Week 9 Discussion Post

The trailer to “Coming to you, Minu” reminds us of the important role that music plays in fights for migrant justice. Why do you think this is the case? How can we connect this question to the first reading you did in this course by Goffe, who also talked about the relationship between Chinese shopkeepers in Jamaica and music?

I think that music is a good platform to inform others of inequalities and spread awareness of issues. It serves as a strong medium for communicating emotions, and through this gives people of difference a chance to see things from another’s perspective. Similarly, it provides a way for people to bond over similar issues by relating to each other. I think in the situation of “Coming to you, Minu”, his music was a good way for him to relate the struggles of immigrant workers in Korea to Korean immigrant workers in Japan. Through these performances, he was able to spread the message that all people are not as different as they seem, and relate his grievances to the masses beyond those in the exact same position as him. Similarly, the case we studied at the beginning of the quarter about the Chinese shopkeepers in Jamaica is also an example of how music brings people of different communities and histories together. Through music and the economy they built around it, they resisted capitalism by forming bonded communities. Just as how music brought Korean workers and other migrant workers in Korea together through similar issues caused by capitalism, it also brought the Chinese shopkeepers and Jamaican locals together in the same way.