The present study focuses on the 1990s as a pivotal era in the mnemonic landscape of post-authoritarian South Korea, and bridges the gap between the ample literature on the revolutionary 1980s and the "history wars" of the 2000s–2010s. Through a case study of the cultural memory of Syngman Rhee (1875–1965) and his role in the division of the Korean peninsula, this mnemohistorical account investigates how his memory became pivotal to South Korean mnemonic disputes in the 1990s. Contestations over the memory of Rhee during this period are dissected using critical discourse analysis, beginning with the "re-discovery" of Syngman Rhee in the early 1990s by conservative journalists and intellectuals. The article then explores how Chosun Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo, two of South Korea's largest newspapers, led extensive Syngman Rhee "re-evaluation" efforts in 1995 to revise South Korean cultural memory, before addressing how such efforts were met by fierce opposition from progressives. Although ultimately unsuccessful, these conservative re-evaluation efforts and the opposition that ensued veritably mapped the mnemonic coordinates for South Korea's later "history wars." As such, the present study provides an insight into the origins of the mnemonic polarization that characterized South Korea in the mid-2000s. As a first historical dispute initiated by conservatives post-democratization, this "re-discovery" and "re-evaluation" of Syngman Rhee as South Korea's "founding father" arguably provided conservatives with a historical narrative for the post-Cold War era, cementing a pillar of conservative functional memory that would eventually merge into a "foundation"-centered narrative after the late 1990s.
{"title":"Founding Father or National Traitor? Contested Memories of Syngman Rhee in Mid-1990s South Korea","authors":"Patrick Vierthaler","doi":"10.1353/ks.2024.a931007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2024.a931007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>The present study focuses on the 1990s as a pivotal era in the mnemonic landscape of post-authoritarian South Korea, and bridges the gap between the ample literature on the revolutionary 1980s and the \"history wars\" of the 2000s–2010s. Through a case study of the cultural memory of Syngman Rhee (1875–1965) and his role in the division of the Korean peninsula, this mnemohistorical account investigates how his memory became pivotal to South Korean mnemonic disputes in the 1990s. Contestations over the memory of Rhee during this period are dissected using critical discourse analysis, beginning with the \"re-discovery\" of Syngman Rhee in the early 1990s by conservative journalists and intellectuals. The article then explores how <i>Chosun Ilbo</i> and <i>Joongang Ilbo</i>, two of South Korea's largest newspapers, led extensive Syngman Rhee \"re-evaluation\" efforts in 1995 to revise South Korean cultural memory, before addressing how such efforts were met by fierce opposition from progressives. Although ultimately unsuccessful, these conservative re-evaluation efforts and the opposition that ensued veritably mapped the mnemonic coordinates for South Korea's later \"history wars.\" As such, the present study provides an insight into the origins of the mnemonic polarization that characterized South Korea in the mid-2000s. As a first historical dispute initiated by conservatives post-democratization, this \"re-discovery\" and \"re-evaluation\" of Syngman Rhee as South Korea's \"founding father\" arguably provided conservatives with a historical narrative for the post-Cold War era, cementing a pillar of conservative functional memory that would eventually merge into a \"foundation\"-centered narrative after the late 1990s.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"173 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141515055","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}
Under the banner of civilization and enlightenment, new-intellectuals of the early twentieth century sought to challenge damaging past traditions and social practices to give rise to a new era for the people of Korea. Coinciding with this push toward modern progress, the theater simultaneously arose as a new feature of the urban landscape. Writers like Yi Kwang-su stressed the communicative potential of new literary trends. He was one of the earliest to turn to drama as a means of shaping a future Korea; he utilized the palpable realism fostered by stage space as a means to channel his progressive ideas to society. Published in Hakjigwang in 1917, Kyuhan (Sorrows of the Inner Room), potentially Korea's first modern play, is a work that frankly portrays the damages of dated Confucian moralities and traditions. In penning a drama that brings the modern Chosŏn intellectual of Yi's urban audience into a uniquely female space of domesticity, pain and subalternity, the audience becomes privy to the bitter realities of Chosŏn women and the importance of autonomy, education and true love. Through discussions on heterotopic space, spectatorship and the relationship between actor and audience, this study will explore Kyuhan and the birth of the modern stage. In this, we come understand Yi's vision of theater as a new site for enlightenment progress that could shock and provoke the public into action.
{"title":"Staging \"Civilization and Enlightenment\"—Yi Kwang-su's Kyuhan and the Communicability of Modern Theater Space","authors":"Owen Stampton","doi":"10.1353/ks.2024.a930998","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2024.a930998","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>Under the banner of civilization and enlightenment, new-intellectuals of the early twentieth century sought to challenge damaging past traditions and social practices to give rise to a new era for the people of Korea. Coinciding with this push toward modern progress, the theater simultaneously arose as a new feature of the urban landscape. Writers like Yi Kwang-su stressed the communicative potential of new literary trends. He was one of the earliest to turn to drama as a means of shaping a future Korea; he utilized the palpable realism fostered by stage space as a means to channel his progressive ideas to society. Published in <i>Hakjigwang</i> in 1917, <i>Kyuhan</i> (Sorrows of the Inner Room), potentially Korea's first modern play, is a work that frankly portrays the damages of dated Confucian moralities and traditions. In penning a drama that brings the modern Chosŏn intellectual of Yi's urban audience into a uniquely female space of domesticity, pain and subalternity, the audience becomes privy to the bitter realities of Chosŏn women and the importance of autonomy, education and true love. Through discussions on heterotopic space, spectatorship and the relationship between actor and audience, this study will explore <i>Kyuhan</i> and the birth of the modern stage. In this, we come understand Yi's vision of theater as a new site for enlightenment progress that could shock and provoke the public into action.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141515132","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 article is an account of the changing conceptualization of Confucianism by Protestant missionaries and Korean Protestant believers at the turn of the twentieth century. The Koreans and Anglo-American missionaries each identified different moral and political reasons for religious conversion. Key to the missionary notion was a proper religion. A religion proper is premised in the Revelation in the Scripture and verifiable in history and is distinct from a set of abstract ethical precepts. To this end, the missionaries deployed various catechisms with reference to comparative chronology and the rational basis of souls. On the other hand, the converts were attracted to the political possibilities of Protestant religion. The converting Koreans saw potential in reforming and regenerating public and private morality, arguing that Confucianism had exhausted its ethical resources. However, the closure of the political possibilities by the 1900s prompted the missionaries to explore other avenues such as Christian moral psychology. This reflected the missionaries' emphasis on post-mortem individual salvation, leading to a renewed conceptual focus on inner conscience rooted in Christian moral and natural science.
{"title":"The Rescue Mission: From Confucian Corruption to Protestant Conscience at the Turn of Nineteenth Century Korea","authors":"Young-chan Choi","doi":"10.1353/ks.2024.a930996","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2024.a930996","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>This article is an account of the changing conceptualization of Confucianism by Protestant missionaries and Korean Protestant believers at the turn of the twentieth century. The Koreans and Anglo-American missionaries each identified different moral and political reasons for religious conversion. Key to the missionary notion was a proper religion. A religion proper is premised in the Revelation in the Scripture and verifiable in history and is distinct from a set of abstract ethical precepts. To this end, the missionaries deployed various catechisms with reference to comparative chronology and the rational basis of souls. On the other hand, the converts were attracted to the political possibilities of Protestant religion. The converting Koreans saw potential in reforming and regenerating public and private morality, arguing that Confucianism had exhausted its ethical resources. However, the closure of the political possibilities by the 1900s prompted the missionaries to explore other avenues such as Christian moral psychology. This reflected the missionaries' emphasis on post-mortem individual salvation, leading to a renewed conceptual focus on inner conscience rooted in Christian moral and natural science.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141515130","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}
<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span> <p> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> Introduction to Special Section<span>Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture</span> <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Bonnie Tilland (bio) </li> </ul> <p>In recent years, approaches to the study of motherhood in Korea have diversified, in line with both an evolving gender equality movement in South Korea and an increasingly globalized field of gender studies. Anthropologists and gender studies scholars of South Korea have analyzed changes in motherhood ideology (Taek-rim Yoon, for example), along with changing expectations and norms for engagement with children's education (particularly Nancy Abelmann on "the education mother" and So Jin Park on "education management mothers"). The spread of South Korean culture abroad has also led to more analyses of representations of mothers in film, television, and literature, and scholars increasingly examine mothers' use of social media and online communities. This special section of <em>Korean Studies</em> grew out of an organized panel at the Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE) conference in La Rochelle, France, in 2021, also called "Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture." In the intervening years since the conference panel, new scholars joined the special section and others had to defer or depart. It is our hope that this special section will lead to continued academic discussion of South Korean motherhood, mothers, mothering, <strong>[End Page 166]</strong> and parenting. We wish to thank Soo Hyun Jackelen, who was part of the initial conference panel, for her significant contributions to the planning of the project.</p> <p>The contributors to this special section approach Korean studies from different disciplinary backgrounds, and it follows that each author also engages differently with South Korean motherhood, with the commonality that all are examining motherhood through "popular and practiced culture." An underlying motivation of the special section is to illuminate mothering and motherhood through the South Korean context and, in turn, to illuminate aspects of South Korean society and culture to which a focus on mothering and motherhood will bring new perspective. While the Korean Wave of popular culture has meant that there is a wealth of new scholarship on various themes, tropes, and social issues as seen through the lens of K-pop and Korean television, this special section emerged out of our collective commitment to making connections between popular culture and practiced culture to better understand historical and contemporary South Korean motherhood. Considered together, the articles in this special section examine the spaces between media or written texts and their consumers, furthering an understanding of South Korean motherhood beyond popular culture or practiced culture. In the space between audi
以下是内容的简要摘录，以代替摘要： 近年来，随着韩国性别平等运动的不断发展和性别研究领域的日益全球化，研究韩国母性的方法也变得多样化。韩国的人类学家和性别研究学者分析了母性意识形态的变化（例如 Taek-rim Yoon），以及对参与子女教育的期望和规范的变化（特别是 Nancy Abelmann 关于 "教育母亲 "和 So Jin Park 关于 "教育管理母亲 "的研究）。韩国文化在海外的传播也导致了对电影、电视和文学作品中母亲形象的更多分析，学者们也越来越多地研究母亲对社交媒体和网络社区的使用。2021 年在法国拉罗谢尔举行的欧洲韩国研究协会（AKSE）会议组织了一次小组讨论，主题也是 "韩国流行文化和实践文化中的母亲形象"。在会议小组讨论后的几年间，有新的学者加入了特别小组，也有学者不得不推迟或离开。我们希望该专栏能继续引发学术界对南韩母性、母亲、母爱 [完 166 页] 和养育子女的讨论。我们要感谢 Soo Hyun Jackelen，她是最初的会议小组成员之一，为本项目的规划做出了重大贡献。本专栏的作者们从不同的学科背景切入韩国研究，因此每位作者对南韩母性的研究也不尽相同，但共同点是他们都在通过 "流行文化和实践文化 "研究母性。本专栏的一个基本动机是通过南韩背景来阐明母性和母爱，进而阐明南韩社会和文化的各个方面，对母性和母爱的关注将为这些方面带来新的视角。韩国的流行文化浪潮意味着通过 K-pop 和韩国电视的视角来观察各种主题、套路和社会问题的新学术成果层出不穷，而本专栏的出现则源于我们共同的承诺，即在流行文化和实践文化之间建立联系，从而更好地理解历史上和当代韩国的母性。本专栏中的文章共同探讨了媒体或书面文本与其消费者之间的空间，进一步加深了对南韩母亲身份的理解，使其超越了流行文化或实践文化的范畴。在视听文本和书面文本之间，在大众文化描绘和生活中的母性实践之间，或许可以找到一种韩国母性和母爱的公共文化。将各种文本中的母亲形象重塑为 "公共文化"，而非严格意义上的大众文化或实践文化，可以达到以下几个目的。首先，它承认当代社会的舆论和言论是由大众文本（包括电视剧、电影、创意数字媒体和宗教经文）和传统的官方公共言论（如新闻媒体）共同塑造的。其次，它主张母性是公共领域的问题。数十年来，全球女权主义学术研究已经证明，公共领域和家庭私人领域之间的二元对立是错误的，强调了（主要）由母亲承担的间接支持更广泛经济体系的无形劳动。在韩国，当接二连三的新闻标题对新的历史最低出生率（不仅每年公布一次，而且每季度或每月公布一次）发出普遍警告时，为人之母已成为个人成为政治的真实案例。出于社会和经济原因，越来越多的女性选择不做母亲，这引发了人们对韩国国家自身可持续发展的担忧。无论是否直接涉及出生率危机，流行文化和实践文化中对母亲、母性和母爱的描绘 [第 167 页结束] 都涉及到这些社会变革和国家认同的深层问题。安智允（Ji-yoon An）从韩国电影史出发，对是枝裕和的 2022 年电影《经纪人》（Broker）进行了探讨和背景分析。她探讨了影片中年轻、单身、未婚母亲的角色--她的角色在某种程度上没有韩国电影史上的母亲那么丰满。
{"title":"Introduction to Special Section: Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture","authors":"Bonnie Tilland","doi":"10.1353/ks.2024.a930999","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2024.a930999","url":null,"abstract":"<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span>\u0000<p> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> Introduction to Special Section<span>Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture</span> <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Bonnie Tilland (bio) </li> </ul> <p>In recent years, approaches to the study of motherhood in Korea have diversified, in line with both an evolving gender equality movement in South Korea and an increasingly globalized field of gender studies. Anthropologists and gender studies scholars of South Korea have analyzed changes in motherhood ideology (Taek-rim Yoon, for example), along with changing expectations and norms for engagement with children's education (particularly Nancy Abelmann on \"the education mother\" and So Jin Park on \"education management mothers\"). The spread of South Korean culture abroad has also led to more analyses of representations of mothers in film, television, and literature, and scholars increasingly examine mothers' use of social media and online communities. This special section of <em>Korean Studies</em> grew out of an organized panel at the Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE) conference in La Rochelle, France, in 2021, also called \"Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture.\" In the intervening years since the conference panel, new scholars joined the special section and others had to defer or depart. It is our hope that this special section will lead to continued academic discussion of South Korean motherhood, mothers, mothering, <strong>[End Page 166]</strong> and parenting. We wish to thank Soo Hyun Jackelen, who was part of the initial conference panel, for her significant contributions to the planning of the project.</p> <p>The contributors to this special section approach Korean studies from different disciplinary backgrounds, and it follows that each author also engages differently with South Korean motherhood, with the commonality that all are examining motherhood through \"popular and practiced culture.\" An underlying motivation of the special section is to illuminate mothering and motherhood through the South Korean context and, in turn, to illuminate aspects of South Korean society and culture to which a focus on mothering and motherhood will bring new perspective. While the Korean Wave of popular culture has meant that there is a wealth of new scholarship on various themes, tropes, and social issues as seen through the lens of K-pop and Korean television, this special section emerged out of our collective commitment to making connections between popular culture and practiced culture to better understand historical and contemporary South Korean motherhood. Considered together, the articles in this special section examine the spaces between media or written texts and their consumers, furthering an understanding of South Korean motherhood beyond popular culture or practiced culture. In the space between audi","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"216 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141515133","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}
<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span> <p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ</em> by Eleana Kim <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> June Hee Kwon </li> </ul> <em>Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ</em>, by Eleana Kim. Duke University Press, 2022. 224 pages. $26.95 paperback. <p>Reminders of the Korean peninsula's division have not always been visible or obvious, but they are ubiquitous in the everyday lives of South Koreans. Morning and evening news programs frequently present stories about North Korea's latest missile launches or nuclear experiments, expressing grave concern that the North may attack South Korea and defeat the US military stationed there. Tenacious investigations of those suspected of having pro-North Korean sentiments can be seen as an ongoing political project, regardless of the government's stated political orientation, to consolidate South Korean anti-communist nationalism. Tragic stories about families separated by the Korean War are circulated in the form of documentaries, TV shows, and emotional video clips of government-arranged family reunions. All of these "division reminders" have directed the teleological desire for ethnonational unification "someday" in South Korea. Yet, as the ambiguous temporality of division, which is temporary but permanent, and hopeful but unpredictable, has diversified the vision of a national future among young South Koreans, the necessity of ethnonational unification has been gradually replaced with a new political rhetoric of "peace"—a more universal aspiration beyond national constraints.</p> <p>Of the divided landscape, there is no better marker than the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that materializes and visualizes the ongoing inter-Korean conflict and the temporary peace (or ceasefire) that resulted from the Korean War. The DMZ has played a key role in buffering possible military confrontations (demilitarization) as well as restricting human encroachment with the threat of indiscriminately buried landmines (militarization). Eleana Kim's new book on the highly "de/militarized" zone, as the Epilogue title aptly puts it, <em>Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ</em> is a breakthrough ethnography that thoroughly investigates how the untouchable and untouched border zone, has become an exceptional "nature" space that generates new knowledge production about inter-species interactions and opens up new possibilities to envision peace with nature.</p> <p>Kim's book stages the DMZ's exceptionality through the intersection of militarism and capitalist desire. As vividly presented in Chapter 4, the South Korean government in the 1960s encouraged poor Koreans to <strong>[End Page 486]</strong> move near the DMZ, which normally had very limited civilian access. The purpose was for them to farm rice the
{"title":"Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ by Eleana Kim (review)","authors":"June Hee Kwon","doi":"10.1353/ks.2024.a931013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2024.a931013","url":null,"abstract":"<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span>\u0000<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ</em> by Eleana Kim <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> June Hee Kwon </li> </ul> <em>Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ</em>, by Eleana Kim. Duke University Press, 2022. 224 pages. $26.95 paperback. <p>Reminders of the Korean peninsula's division have not always been visible or obvious, but they are ubiquitous in the everyday lives of South Koreans. Morning and evening news programs frequently present stories about North Korea's latest missile launches or nuclear experiments, expressing grave concern that the North may attack South Korea and defeat the US military stationed there. Tenacious investigations of those suspected of having pro-North Korean sentiments can be seen as an ongoing political project, regardless of the government's stated political orientation, to consolidate South Korean anti-communist nationalism. Tragic stories about families separated by the Korean War are circulated in the form of documentaries, TV shows, and emotional video clips of government-arranged family reunions. All of these \"division reminders\" have directed the teleological desire for ethnonational unification \"someday\" in South Korea. Yet, as the ambiguous temporality of division, which is temporary but permanent, and hopeful but unpredictable, has diversified the vision of a national future among young South Koreans, the necessity of ethnonational unification has been gradually replaced with a new political rhetoric of \"peace\"—a more universal aspiration beyond national constraints.</p> <p>Of the divided landscape, there is no better marker than the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that materializes and visualizes the ongoing inter-Korean conflict and the temporary peace (or ceasefire) that resulted from the Korean War. The DMZ has played a key role in buffering possible military confrontations (demilitarization) as well as restricting human encroachment with the threat of indiscriminately buried landmines (militarization). Eleana Kim's new book on the highly \"de/militarized\" zone, as the Epilogue title aptly puts it, <em>Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ</em> is a breakthrough ethnography that thoroughly investigates how the untouchable and untouched border zone, has become an exceptional \"nature\" space that generates new knowledge production about inter-species interactions and opens up new possibilities to envision peace with nature.</p> <p>Kim's book stages the DMZ's exceptionality through the intersection of militarism and capitalist desire. As vividly presented in Chapter 4, the South Korean government in the 1960s encouraged poor Koreans to <strong>[End Page 486]</strong> move near the DMZ, which normally had very limited civilian access. The purpose was for them to farm rice the","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"2011 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141515056","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}
<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span> <p> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> Editor's Note <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Cheehyung Harrison Kim </li> </ul> <p>Two interconnected Special Sections are at the core of this volume. The first is titled "A Transnational Reading of the Invention of Korea's Confucian Traditions," exceptionally guest edited by Daham Chong (Sangmyung University). The second is guest editor Bonnie Tilland's (Leiden University) superb "Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture." Confucianism and motherhood are notions and practices tied to the ideological perception of constancy, on the one hand, and the shifting epistemological norms based on cultural and historical exigencies, on the other. The authors of the two Special Sections question and explore various historical and cultural predicaments of Confucianism and motherhood in modern and contemporary Korea.</p> <p>The Special Section on the invention of Confucian traditions begins with Daham Chong's meticulous account of the influence Max Weber had on modern Korean historians' comprehension of Confucianism-derived systems in late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn, namely the civil service examination. Young-chan Choi (University of Oxford) adroitly investigates the epistemological changes distinctly occurring in late nineteenth century Korea, in which Confucianism comes to be seen as inferior to the modernist understandings of the world stemming from Protestantism. The postliberation space is Kim Hunjoo's (Hanbat National University) research area, where the process of remaking Confucianism as a new tradition is carefully scrutinized in relation to the nation building process. The final piece in this Special Section is on literary culture. Owen <strong>[End Page v]</strong> Stampton's (University of British Columbia) sophisticated article probes into the tension between tradition and modern life as experienced by women characters in Yi Kwang-su's 1917 play <em>Kyuhan</em>, as well as discussing the birth of the modern stage in Korea.</p> <p>South Korea's variegated cultural expressions of motherhood is the theme of the second Special Section. It starts with Ji-yoon An's (University of British Columbia) keen multilayered comparison of the notion of motherhood between Kore-eda Hirokazu's <em>Broker</em> (2022) and South Korean films from the 1990s and 2000s about the absurd aspects of marriage and family, films such as <em>My Wife Got Married</em> (2008). Turning to television, Young A. Jung's (George Mason University) engrossing article approaches motherhood as a totalizing system, as represented in South Korea's recent—and popular—television dramas such as <em>Sky Castle</em> (2018–2019). The incongruent surge of feminism is at the center of Barbara Wall's (University of Copenhagen) astute discussion of motherhood and mothering, as evoked by South Korea's 2019 television drama <em>When the Camellia Blooms</em
{"title":"Editor's Note","authors":"Cheehyung Harrison Kim","doi":"10.1353/ks.2024.a930993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2024.a930993","url":null,"abstract":"<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span>\u0000<p> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> Editor's Note <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Cheehyung Harrison Kim </li> </ul> <p>Two interconnected Special Sections are at the core of this volume. The first is titled \"A Transnational Reading of the Invention of Korea's Confucian Traditions,\" exceptionally guest edited by Daham Chong (Sangmyung University). The second is guest editor Bonnie Tilland's (Leiden University) superb \"Portrayals of Motherhood in South Korean Popular and Practiced Culture.\" Confucianism and motherhood are notions and practices tied to the ideological perception of constancy, on the one hand, and the shifting epistemological norms based on cultural and historical exigencies, on the other. The authors of the two Special Sections question and explore various historical and cultural predicaments of Confucianism and motherhood in modern and contemporary Korea.</p> <p>The Special Section on the invention of Confucian traditions begins with Daham Chong's meticulous account of the influence Max Weber had on modern Korean historians' comprehension of Confucianism-derived systems in late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn, namely the civil service examination. Young-chan Choi (University of Oxford) adroitly investigates the epistemological changes distinctly occurring in late nineteenth century Korea, in which Confucianism comes to be seen as inferior to the modernist understandings of the world stemming from Protestantism. The postliberation space is Kim Hunjoo's (Hanbat National University) research area, where the process of remaking Confucianism as a new tradition is carefully scrutinized in relation to the nation building process. The final piece in this Special Section is on literary culture. Owen <strong>[End Page v]</strong> Stampton's (University of British Columbia) sophisticated article probes into the tension between tradition and modern life as experienced by women characters in Yi Kwang-su's 1917 play <em>Kyuhan</em>, as well as discussing the birth of the modern stage in Korea.</p> <p>South Korea's variegated cultural expressions of motherhood is the theme of the second Special Section. It starts with Ji-yoon An's (University of British Columbia) keen multilayered comparison of the notion of motherhood between Kore-eda Hirokazu's <em>Broker</em> (2022) and South Korean films from the 1990s and 2000s about the absurd aspects of marriage and family, films such as <em>My Wife Got Married</em> (2008). Turning to television, Young A. Jung's (George Mason University) engrossing article approaches motherhood as a totalizing system, as represented in South Korea's recent—and popular—television dramas such as <em>Sky Castle</em> (2018–2019). The incongruent surge of feminism is at the center of Barbara Wall's (University of Copenhagen) astute discussion of motherhood and mothering, as evoked by South Korea's 2019 television drama <em>When the Camellia Blooms</em","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"68 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141507195","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}
Reviewed by: Between the Streets and the Assembly: Social Movements, Political Parties, and Democracy in Korea by Yoonkyung Lee Minyoung Kim Between the Streets and the Assembly: Social Movements, Political Parties, and Democracy in Korea, by Yoonkyung Lee. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, 2022. 244 pages. Some of us, who have tasted the enthusiasm of activism, may have probably been driven to despair to see that our desire for social change gets blunted as soon as it is placed on a legislator's desk in a form of a bill. We, perhaps more of us, also wonder how activism mold and empower progressive reform agendas before they are presented to electorates. This volume peaks into what happens in between. Specifically, the author examines three different pathways through which reform agendas can be realized in politics. Overall, this book makes a crucial scholarly contribution by bridging the intellectual gap between studies on institutional politics and social movements. Between the Streets and the Assembly largely consists of two parts. While the detailed elaborations on the three roads taken by former pro-democracy activists are at the foreground of this volume, the first two chapters successfully pave the way for that highlight by sketching the extensive historical background of Korean party politics and civil society before and [End Page 413] throughout the authoritarian regimes. Covering the political genealogy that has shaped today's political terrain in Korea, the earlier chapters serve as a well-designed textbook for advanced learners of Korean politics and social movements. The author casts a question that is particularly intriguing to anyone familiar with the fact that "South Koreans are really good at protesting" (p. 2) and the Korean civil society's high capacity for mobilizing and advancing people's demands on a national scale. That is, "What makes Korean citizens continue to go to the streets to articulate political demands?" and "Why do existing [or newly formed] political parties fail to respond to the people's call for new politics?" (p. 4). Throughout the volume, the answers are given by tracing the three trajectories taken by former pro-democracy activists after Korea's political democratization: remaining in the social movement sector as an activist, joining the centrist party as a politician, and establishing progressive parties from scratch to enter the legislative body. In the first of the three main chapters, the author examines how today's civil society took its shape along with the demise of decades-long authoritarian rule. It is impressively described how the Korean civil society which was previously in unison against autocratic rule embraces the democratic transition and reorganizes itself in a way that can respond to the diversified interests and demands of the public. This preceding process explains how the activist group becomes the most influential and resourceful force, of the three groups being examined, th
{"title":"Between the Streets and the Assembly: Social Movements, Political Parties, and Democracy in Korea by Yoonkyung Lee (review)","authors":"","doi":"10.1353/ks.2023.a908632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2023.a908632","url":null,"abstract":"Reviewed by: Between the Streets and the Assembly: Social Movements, Political Parties, and Democracy in Korea by Yoonkyung Lee Minyoung Kim Between the Streets and the Assembly: Social Movements, Political Parties, and Democracy in Korea, by Yoonkyung Lee. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, 2022. 244 pages. Some of us, who have tasted the enthusiasm of activism, may have probably been driven to despair to see that our desire for social change gets blunted as soon as it is placed on a legislator's desk in a form of a bill. We, perhaps more of us, also wonder how activism mold and empower progressive reform agendas before they are presented to electorates. This volume peaks into what happens in between. Specifically, the author examines three different pathways through which reform agendas can be realized in politics. Overall, this book makes a crucial scholarly contribution by bridging the intellectual gap between studies on institutional politics and social movements. Between the Streets and the Assembly largely consists of two parts. While the detailed elaborations on the three roads taken by former pro-democracy activists are at the foreground of this volume, the first two chapters successfully pave the way for that highlight by sketching the extensive historical background of Korean party politics and civil society before and [End Page 413] throughout the authoritarian regimes. Covering the political genealogy that has shaped today's political terrain in Korea, the earlier chapters serve as a well-designed textbook for advanced learners of Korean politics and social movements. The author casts a question that is particularly intriguing to anyone familiar with the fact that \"South Koreans are really good at protesting\" (p. 2) and the Korean civil society's high capacity for mobilizing and advancing people's demands on a national scale. That is, \"What makes Korean citizens continue to go to the streets to articulate political demands?\" and \"Why do existing [or newly formed] political parties fail to respond to the people's call for new politics?\" (p. 4). Throughout the volume, the answers are given by tracing the three trajectories taken by former pro-democracy activists after Korea's political democratization: remaining in the social movement sector as an activist, joining the centrist party as a politician, and establishing progressive parties from scratch to enter the legislative body. In the first of the three main chapters, the author examines how today's civil society took its shape along with the demise of decades-long authoritarian rule. It is impressively described how the Korean civil society which was previously in unison against autocratic rule embraces the democratic transition and reorganizes itself in a way that can respond to the diversified interests and demands of the public. This preceding process explains how the activist group becomes the most influential and resourceful force, of the three groups being examined, th","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"94 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135957860","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 paper illuminates the cultural performance of Chosŏn (1392–1910) interpreters in the nineteenth century, with a particular focus on interpreters' participation in poetry societies ( sisa 詩社). The study aims to explore the cultural status of interpreters by examining the networks they built within poetry societies and to investigate whether engagement in cultural activities contributed to their social mobility in the late nineteenth century. Existing scholarship on the social mobility of the chungin (中人, "middle people") heavily relies on the influence of demographic expansion and position monopoly, at the expense of other indicators reflecting the chungin's social position such as economic, cultural, and political standing. To bridge this research gap, this research uses the cultural life of Chosŏn interpreters as a lens to examine how the chungin interacted with other groups. I use Kang Wi's (姜瑋 1820–1884) Kohwandang such'o (古歡堂收艸, "Collected Works of Kang Wi") as the primary source to extract social connections between the Poetry Society of the Sixth Bridge (Yukkyo sisa 六橋詩社), of which most members were official interpreters and medical doctors living in Hanyang, and the South Poetry Society, which was a poetry community organized by the yangban . Through analyzing clusters and patterns based on the concurrence of the participants, this study concludes that the cultural status of the chungin did not fully align with their categorization in the social hierarchy, and the social gap between the yangban and the chungin did not cease because of cultural exchanges.
{"title":"Cultural Networks of the Chungin : Chosŏn Interpreters' Participation in Poetry Societies","authors":"Jing Hu","doi":"10.1353/ks.2023.a908617","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2023.a908617","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This paper illuminates the cultural performance of Chosŏn (1392–1910) interpreters in the nineteenth century, with a particular focus on interpreters' participation in poetry societies ( sisa 詩社). The study aims to explore the cultural status of interpreters by examining the networks they built within poetry societies and to investigate whether engagement in cultural activities contributed to their social mobility in the late nineteenth century. Existing scholarship on the social mobility of the chungin (中人, \"middle people\") heavily relies on the influence of demographic expansion and position monopoly, at the expense of other indicators reflecting the chungin's social position such as economic, cultural, and political standing. To bridge this research gap, this research uses the cultural life of Chosŏn interpreters as a lens to examine how the chungin interacted with other groups. I use Kang Wi's (姜瑋 1820–1884) Kohwandang such'o (古歡堂收艸, \"Collected Works of Kang Wi\") as the primary source to extract social connections between the Poetry Society of the Sixth Bridge (Yukkyo sisa 六橋詩社), of which most members were official interpreters and medical doctors living in Hanyang, and the South Poetry Society, which was a poetry community organized by the yangban . Through analyzing clusters and patterns based on the concurrence of the participants, this study concludes that the cultural status of the chungin did not fully align with their categorization in the social hierarchy, and the social gap between the yangban and the chungin did not cease because of cultural exchanges.","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135957874","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 essay explores a preliminary attempt to map the circulation and use of Korean ceramics, specifically tea bowls, in sixteenth-century Japan, using the integrated application, Palladio, developed at Humanities + Design, Stanford University. I focus on the diaries kept by sixteenth-century Japanese merchants, who were active collectors and participants of Japanese tea practice called chanoyu : a cultural forum where Korean tea bowls became highly valuable items among Japanese elites from 1537 onwards. The four diaries, Matsuya kaiki, Tennōjiya kaiki, Imai Sōkyū chanoyu nikki nukigaki , and Sōtan nikki , which document tea gatherings that took place in sixteenth-century Japan, demonstrate the growing popularity of Korean tea bowls among merchants, warriors, and Buddhist monks. While these historical texts are key sources of information on the appreciation of premodern Korean ceramics in Japan, they have been overlooked by scholars of Korean art history, since their renown has been limited to the specialized field of premodern Japanese tea culture. Moreover, the idiosyncratic format of these diaries requires knowledge of premodern Japanese tea practice to understand, and there have been no formal translations into other languages, making them inaccessible to those who do not read Japanese. Palladio presents the opportunity to digitally visualize and map the author's own English translation of more than 600 diary entries from 1537 to 1591 that mention Korean ceramics. I consider how data visualization can expand our understanding of the transnational impact of premodern Korean ceramics, and facilitate the introduction of unfamiliar primary sources to the field of Korean studies.
{"title":"Mapping the Circulation and Use of Korean Tea Bowls in Sixteenth-Century Japan","authors":"Sol Jung","doi":"10.1353/ks.2023.a908618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2023.a908618","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This essay explores a preliminary attempt to map the circulation and use of Korean ceramics, specifically tea bowls, in sixteenth-century Japan, using the integrated application, Palladio, developed at Humanities + Design, Stanford University. I focus on the diaries kept by sixteenth-century Japanese merchants, who were active collectors and participants of Japanese tea practice called chanoyu : a cultural forum where Korean tea bowls became highly valuable items among Japanese elites from 1537 onwards. The four diaries, Matsuya kaiki, Tennōjiya kaiki, Imai Sōkyū chanoyu nikki nukigaki , and Sōtan nikki , which document tea gatherings that took place in sixteenth-century Japan, demonstrate the growing popularity of Korean tea bowls among merchants, warriors, and Buddhist monks. While these historical texts are key sources of information on the appreciation of premodern Korean ceramics in Japan, they have been overlooked by scholars of Korean art history, since their renown has been limited to the specialized field of premodern Japanese tea culture. Moreover, the idiosyncratic format of these diaries requires knowledge of premodern Japanese tea practice to understand, and there have been no formal translations into other languages, making them inaccessible to those who do not read Japanese. Palladio presents the opportunity to digitally visualize and map the author's own English translation of more than 600 diary entries from 1537 to 1591 that mention Korean ceramics. I consider how data visualization can expand our understanding of the transnational impact of premodern Korean ceramics, and facilitate the introduction of unfamiliar primary sources to the field of Korean studies.","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135957878","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}
Reviewed by: Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century by Kyung Hyun Kim Sojeong Park Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century, by Kyung Hyun Kim. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2021. 321 pages. With the ever-growing global popularity of K-pop idol groups including BTS, critical acclaim for the film Parasite, and finally, the worldwide hit of Squid Game, Korean cultural content is making unprecedented inroads in the West. Accordingly, global media and academia have attempted to explain how it is gaining its outsized influence on global culture. Although it has been over 20 years since Hallyu, or the global reception of Korean [End Page 410] popular culture, has been discussed through various texts and phenomena, the new phase of Hallyu calls for new perspectives and more discussion. Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century by Kyung Hyun Kim is a timely book that provides an updated overview of Korean popular culture. Instead of using the term Hallyu, the book anatomizes Korean cultural content, thereby helping readers understand the (re) construction of Hallyu phenomena throughout last two decades. Addressing the overarching question, "how did South Korea achieve so much success without necessarily developing its own unique technology, styles, and culture in the twenty-first century," (p. ⅹ) the book explores the general geography of contemporary Korean popular culture through seven chapters. The first chapter provides a brief history of K-culture. The six subsequent chapters include interpretations of various facets of K-culture. Chapter 2 discusses how "blackness" and issues of authenticity are articulated and inflected in the Korean hip-hop music scene. Chapter 3 pays attention to the dominance of body-switch films in Korea to argue digitization and dividuation of subjectivity. Chapter 4 examines a Korean variety game show titled Running Man and its popularity in other Asian countries. In Chapter 5, Extreme Job and Parasite, two seemingly unrelated films, are paired to discuss the sociocultural implications of eating in contemporary Korean culture. In Chapter 6, Kim introduces the idea of 'meme-ification' while discussing how Samsung and the K-pop industry has innovated. The final chapter attempts to read Muhan Dojeon, the most successful Korean TV show throughout the last decade, using fundamental cultural elements such as han and hŭng. Underlying this expansive exploration over time and between genres is the concept of "mimicry." As implied by the question quoted above and the title of the book, Kim frames Korean popular culture using the concept of "hegemonic mimicry." He suggests the term to indicate that Korean culture has employed mimicry as a crucial tool to build cultural power by blurring the lines between original and copy, thus offsetting the monolithic power of Western culture. Assuming various approaches and perspectives from ethnic st
{"title":"Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century by Kyung Hyun Kim (review)","authors":"","doi":"10.1353/ks.2023.a908631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ks.2023.a908631","url":null,"abstract":"Reviewed by: Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century by Kyung Hyun Kim Sojeong Park Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century, by Kyung Hyun Kim. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2021. 321 pages. With the ever-growing global popularity of K-pop idol groups including BTS, critical acclaim for the film Parasite, and finally, the worldwide hit of Squid Game, Korean cultural content is making unprecedented inroads in the West. Accordingly, global media and academia have attempted to explain how it is gaining its outsized influence on global culture. Although it has been over 20 years since Hallyu, or the global reception of Korean [End Page 410] popular culture, has been discussed through various texts and phenomena, the new phase of Hallyu calls for new perspectives and more discussion. Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century by Kyung Hyun Kim is a timely book that provides an updated overview of Korean popular culture. Instead of using the term Hallyu, the book anatomizes Korean cultural content, thereby helping readers understand the (re) construction of Hallyu phenomena throughout last two decades. Addressing the overarching question, \"how did South Korea achieve so much success without necessarily developing its own unique technology, styles, and culture in the twenty-first century,\" (p. ⅹ) the book explores the general geography of contemporary Korean popular culture through seven chapters. The first chapter provides a brief history of K-culture. The six subsequent chapters include interpretations of various facets of K-culture. Chapter 2 discusses how \"blackness\" and issues of authenticity are articulated and inflected in the Korean hip-hop music scene. Chapter 3 pays attention to the dominance of body-switch films in Korea to argue digitization and dividuation of subjectivity. Chapter 4 examines a Korean variety game show titled Running Man and its popularity in other Asian countries. In Chapter 5, Extreme Job and Parasite, two seemingly unrelated films, are paired to discuss the sociocultural implications of eating in contemporary Korean culture. In Chapter 6, Kim introduces the idea of 'meme-ification' while discussing how Samsung and the K-pop industry has innovated. The final chapter attempts to read Muhan Dojeon, the most successful Korean TV show throughout the last decade, using fundamental cultural elements such as han and hŭng. Underlying this expansive exploration over time and between genres is the concept of \"mimicry.\" As implied by the question quoted above and the title of the book, Kim frames Korean popular culture using the concept of \"hegemonic mimicry.\" He suggests the term to indicate that Korean culture has employed mimicry as a crucial tool to build cultural power by blurring the lines between original and copy, thus offsetting the monolithic power of Western culture. Assuming various approaches and perspectives from ethnic st","PeriodicalId":43382,"journal":{"name":"Korean Studies","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135957678","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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