My academic goal is to investigate how everyday practices and socio-spatial changes expose the potential for initiatives to challenge existing climates of ethno-nationalism, racism, and xenophobia. My research will focus on rural areas within South Korea to capture shifting dominant discourses and practices present within emerging immigrant societies. Evidently, rural areas are not simply passive recipients of social shifts sparked in urban “centers.” Rather, rapid demographic transformations in rural areas have inspired local and institutional changes, making these regions the epicenters of sociocultural debates and innovations. By incorporating counter-mapping in my work, I aim to interrogate urban-centric knowledge production, thereby critiquing the overrepresentation of Seoul Metropolitan Area in academia.