Imagined homogeneity: Identity and geopolitical and geoeconomic influences in the linguistic landscape of Seoul

Abstract

Despite South Korea's long reputation as a homogeneous society, recent research suggests that it is facing transitions in ethnic composition and language use. This paper explores this proposition by studying the linguistic landscape (LL) of Seoul. The survey offers a varied account of and new insight into many issues, including Korean homogeneity, that are influenced and transformed by contact with superpowers. By adopting the frame-analytic perspective suggested by Scheff (2005) and Coupland (2012), we provide an interpretive and critical analysis within the frames of geopolitics, geoeconomics and identity. Each frame has specific historical, political, cultural and socioeconomic underpinnings that are sometimes in tension with or overlap each other. This study highlights the need to reconsider the increasing impact of geopolitics and geoeconomics, which continue to make their presence felt in the LL of Seoul and contemporary debates regarding Korean identity. The tendency to imagine South Korea as a homogeneous society is no longer accurate. Inherently, the LL reveals that the call for a common vision of ‘multilingualism and multiculturalism’ in traditionally homogeneous societies can be hegemonic and that maintaining identity in the face of pressures from internationalism can be difficult, representing issues that we frequently naively overlook.