Abstract:This article examines illusions of an intact home front during and after Korea's participation in the Vietnam War, with reference to the film Yeongja's Heydays (1975) and a women's magazine feature article on a Vietnam War veteran's wife. These illusions facilitate the framing of both middle- and low-class women within a popular cultural archetype passed down from the film Madame Freedom (1956). The "Vietnam Boom" yielded materialistic gains on the home front under the Park Chung Hee regime. Contrasting this abrupt affluence, media representations continually reproduced the "dangerous woman" image to legitimize gender and class hierarchies. Two themes emerged: sexual objectification of lower-class women and containment of middle-class women's economic authority and empowerment. I argue that subordinating women in cultural texts obliterates the Vietnam War trauma and renders women a convenient scapegoat for Korea's volatile socioeconomic problems. Both narratives further imply another stereotype, namely that of deception and betrayal among women. Transforming naïve, chaste Yeongja first into a rebellious, self-destructive, disabled prostitute then into an ideal housewife offers Changsu, the other protagonist in the film, a vicarious proxy for healing his war wounds. This is a key difference between the film and the original novel on which it was based. Meanwhile, the adultery and economic loss of the Vietnam War veteran's wife are portrayed as the promiscuity and economic inability of a materialistic housewife, underscoring men's moral integrity and hard work.
{"title":"Dreaming of an Intact Home Front: Erasing Female Subjectivity through Popular Media Representations of the Vietnam War","authors":"Eunhee Park","doi":"10.1353/seo.2022.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2022.0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines illusions of an intact home front during and after Korea's participation in the Vietnam War, with reference to the film Yeongja's Heydays (1975) and a women's magazine feature article on a Vietnam War veteran's wife. These illusions facilitate the framing of both middle- and low-class women within a popular cultural archetype passed down from the film Madame Freedom (1956). The \"Vietnam Boom\" yielded materialistic gains on the home front under the Park Chung Hee regime. Contrasting this abrupt affluence, media representations continually reproduced the \"dangerous woman\" image to legitimize gender and class hierarchies. Two themes emerged: sexual objectification of lower-class women and containment of middle-class women's economic authority and empowerment. I argue that subordinating women in cultural texts obliterates the Vietnam War trauma and renders women a convenient scapegoat for Korea's volatile socioeconomic problems. Both narratives further imply another stereotype, namely that of deception and betrayal among women. Transforming naïve, chaste Yeongja first into a rebellious, self-destructive, disabled prostitute then into an ideal housewife offers Changsu, the other protagonist in the film, a vicarious proxy for healing his war wounds. This is a key difference between the film and the original novel on which it was based. Meanwhile, the adultery and economic loss of the Vietnam War veteran's wife are portrayed as the promiscuity and economic inability of a materialistic housewife, underscoring men's moral integrity and hard work.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46251444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This study will analyze the stylistic components and expressions of Korean popular culture found in advertisements featuring K-Pepsi Chile. In 2020, Pepsi Chile recruited five male K-pop fans talented in dancing and singing to form a Chilean K-pop group called K-Pepsi Chile. What elements of K-pop are shown in these ads, and how did Chilean K-pop fans perceive and reinterpret their Koreanness? To answer these questions, a content analysis will be conducted on the K-Pepsi Chile music videos. YouTube users' comments on the videos and the results of three focus group interviews with self-declared Chilean K-pop fans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight will also be analyzed to determine fans' perceptions of the presence (or absence) of the elements of K-pop and Koreanness in K-Pepsi Chile. Through this analysis, the study will explore the possible presence of stereotypes about K-pop and Korean culture. Additionally, it proposes the hypothesis that Chilean K-pop fans' negative perception of K-Pepsi Chile resulted from their identification of inauthentic K-pop elements in K-Pepsi Chile. The K-pop fans' rejection of K-Pepsi Chile resulted from their interpretation of it as an expression of Orientalism rather than a manifestation of Korean popular culture.
{"title":"Reworking the Cultural Imaginary: K-Pepsi Chile, Neo K-Pop, and Exoticized Otherness","authors":"Wonjung Min","doi":"10.1353/seo.2022.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2022.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This study will analyze the stylistic components and expressions of Korean popular culture found in advertisements featuring K-Pepsi Chile. In 2020, Pepsi Chile recruited five male K-pop fans talented in dancing and singing to form a Chilean K-pop group called K-Pepsi Chile. What elements of K-pop are shown in these ads, and how did Chilean K-pop fans perceive and reinterpret their Koreanness? To answer these questions, a content analysis will be conducted on the K-Pepsi Chile music videos. YouTube users' comments on the videos and the results of three focus group interviews with self-declared Chilean K-pop fans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight will also be analyzed to determine fans' perceptions of the presence (or absence) of the elements of K-pop and Koreanness in K-Pepsi Chile. Through this analysis, the study will explore the possible presence of stereotypes about K-pop and Korean culture. Additionally, it proposes the hypothesis that Chilean K-pop fans' negative perception of K-Pepsi Chile resulted from their identification of inauthentic K-pop elements in K-Pepsi Chile. The K-pop fans' rejection of K-Pepsi Chile resulted from their interpretation of it as an expression of Orientalism rather than a manifestation of Korean popular culture.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41902944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The coronavirus has changed our daily lives dramatically, driving us to spend time in the virus-free digital world, providing an imagined community in which we can be reborn. In this study, I highlight an interesting intersection of three phenomena in virtual spaces: the culturally hybrid content of the Korean Wave, or Hallyu; participatory culture of fandom; and a new kind of public defined by emotion. I show how Hallyu fandom becomes a fandom public using digital media by exploring the voluntary practices of Chilean fans in the production of the 2018 KBS Music Bank World Tour in Chile. Chilean K-pop fans form a Latin American fandom community in a digital space where they act as a fandom public based on affective intimacy, thereby influencing wider society. This finding offers insights to determine the capabilities of Hallyu fandom as a public.
{"title":"Pandemic to \"Fandomic:\" The Revival of Fandom Publics in the Digital Space of Latin American K-Pop Fandom","authors":"Hyunsuk Jang","doi":"10.1353/seo.2022.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2022.0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The coronavirus has changed our daily lives dramatically, driving us to spend time in the virus-free digital world, providing an imagined community in which we can be reborn. In this study, I highlight an interesting intersection of three phenomena in virtual spaces: the culturally hybrid content of the Korean Wave, or Hallyu; participatory culture of fandom; and a new kind of public defined by emotion. I show how Hallyu fandom becomes a fandom public using digital media by exploring the voluntary practices of Chilean fans in the production of the 2018 KBS Music Bank World Tour in Chile. Chilean K-pop fans form a Latin American fandom community in a digital space where they act as a fandom public based on affective intimacy, thereby influencing wider society. This finding offers insights to determine the capabilities of Hallyu fandom as a public.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49276813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Since the 2000s, there has been a growing visibility of Cuba in South Korean television programs, such as 2 Days & 1 Night (KBS, 2007-present), Encounter (tvN, 2018–2019), and Traveler (JTBC, 2019–2020). While these TV shows employ the tropes of travel and tourism to introduce Cuba as an alluring geographical region, they also illustrate how television formulates and exploits a monolithic imaginary of the Caribbean and Latin America for the audience. This article examines how television's infrastructural imaginaries of Cuba not only illuminate the intertwinement between modernity and interculturality but also contribute to Korea's reckoning with the world in which it comes to understand the self in new ways through different forms of encounters with Cuba, including its peoples, spaces, and infrastructures. I analyze the travel documentary Traveler to explore how popular television's imaginary of Cuba operates as a discursive space in which the production of knowledge about the island is mediated through the lens of modernity. More specifically, the infrastructural imaginaries of Cuba call forth the lens of peripheral modernity that renders the island both as primitive and anachronistic. While Korea's participation in the reckoning process offers an illusory, pretentious, and staged engagement with the Caribbean and Latin America, it is also incomplete and problematic as it continues to exploit the region as the Other despite its vast historical and cultural heterogeneity.
{"title":"Reckoning with the World: Infrastructural Imaginaries of Cuba in Contemporary Korean Television","authors":"B. Han","doi":"10.1353/seo.2022.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2022.0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Since the 2000s, there has been a growing visibility of Cuba in South Korean television programs, such as 2 Days & 1 Night (KBS, 2007-present), Encounter (tvN, 2018–2019), and Traveler (JTBC, 2019–2020). While these TV shows employ the tropes of travel and tourism to introduce Cuba as an alluring geographical region, they also illustrate how television formulates and exploits a monolithic imaginary of the Caribbean and Latin America for the audience. This article examines how television's infrastructural imaginaries of Cuba not only illuminate the intertwinement between modernity and interculturality but also contribute to Korea's reckoning with the world in which it comes to understand the self in new ways through different forms of encounters with Cuba, including its peoples, spaces, and infrastructures. I analyze the travel documentary Traveler to explore how popular television's imaginary of Cuba operates as a discursive space in which the production of knowledge about the island is mediated through the lens of modernity. More specifically, the infrastructural imaginaries of Cuba call forth the lens of peripheral modernity that renders the island both as primitive and anachronistic. While Korea's participation in the reckoning process offers an illusory, pretentious, and staged engagement with the Caribbean and Latin America, it is also incomplete and problematic as it continues to exploit the region as the Other despite its vast historical and cultural heterogeneity.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48968027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article aims to reconsider the significance of the controversy surrounding Queen Munjeong’s (1501–65) reinstatement of the two Buddhist orders, Seon (meditation) and Gyo (doctrine), by using it as a window onto the nature of politics in the Joseon Dynasty. Queen Munjeong’s restoration of Buddhism has received significant scholarly attention since the early 1990s, and most studies agree that the queen mother was able to bring her pro-Buddhist policy to fruition thanks to her supporters, i.e., officials loyal to her. Nevertheless, these allies were also found to have articulated opposition to her pro-Buddhist policies. Thus it would be logical to query what significance the disputes might have had in the context of early and mid-Joseon political dynamics. In King Myeongjong’s reign, the monarch had to share power with the high-ranking officials and bureaucrats; the scholar-officials were acting as arbiters and the king sought their approval prior to taking any action. In case of a dispute, precedents were invoked to substantiate one’s claim. By closely reading the contestations, I argue that Queen Munjeong’s restoration of the Buddhist orders was an aborted attempt at establishing a precedent that the throne could use to its advantage in its attempts to wrestle back control from the scholar-officials.
{"title":"Power-Sharing and the Tug of War at the Royal Court: The Significance of Queen Munjeong’s Restoration of Buddhism in Mid-Joseon Korea Reconsidered","authors":"S. Yoon","doi":"10.1353/seo.2021.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2021.0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article aims to reconsider the significance of the controversy surrounding Queen Munjeong’s (1501–65) reinstatement of the two Buddhist orders, Seon (meditation) and Gyo (doctrine), by using it as a window onto the nature of politics in the Joseon Dynasty. Queen Munjeong’s restoration of Buddhism has received significant scholarly attention since the early 1990s, and most studies agree that the queen mother was able to bring her pro-Buddhist policy to fruition thanks to her supporters, i.e., officials loyal to her. Nevertheless, these allies were also found to have articulated opposition to her pro-Buddhist policies. Thus it would be logical to query what significance the disputes might have had in the context of early and mid-Joseon political dynamics. In King Myeongjong’s reign, the monarch had to share power with the high-ranking officials and bureaucrats; the scholar-officials were acting as arbiters and the king sought their approval prior to taking any action. In case of a dispute, precedents were invoked to substantiate one’s claim. By closely reading the contestations, I argue that Queen Munjeong’s restoration of the Buddhist orders was an aborted attempt at establishing a precedent that the throne could use to its advantage in its attempts to wrestle back control from the scholar-officials.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45488819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Keijō Imperial University was a Japanese Imperial University established in colonial Korea in 1926. Although the university’s organizational culture mirrored those of the Imperial Universities in the mainland Japan, its birth during colonial rule mired it in tension and conflict over its orientation as a modern university and classification as an elite university with colonial origins. Institutionally, Keijō Imperial University functioned by intertwining modern, imperialist, and colonial characteristics. However, studies on the university have primarily focused on only one of these aspects. This study focuses on the two unique institutions that distinguish Keijō Imperial University from the other Imperial Universities in mainland Japan: the Pre-University Department and its finance system. The Pre-University Department was an affiliate institution of Keijō Imperial University that helped prevent colonial students from leaving the colony and managed them through division and control. The university finance system of Keijō Imperial University was subordinate to the Japanese Government-General of Korea. These are two examples that demonstrate the complex dynamics of Keijō Imperial University at the institutional level. As a colonial state institution, Keijō Imperial University ultimately found it impossible to break free from its intrinsic, colonially embedded limitations.
{"title":"Between Imperial and Colonial Universities: The Institutional Characteristics and Coloniality of Keijō Imperial University","authors":"Joon Young Jung","doi":"10.1353/seo.2021.0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2021.0014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Keijō Imperial University was a Japanese Imperial University established in colonial Korea in 1926. Although the university’s organizational culture mirrored those of the Imperial Universities in the mainland Japan, its birth during colonial rule mired it in tension and conflict over its orientation as a modern university and classification as an elite university with colonial origins. Institutionally, Keijō Imperial University functioned by intertwining modern, imperialist, and colonial characteristics. However, studies on the university have primarily focused on only one of these aspects. This study focuses on the two unique institutions that distinguish Keijō Imperial University from the other Imperial Universities in mainland Japan: the Pre-University Department and its finance system. The Pre-University Department was an affiliate institution of Keijō Imperial University that helped prevent colonial students from leaving the colony and managed them through division and control. The university finance system of Keijō Imperial University was subordinate to the Japanese Government-General of Korea. These are two examples that demonstrate the complex dynamics of Keijō Imperial University at the institutional level. As a colonial state institution, Keijō Imperial University ultimately found it impossible to break free from its intrinsic, colonially embedded limitations.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47646498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
*This is a review of Bräsel (2021). It is based on Simbirtseva and Volkov (2021), which presents a general overview of the Waeber archive along with proof of its authenticity, considers its scholarly significance, and examines some misconceptions that have developed about Waeber in modern historiography due to the lack of reliable information. Because of the frequent reference to pages in Bräsel (2021), they are given simply as numbers in parentheses. Ownership of the Waeber archive rests with Dr. Sylvia Bräsel. It was officially transferred to her by the previous owner, Ebba Nietfeld-von Waeber, in 2019 (6, 208).
{"title":"Newly Discovered Sources on Carl von Waeber (1841–1910): Sylvia Bräsel, “Bilder eines Diplomatenlebens zwischen Europa und Ostasien”","authors":"Tatiana M. Simbirtseva, Sergei V. Volkov","doi":"10.1353/seo.2021.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2021.0017","url":null,"abstract":"*This is a review of Bräsel (2021). It is based on Simbirtseva and Volkov (2021), which presents a general overview of the Waeber archive along with proof of its authenticity, considers its scholarly significance, and examines some misconceptions that have developed about Waeber in modern historiography due to the lack of reliable information. Because of the frequent reference to pages in Bräsel (2021), they are given simply as numbers in parentheses. Ownership of the Waeber archive rests with Dr. Sylvia Bräsel. It was officially transferred to her by the previous owner, Ebba Nietfeld-von Waeber, in 2019 (6, 208).","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46424222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Yi Yeoseong (1901–?) exemplifies the hybridity and complexity of Korea’s ideological landscape in the colonial age. During his lifetime Yi, a scion of a Confucian-turned-Christian family, evolved from a nationalist into a Marxist. His Marxism, however, was of a strongly “national” kind, as Yi’s main concern was the preservation and development of Korea’s indigenous cultural tradition in the era of colonial modernity. This article aims at demonstrating that Yi’s paradigm of national liberation was at the same time profoundly internationalist. Parallel to his concerns for Korea’s fate, Yi was deeply interested in a range of anti-colonial movements internationally. His interests spanned French Vietnam, British India, Indonesia under Dutch control, but also the situation in the Philippines and even the Jewish-Arab struggles in Palestine and the anti-racist struggles of US Blacks. In Europe, Yi focused on the history of the Irish independence movement. This article will demonstrate that Yi’s manifold writings on the global anti-colonial struggles combined Marxist methodology with a nationalist thrust to find abroad some analogies for Korea’s own colonial predicament. It is to be hoped that this article will contribute to rediscovering Yi as one of the major colonial-era Korean Marxist thinkers with a global reach.
{"title":"The Dream of the Solidarity of the Downtrodden: Yi Yeoseong (1901–?) and His Work on Global Anti-Imperialist Movements","authors":"V. Tikhonov","doi":"10.1353/seo.2021.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2021.0013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Yi Yeoseong (1901–?) exemplifies the hybridity and complexity of Korea’s ideological landscape in the colonial age. During his lifetime Yi, a scion of a Confucian-turned-Christian family, evolved from a nationalist into a Marxist. His Marxism, however, was of a strongly “national” kind, as Yi’s main concern was the preservation and development of Korea’s indigenous cultural tradition in the era of colonial modernity. This article aims at demonstrating that Yi’s paradigm of national liberation was at the same time profoundly internationalist. Parallel to his concerns for Korea’s fate, Yi was deeply interested in a range of anti-colonial movements internationally. His interests spanned French Vietnam, British India, Indonesia under Dutch control, but also the situation in the Philippines and even the Jewish-Arab struggles in Palestine and the anti-racist struggles of US Blacks. In Europe, Yi focused on the history of the Irish independence movement. This article will demonstrate that Yi’s manifold writings on the global anti-colonial struggles combined Marxist methodology with a nationalist thrust to find abroad some analogies for Korea’s own colonial predicament. It is to be hoped that this article will contribute to rediscovering Yi as one of the major colonial-era Korean Marxist thinkers with a global reach.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42520418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevin N. Cawley’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea is the latest introductory text in a growing list of English studies on Korean religion and philosophy. It traces the historical development of Korean intellectual traditions, focusing on key figures, concepts, and texts. By referencing up-to-date studies and making occasional comparisons with the theories of Western philosophers such as Derrida and Heidegger, Cawley provides Western readers with a concise and readable overview of the history of religion and philosophy in Korea. Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea consists of six chapters, as well as a prologue and an epilogue. In the first chapter, Cawley acknowledges the Western connotations of the categories “religion” and “philosophy” while introducing an alternative term, “pathway,” to better refer to the individual traditions of Korean religion based on the concept of Dao [K. Do] 道. His description of each pathway as a “route to becoming a better person” (2) effectively demonstrates how religion in Korea represented a modus vivendi of sorts, rather than an adherence to a certain dogma or faith. He then provides an overview of the main religious traditions of Korea: Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism and Shamanism. In Chapter 2, Cawley begins his journey through Korea’s extensive intellectual history. Opening with the cultural significance of the Tan’gun [Dangun] myth and describing the arrival and development of Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms period, this section culminates with a detailed look into the texts and ideas of Wŏnhyo [Wonhyo] and Ŭisang [Uisang], two extremely influential Buddhist monks of early Korea. Chapter 3 covers the progress of Korea’s intellectual history, spanning from Book Notes
凯文·n·考利(Kevin N. Cawley)的《韩国的宗教和哲学传统》是关于韩国宗教和哲学的英语研究的最新介绍。它追溯了韩国知识传统的历史发展，重点是关键人物、概念和文本。通过引用最新的研究，偶尔与德里达和海德格尔等西方哲学家的理论进行比较，考利为西方读者提供了一个简明易懂的关于韩国宗教和哲学史的概述。《韩国的宗教和哲学传统》由6个章节以及序言和结语组成。在第一章中，考利承认“宗教”和“哲学”这两个范畴的西方内涵，同时引入了另一个术语“途径”，以更好地指代基于道概念的韩国宗教的个别传统。[au:]他将每条道路都描述为“成为更好的人的道路”(2)，这有效地证明了宗教在韩国是一种权宜之计，而不是对某种教条或信仰的坚持。然后，他概述了韩国的主要宗教传统:儒教、佛教、道教和萨满教。在第二章中，考利开始了他的韩国思想史之旅。本部分从檀君神话的文化意义开始，描述佛教在三国时期的到来和发展，最后详细研究了Wŏnhyo[元孝]和Ŭisang[义相]的文本和思想，这两位早期韩国极具影响力的佛教僧侣。第三章涵盖了韩国思想史的进展，从书籍笔记开始
{"title":"Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea by Kevin N. Cawley (review)","authors":"Yeon-Seo Joh","doi":"10.1353/seo.2021.0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2021.0018","url":null,"abstract":"Kevin N. Cawley’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea is the latest introductory text in a growing list of English studies on Korean religion and philosophy. It traces the historical development of Korean intellectual traditions, focusing on key figures, concepts, and texts. By referencing up-to-date studies and making occasional comparisons with the theories of Western philosophers such as Derrida and Heidegger, Cawley provides Western readers with a concise and readable overview of the history of religion and philosophy in Korea. Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea consists of six chapters, as well as a prologue and an epilogue. In the first chapter, Cawley acknowledges the Western connotations of the categories “religion” and “philosophy” while introducing an alternative term, “pathway,” to better refer to the individual traditions of Korean religion based on the concept of Dao [K. Do] 道. His description of each pathway as a “route to becoming a better person” (2) effectively demonstrates how religion in Korea represented a modus vivendi of sorts, rather than an adherence to a certain dogma or faith. He then provides an overview of the main religious traditions of Korea: Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism and Shamanism. In Chapter 2, Cawley begins his journey through Korea’s extensive intellectual history. Opening with the cultural significance of the Tan’gun [Dangun] myth and describing the arrival and development of Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms period, this section culminates with a detailed look into the texts and ideas of Wŏnhyo [Wonhyo] and Ŭisang [Uisang], two extremely influential Buddhist monks of early Korea. Chapter 3 covers the progress of Korea’s intellectual history, spanning from Book Notes","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41334705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There is no doubt that Confucianism still lingers in contemporary Korean society, but its influence is rapidly diminishing amid globalization and the introduction of alternative ways of life—a fact Cawley seems to overlook in favor of asserting its steadfast relevance, particularly regarding the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014 and the subsequent impeachment of then president Park Geun-hye. Furthermore, his focus on the philosophical dimension of Korean religion undermines his analysis of the role of Shamanism, which cannot be fully explained without a thorough consideration of its ritual and practical aspects. This is especially evident in his account of Shamanism in modern-day Korea. Tracing its history up to the modern era, Cawley presents a very optimistic diagnosis of the state of contemporary Shamanism by saying that “the mudang, their rituals and songs continue to be important and show no signs [of] diminishing in modern Korea” (77). However, we must approach this remark with caution, mainly because it is an inaccurate observation of the reality of modern Shamanism. While Shamanism continues to survive today against all odds, its influence is quite clearly in decline. The technological adaptations of the mudang and their increased presence on the Internet, which Cawley refers to as an “evolution” of sorts, are actually a response to this fact—it is a des perate attempt on the part of the mudang to adjust themselves to the changing times and keep their tradition alive in a secularized world that progressively finds less and less need for Shamanistic practices. Cawley’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea demonstrates just how complex Korean religion is as a subject of academic research. But although there is definite room for improvement, these shortcomings do not take away from the fact that Cawley paints an impressively clear and concise picture of the intellectual history of Korea. Overall, he provides a decent introductory material for easing international readers into the relatively recent, complicated field of Korean religion. As Korean religion forms an integral part of Korean society and culture, I am certain scholars of Korean Studies worldwide will benefit from this book.
{"title":"Divorce in South Korea: Doing Gender and the Dynamics of Relationship Breakup by Yean-ju Lee (review)","authors":"Caren Freeman","doi":"10.1353/seo.2021.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/seo.2021.0019","url":null,"abstract":"There is no doubt that Confucianism still lingers in contemporary Korean society, but its influence is rapidly diminishing amid globalization and the introduction of alternative ways of life—a fact Cawley seems to overlook in favor of asserting its steadfast relevance, particularly regarding the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014 and the subsequent impeachment of then president Park Geun-hye. Furthermore, his focus on the philosophical dimension of Korean religion undermines his analysis of the role of Shamanism, which cannot be fully explained without a thorough consideration of its ritual and practical aspects. This is especially evident in his account of Shamanism in modern-day Korea. Tracing its history up to the modern era, Cawley presents a very optimistic diagnosis of the state of contemporary Shamanism by saying that “the mudang, their rituals and songs continue to be important and show no signs [of] diminishing in modern Korea” (77). However, we must approach this remark with caution, mainly because it is an inaccurate observation of the reality of modern Shamanism. While Shamanism continues to survive today against all odds, its influence is quite clearly in decline. The technological adaptations of the mudang and their increased presence on the Internet, which Cawley refers to as an “evolution” of sorts, are actually a response to this fact—it is a des perate attempt on the part of the mudang to adjust themselves to the changing times and keep their tradition alive in a secularized world that progressively finds less and less need for Shamanistic practices. Cawley’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea demonstrates just how complex Korean religion is as a subject of academic research. But although there is definite room for improvement, these shortcomings do not take away from the fact that Cawley paints an impressively clear and concise picture of the intellectual history of Korea. Overall, he provides a decent introductory material for easing international readers into the relatively recent, complicated field of Korean religion. As Korean religion forms an integral part of Korean society and culture, I am certain scholars of Korean Studies worldwide will benefit from this book.","PeriodicalId":41678,"journal":{"name":"Seoul Journal of Korean Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47389088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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