers not only the marriage migration of Vietnamese women in South Korea but also migration, investment, and marriage with locals among Korean ‘expatriates’ in Vietnam.