Ethnography as a Lens into Labour Agency in Changing Times: Dongdaemun Women Workers’ Embodied Memories as Another History

This chapter focuses on the experiences of women workers in Dongdaemun, Seoul, South Korea, to examine how their labour and history are intertwined with the urban restructuring of the area. Through ethnography, I explore how these women navigate the inequalities present in their workplace and city, looking at their struggles and contributions in the making of everyday urban experiences. The central argument of the chapter is how the relationship between cities and women workers is historically constructed and how labour agency can challenge oppression and power. I argue for a nuanced understanding of Dongdaemun’s complex realities associated with contemporary labour oppression, especially of migrant workers. The fragile and powerful dialogues from women workers let us meet the diverse context to understand this area and contribute to Korean labour and urban history. By focusing on the subjectivities and labour of women workers to analyse urban restructuring, the discussion contributes to a dialogue between urban studies and geography by exposing individuals’ thoughts about belonging, political struggles, and social relations.