Korean Studies最新文献

Abstract:

This essay outlines current trends in the discourse on han in what is regarded as a Korean state of mind brought on by the specific nature of Korean history and political evolution: the Korean War, income inequality, mass migrations into the city, oppressive, modernization-minded governments, protest movements, difficult living conditions, colonialism, imperialism, and specific incidents in history that exacerbated the grief and trauma of han among the people. The essay sets out to show how han has been defined by scholars, mostly Korean thinkers but also non-Koreans, and how it has been treated in the modern era. There is a summary of some of the major historical events and conditions that reinforce the presence of han in Korean culture, and the renewal of an interest in the subject after the advent of Globalization. Finally, the essay makes a case for the universal nature of han and how many have begun to see it as not just a Korean phenomenon after all.

Abstract:

Motherhood is an extreme job. Especially in Korea, a country that has joined the ranks of post-capitalist developed nations due to its highly compressed growth, the role of the mother takes on the absolute responsibility of raising and managing the basic unit of society, the family. This study analyzes the roles and expectations of mothers as represented in the Korean media through the content of three television dramas, Sky Castle (2018–2019, JTBC), Under the Queen's Umbrella (2022, tvN), and Crash Course in Romance (2023, tvN). The mothers in the three dramas are portrayed as perfect machines that work tirelessly as a total management system. The "education mother" is the leading participant in the team competition for the college entrance examination, a manager and researcher for suitable educational resources, and a strategic member of the ŏnni community. The representation of education mothers in recent Korean dramas promotes the expansion of the private education market, thus contributing to shifting the responsibility for education from the state's educational welfare system to the private sector.

Abstract:

Despite South Korea's support for their transition, North Korean defectors in South Korea suffer from social isolation and financial difficulties. Moreover, they cannot speak about their problems for fear of being blamed as "ungrateful." This paper will problematize their human rights issues in the South by discussing two documentary films: Mrs. B., a North Korean Woman (2016) and Shadow Flowers (2019). Both films are about North Korean refugee women who have obtained South Korean citizenship but are unhappy and want to return home. Watched and controlled by the authorities, their right to freedom of mobility takes the back seat for concerns over national security. They are also supposed to stay silent to avoid being labeled as ungrateful refugees and targeted by far-right extremists and anti-communists. Considering Mrs. B. and Ryun-hee's cases, the paper will show how their harsh reality is stuck in the unhappy resettlement in the South. By adopting a critical refugee studies approach, the paper will identify their ungrateful character, being in line with its depiction of the grateful refugee as a constructed character. Thus, it will explore how South Korean society can accommodate the different voices of those ungrateful North Korean defectors without dismissing or demonizing them.

Abstract:

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, missionary women from North America went to Korea expecting to become role models that Korean women would see, be impressed with, and want to follow. While the voices of missionary women can be easily heard through their own plentiful writing, the points of view of the Korean women with whom they interacted remain almost entirely unheard. This article extracts the views of Korean women from the writings of missionary women by examining moments of difference, showing that silence does not always mean agreement. The unease of missionary women in reaction to the stares of Korean women demonstrates the power of the return gaze, while moments of forgiveness allude to a previous breach between women. Finally, the existence of Christian Korean women who sought careers instead of motherhood shows that the goals of Korean women were not always the same as those of missionary women. This article argues that Korean women often understood their interactions differently than did missionary women and, although they cannot speak with their own voices, these moments of difference show the autonomy of Korean women buried within the missionary text and their ability to subvert missionary expectations.

Abstract:

This article aims to trace the genealogy of Confucian modernity after Korea's liberation from Japanese rule and analyze how the historical context in which Confucian traditions were reconstructed. It seeks to analyze the process through which the disparate concepts of modernity and Confucianism were combined, moving beyond the perspective of denigration and development of Confucian traditions found in existing studies and approaching it from the perspective of postcolonial studies and traditions as invented practices. From the post-liberation period to the early 1960s, two arguments competed: one viewed Confucianism as having ruined the country, while the other claimed that it had sprouted modern times. While the former view still persisted, Confucianism was being used for political purposes, and scholars including Ch'ŏn Kwanu made efforts to find the sprout of modernism from Confucianism. The turning point came with the fervor of "modernization" that swept the country and the world in the 1960s. Influenced by domestic and foreign modernization theories, including Rostow's modernization theory, which began in the United States, the Park Chung Hee regime embraced the "modernization of the motherland" as its slogan. At the academic level, this trend was reinforced by the United States' support for Korean studies. In this process, discussions linking traditional Confucianism with modernization became more sophisticated in the intellectual community. By the late 1960s, these discussions went beyond explaining the connection between Confucianism and modernity through the concept of sprouting and reached a level of directly mentioning their connection. In the 1970s, this trend intensified further, leading to the conclusion that sirhak (practical learning) in Confucianism had pioneered its own modernization theory before the adoption of Western modernity. Through these analyses, this study aims to delineate the genealogy of discussions about Confucianism, such as that it is the cause of underdevelopment represented by stagnation or that it is the basis of East Asian modernity. Ultimately, by analyzing the contexts in which Confucian traditions are reconceptualized, this study aims to critically reconstruct the notions of tradition, nationalism, and modernity.

Abstract:

This article's interest in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker (2022) is twofold. First, it analyzes the visual text to unwrap the ideas of conventionality that are subtly debunked in the making of an unconventional family, amidst which it analyzes the mother character to be a central force of redemption and union. Ultimately, it argues the role of motherhood in this new family unit to be that of an imaginary and ideological vessel. Second, it positions this idea against the history of Korean cinema, where decades of films have similarly glorified motherhood as an unconditional love that redeems. Yet Kore-eda's radical image of a teenage sex worker as the bearer of this ideology simultaneously resonates with a different strand of Korean films: half-commercial half-arthouse films from the mid-1990s and 2000s known as "high-quality films." Motherhood is one of two connections that can be drawn between Broker and high-quality films. While the mother aligns with the female precedents of these films by together pushing the boundaries of the Korean cinematic mother, her pivotal role in the making of a new kind of family also connects to depictions of "alternative families." Such reverberations are meaningful not only in allowing Broker to be positioned within the context of Korean film history as a story that interlaces with the ideas of Korean films despite being made by a non-Korean auteur, but also in illuminating the trans- and multi-national nature of (art) films today, where the lowering of the national boundaries surrounding auteurs are leading to multi-contextual films.

Abstract:

The South Korean television series When the Camellia Blooms (Tongbaekkot p'il muryŏp, 2019) was one of the highest-rated and most-discussed miniseries dramas of 2019. It is notable that the K-drama has succeeded in attracting viewers from all demographics. This popularity seems to be related to the issues that are highlighted in the drama, such as the #MeToo movement, misogynist murders, and new concepts of family. This article focuses on the portrayal of the single mother Tongbaek in the drama and argues that When the Camellia Blooms used intertextual references to other single mothers from Korean literature and film as a contrast to portray its own message as progressive. The title alone suggests understanding When the Camellia Blooms in relation to both the title of the short story When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom (Memilkkot p'il muryŏp) from 1936 and the film title Ms. Camellia (Tongbaek agassi) from 1964. Both the short story and the film depict the single mother as a self-victimizing character reduced to her role as mother. In contrast, the K-drama chooses the other extreme and celebrates the single mother as a self-sufficient heroine. While the drama's idealization of motherhood seems to be at odds with the feminism it promotes, the emphasis on solidarity and alternative parenting/caring communities toward the end of the series suggests a more open-minded narrative. I argue that by providing diverse messages on mothers, mothering, and motherhood, the drama stimulates the discussion on how to overcome patriarchal motherhood and move toward feminist mothering.

Abstract:

In the last decade, South Korean webtoons have joined television dramas (K-dramas) and K-pop as an important element of the Korean Wave abroad. Domestically, the South Korean public can idly browse or religiously follow thousands of free or subscription webtoons on their smartphones. Webtoon artists may dream of achieving broader success by having their works adapted transmedially, as a web drama (online TV drama) or even better, as a network, cable or Netflix series that achieves mainstream success. Two significant subgenres of webtoons are "lifestyle webtoons" (saenghwarwept'un) and "family webtoons" (kajogwept'un) and these two subgenres are combined in what I am calling "childcare webtoons" (yugawept'un). While South Korea also follows global media trends of "mom blogs" and Instagram microcelebrities or Youtubers sharing their parenting journeys ("sharenting"), "childcare webtoons" are a particularly rich space for observing changing mothering ideologies and parenting norms. This article examines "mom humor" and other stories mothers tell across the South Korean Internet, paying particular attention to what kinds of emotional expression are sanctioned and what is taboo. I analyze webtoons such as "I'm a Mom (Nanŭn ŏmmada)" and "The Birth of a Married Woman(Yubunyŏŭi t'ansaeng)," suggesting that even as the tedium of everyday motherhood is increasingly critiqued through media, the still somewhat rigid gender roles and maternal expectations in South Korea translate into an overall more muted and subtle "mom humor" alongside the still more socially expected stories of maternal gratitude and fulfillment.

Abstract:

The South Korean religion of Chŭngsando places pronounced emphasis on women by teaching that their emancipation is a precondition for surviving an apocalyptic transition, whereafter gender inequities will end. It further highlights the role of historical personage and mother, Ko P'allye (1880–1935), in the early history of the Chŭngsan movement as having been an active subject and the religious successor to male founder, Chŭngsan Kang Ilsun (1871–1909). This doctrine, and Chŭngsando's scriptual portrayal of Ko are explicitly challenging to traditional and contemporary patriarchy, yet it is Chŭngsando's current male leader, An Kyŏngjŏn, who has elevated these elements to a greater degree than any other sect. This article examines representations of womanhood and motherhood within Chŭngsando's current scripture through a close reading of the gendered aspects of the doctrine and portrayal of Ko P'allye. While addressing the textual history, it approaches the scripture as a cultural text for which the most recent version offers the richest elaboration. It analogizes to popular culture to interpret a core characteristic of the text: interplay of the mundane (historical reality) and the extraordinary (religious content). It meanwhile historicizes the tensions with structural patriarchy by situating the Chŭngsan religion as a subaltern salvationist movement. I argue the doctrine and portrayal are neither invention nor contradictory to the movement but trace to two historical forces: emancipatory discourse(s) of women, and Ko's own lived reality as a subaltern.

Abstract:

This article first offers a postcolonial critique on Japanese colonial historiography and post-1945 South Korean historiography on Confucian tradition of Korea that they both have shared a very essentialized understanding on Confucian tradition of Korea as unique nature of Korean society based on the same overarching evolutionary modernization narrative in spite of their contradictingly different definition of it as either premodern backwardness or Confucian modernity. In order to go beyond these still dominant essentialized bipolar views on Confucian tradition of Korea, based on a transnational perspective, this paper seeks to show how post-1945 South Korean historiography has redefined Confucian tradition of Korea. Then, to do so, this paper tries to historicize post-1945 South Korean historiography's appropriation of Max Weber's bureaucracy and modernization theories from U.S. academia of social science and East Asian studies for its studies of Koryŏ-Chosŏn civil service examination and social status system. Then, this paper goes further to look at how post-1945 South Korean historiography on late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn history has struggled from 1945 to early 2000 to redefine and reinvent Confucian tradition of Korea such as Koryŏ-Chosŏn civil service examination as the unique origin of its own meritocratic modernity that is as close as "Western Modernity," based on this appropriation of Max Weber's bureaucracy and modernization theories. Then, this paper finally turns to rethink the meaning of this appropriation within the broader context of Cold War and South Korean postcoloniality.