Runaway brides: Anxieties of identity among trafficked Filipina entertainers in South Korea

Although the migration of Filipinas to the Republic of Korea has only a short history, some Filipinas have already begun to form incipient communities around the largest United States military bases there. These communities are formed by an increasing number of women who run away from the military camptown clubs where they work as entertainers, to marry or live in cohabitation/de facto relationships with the enlisted American army personnel (or GIs) whom they meet and develop relationships with while working as entertainers in the GI clubs. Drawing on ethnographic research and inter-views with the women in one such camptown, this paper documents their experiences and the dynamics of their marriages as they attempt to negotiate their transition from "trafficked entertainers" to "runaway brides". Their experiences illustrate the daily tribulations of women who wish to improve their prospects, or more ambitiously, transform their identity whilst abroad, by entering into marriages or similar arrangements, but who continue to be encumbered with the stigma attached to being trafficked entertainers. The discussion in this paper aims to contribute to the literature on Filipina migrants' anxieties about identity in the context of transnational migration.