Recycling European Narratives in South Korea’s ‘Refugee Crisis’: Islamophobia, #MeToo, and Yemeni Refugees on Jeju Island

Sheikh, Farrah

Abstract

2018 was a politically tempestuous time for South Korea as a little over 500, mostly male, Yemeni asylum-seekers landed on Korea’s Jeju Island. Their unexpected arrival caught Korean society, already in the midst of its own #MeToo wave off guard, resulting in a wave of pro- and anti-refugee demonstrations across the country. Fueled by real and fake news about refugee illegal activities in Europe, anti-refugee backlash in Korea took an Islamophobic and feminist tone. Based on digital ethnography, this article presents observations from online voices – refugees, feminists, and media actors – expressed through Naver News and Naver Cafes to assess the ways in which Korea’s refugee crisis was represented in local and global anti-refugee and Islamophobic narratives, aimed in particular at Muslim men. This research highlights the impact of European narratives on Korean society and raises questions over how Korean society can create a wider, inclusive digital democracy.

Citation

Sheikh, F. (2021). Recycling European Narratives in South Korea’s ‘Refugee Crisis’: Islamophobia, #MeToo, and Yemeni Refugees on Jeju Island. Asiascape: Digital Asia, 8(3), 211-239. https://doi.org/10.1163/22142312-bja10015

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 14, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 4, 2022
• Journal: Asiascape: Digital Asia
• Print ISSN: 2214-2304
• Electronic ISSN: 2214-2312
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 211-239
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22142312-bja10015
• Publisher URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/dias/8/3/article-p211_6.xml