Managing Cultural Specificity and Universality in Trey Anthony’s Da Kink in My Hair and Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience

In Da Kink in My Hair and Kim’s Convenience, Trey Anthony and Ins Choi respectively represent different ethnic spaces situated within a larger dominant white society. The setting of both the Caribbean hair salon and Korean-owned convenience store provides representations of and insights into underrepresented peoples. While both the hair salon and convenience stores are run and operated by ethnic Canadian hyphenates, they differ in who is granted entrance. For the salon, being a black woman is a prerequisite to access but anyone from off the street (literally) may enter the convenience store. Da Kink in My Hair is the story of black women; Kim’s Convenience is universal. The women of the hair salon retreat from society even if temporarily. The Kim family is demonstrative of the Canadian value of multiculturalism, shedding Asians’ status as the perpetual outsider. While both are set in Toronto, the two plays’ settings, the black hair salon and the Korean-owned convenience store offer two different responses to being made foreign by the dominant white society: create a safe space with and for your fellow black women, or acculturate and be a cornerstone (or corner store!) in your Canadian neighbourhood.