Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots
by Nancy Abelmann, John Lie
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No one will soon forget the image, blazed across the airwaves, of armed Korean Americans taking to the rooftops as their businesses went up in flames during the Los Angeles riots. Why Korean Americans? What stoked the wrath the riots unleashed against them? Blue Dreams is the first book to make sense of these questions, to show how Korean Americans, variously depicted as immigrant seekers after the American dream or as racist merchants exploiting African Americans, emerged at the crossroads show more of conflicting social reflections in the aftermath of the 1992 riots. The situation of Los Angeles's Korean Americans touches on some of the most vexing issues facing American society today: ethnic conflict, urban poverty, immigration, multiculturalism, and ideological polarization. Combining interviews and deft socio-historical analysis, Blue Dreams gives these problems a human face and at the same time clarifies the historical, political, and economic factors that render them so complex. In the lives and voices of Korean Americans, the authors locate a profound challenge to cherished assumptions about the United States and its minorities. Why did Koreans come to the United States? Why did they set up shop in poor inner-city neighborhoods? Are they in conflict with African Americans? These are among the many difficult questions the authors answer as they probe the transnational roots and diversity of Los Angeles's Korean Americans. Their work finally shows us in sharp relief and moving detail a community that, despite the blinding media focus brought to bear during the riots, has nonetheless remained largely silent and effectively invisible. An important corrective to the formulaic accounts that have pitted Korean Americans against African Americans, Blue Dreams places the Korean American story squarely at the center of national debates over race, class, culture, and community.Table of Contents: Preface The Los Angeles Riots, the Korean American Story Reckoning via the Riots Diaspora Formation: Modernity and Mobility Mapping the Korean Diaspora in Los Angeles Korean American Entrepreneurship American Ideologies on Trial Conclusion Notes References IndexReviews of this book: Blue Dreams--a poetic allusion to the clear blue sky that Koreans see as a symbol of freedom--is a welcome exploration by outsiders into the vexing and largely invisible Korean-American predicament in Los Angeles and the nation. [Abelmann and Lie 's] colorful interview subjects offer sharp observations.--K.W. Lee, Los Angeles TimesReviews of this book: An informed and thoughtful examination of Korean immigration to the United States since 1970.[Abelmann and Lie] show that even in a period as short as twenty-five years, there have been successive waves of differently motivated, differently resourced Korean immigrants, and their experiences and reactions have differed accordingly.--Michael Tonry, Times Literary SupplementReviews of this book: [The authors'] transnational perspective is particularly effective for explicating Korean immigrants' behaviors, activities, and feelings.Interesting and readable.--Pyong Gap Min, American Journal of SociologyReviews of this book: Beginning with a poetic book title, the authors recount in depth as to how the 'Blue Dreams' of the Korean-American merchants in East Los Angeles had shattered in the midst of [the] 1992 riot that turned out to be 'elusive dreams' in America.The book not only portrays the L.A. riot surrounding the Korean merchants, but also characterizes diaspora of the Koreans in America. The authors have also examined with scholarly insights the more complex socioeconomic and political underplay the Koreans encountered in their 'Promised New Land'.--Eugene C. Kim, International Migration Review show lessTags
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I read this book because I have become very interested in how Asian's are treated in the US. This book is about the Korean American's in the Los Angeles riots and how they suffered. At times it was a little boring, but it was also very informative and I'm very glad I read it. I can't believe how the police, fire and politicans hung this community out to dry and the lack of closure and justice for the vicitims. It was interesting to read their reasoning on why there are so many Korean American owned shops in predominantly black areas as opposed to black owned stores. Worth a read if you are interested in this kind of a subject. It's a hard subject and can be depressing, but you just might learn something about the "poor" in the inner cities.
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Author Information
7 Works 72 Members
Adrienhe Lo is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nancy Abelmann is the Harry E Preble Professor of Anthropology, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Languages and Cultures and an associate vice chancellor of research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Soo Ah Kwoh is associate show more professor of Asian American studies and human and community development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sumie Okazaks is professor of applied psychology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. show less
15 Works 163 Members
John Lie is C.K. Cho Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.
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- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Original language
- English
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