Description
Book SynopsisSovereignty Experiments tells the story of how authorities in Korea, Russia, China, and Japanthrough diplomatic negotiations, border regulations, legal categorization of subjects and aliens, and cultural policiescompeted to control Korean migrants as they suddenly moved abroad by the thousands in the late nineteenth century. Alyssa M. Park argues that Korean migrants were essential to the process of establishing sovereignty across four states because they tested the limits of state power over territory and people in a borderland where authority had been long asserted but not necessarily enforced. Traveling from place to place, Koreans compelled statesmen to take notice of their movement and to experiment with various policies to govern it. Ultimately, states'' efforts culminated in drastic measures, including the complete removal of Koreans on the Soviet side. As Park demonstrates, what resulted was the stark border regime that still stands between North Korea, Russia, and Ch
Trade Review
Sovereignty Experiments largely succeeds in what it sets out to do—demonstrate the crucialrole that Korean migrants played in determining Northeast Asian borders and sovereignties.
* The Russian Review *
A fascinating narrative about modern state making in a transnational and multiethnic frontier... One of the pioneer studies of the subject and a must read for students who are interested in the historical connection between East Asia and Russia. Scholars in the fields of the borderlands, empires, nation-states, migration, and diaspora studies would also find it a highly engaging reference.
* H-Diplo *
The book contributes to historical geography by showing that modern notions of territory and sovereignty in Asia were not simply adopted from some European ideal type or juridical construct, but were negotiated over time and through places such as borders, villages, farms, and cities... Overall, the book is a fascinating analysis of a complicated borderland.
* Journal of Historical Geography *
