Gobonji as a Phenomenon of Ethnic Entrepreneurship among the Koryo-saram in the Soviet Second Economy

Abstract

This article aims to make clear the nature of gobonji as a form of the Soviet second economy and to clarify its major constant and variable features as a kind of ethnic entrepreneurship. The most distinguishing characteristic of gobonji is that it was exclusively practiced by Koryo-saram (ethnic Koreans in Central Asia). Thus, one cannot deny the importance of gobonji in that practically all Soviet Koreans were engaged in it, or at least familiar with it, in one way or another during the Soviet period. Koreans acquired their first skills in entrepreneurship through gobonji, which created the initial material and financial basis for active integration into the market economy of the post-Soviet period. Gobonji also played a role in preserving the ethnic specificity of Koryo-saram, including elements of their traditional culture and native tongue.