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Note from the Editor Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 John P. DiMoia
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Note from the Editor John P. DiMoia, Editor-in-chief As SJKS approaches publication of another issue, we continue to develop common themes from our June 2023 issue, offering a combination of original articles, along with the second half of a special issue. In the latter case, organized by Professor Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka, we are extremely
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Guest Editor's Introduction Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Guest Editor's Introduction Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka (bio) (Essays and poems contributed by SON-KATADA Aki, YAMADA Takao, SHIN Sugok, FUKUOKA Yasunori, KIM Seonkil, MUN Gyongsu, IJICHI Noriko, HONG Yeongok, Sehyong, KIM Sijong, CHO Yeongsun, and FUNI)1 Zainichi: Past Memory, Present Action, Future Vision — History, Community, Person — Scholars
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A Place of "Re-collect": Zainichi Experiences with/in Utoro, Japan Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Min Wha Han
Abstract: As a memory place that exemplifies contemporary Zainichi experiences, the Utoro district in Kyoto, Japan, entails stories of Japan's colonial exploitation and postcolonial oppression, yet simultaneously reveals human hope, cooperation, and solidarity. First formed for the Korean workers and their families mobilized for the construction of a military airport during World War II, Utoro was
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Logics of Strategic Racism in the Anti-Hate Speech Law Era: Analyzing the Discourse Against Zainichi Koreans in Japanese Right-Wing TV Programs Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Naoto Higuchi
Abstract: This study analyzes implicit racist rhetoric in Japan after the Hate Speech Elimination Act was enacted in 2016. While the law brought about the deradicalization and decline of hate groups, it has been ineffective in regulating covert hate speech. Zainichi Koreans, the primary victims of such speech, have struggled to have the illegality of racial discrimination recognized in litigation.
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In/Visible—New Directions in Contemporary Art by Zainichi Koreans: Fragile Frames/Precarious Lives—in Soni Kum's Morning Dew (2020) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Rebecca S. Jennison
Abstract: A growing body of research, writing, and new spaces for exhibitions, film-showings, dialogue, and exchange elucidate rich and diverse forms of cultural production by Zainichi Koreans across generations. The first section of this paper introduces selected collaborative research and curatorial projects conducted from 2000 to the present that have engaged artists, scholars, and activists concerned
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Literary Negotiations in Contemporary Zainichi Korean Literature: Zainichi Korean Postcoloniality and its Entanglement with Global History Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Maren Haufs-Brusberg
Abstract: Zainichi Korean literature, which addresses questions concerning the Zainichi Korean minority, can be considered as one among many postcolonial literatures. By examining works of Sagisawa Megumu, Kaneshiro Kazuki, and Kim Masumi as case studies, I position contemporary Zainichi Korean literature within the broader context of postcolonial global history. Sagisawa's novel Saihate no futari
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Culinary Intimacy in Fukazawa Ushio's The Matchmaker and "When Yi Tongae Eats" Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Jooyeon Rhee
Abstract: Since her debut in 2012, Fukazawa Ushio has become a critical voice in the Japanese literary scene, writing about social issues including hate speech against Zainichi Koreans, abuse of migrant workers, gender inequality, and misogyny. One of the significant aesthetic features of her work is the use of food and foodways to explore these issues. This article examines the short story collection
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The Tethered Fates of Japan's "Foreigner" Communities: Zainichi Koreans, Residency Provisions, and the COVID-19 Pandemic Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Joel Matthews, Eiko Osaka
Abstract: This article explores how the fates of Japan's "foreign" communities—both "oldcomer" Zainichi Korean residents and "newcomer" foreign residents—have, especially since the 1990s, become tethered to one another. The authors argue that the postwar Zainichi Korean campaigns for legal, social, economic, educational, ethnic, constitutional, and welfare benefits have laid a foundation of "residency
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Still Hear the Wound: Toward an Asia, Politics, and Art to Come ed. by Lee Chonghwa (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Christine L. Marran
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Still Hear the Wound: Toward an Asia, Politics, and Art to Come ed. by Lee Chonghwa Christine L. Marran Still Hear the Wound: Toward an Asia, Politics, and Art to Come edited by Lee Chonghwa. Translation edited by Rebecca Jennison and Brett de Bary. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016. 222 pp. The essays, artwork, and
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Embodying Ethnic and Settler Identities: An Analysis of the English-Language Korean Play Sim Cheong (1938) in Hawai'i Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Heeyoung Choi
Abstract: In 1938, Koreans in Hawai'i premiered an English-language play, Sim Cheong (Sim Chung), at the Honolulu Academy of Arts to celebrate the Korean Spring Festival. Sim Cheong is an adaptation by a second-generation Korean of a cherished Korean folktale, The Story of Sim Cheong, emphasizing filial piety. This study uses Sim Cheong to examine the cultural milieu of 1930s Hawai'i and the complex
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Making "Refugees": Repatriates, Migrants, and Institutions of Care in Liberated South Korea, 1945–1950 Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Alyssa Park
Abstract: This article examines the making of "refugees" in post-liberation South Korea (1945–1950). It shows that refugees were produced as a recognized social group through various institutions that coordinated their movement and engaged in care work, including the U.S. military, grassroots relief societies, and organs of the nascent South Korean government. After August 1945, millions of repatriates
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Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads by Olga Fedorenko (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Keewoong Lee
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads by Olga Fedorenko Keewoong Lee Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads by Olga Fedorenko. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2022. 298 pp. Years ago, when I started my PhD, my supervisor, who was British, handed me a scrap of an advert
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Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture: Transmedia Storytelling, Digital Platforms, and Genres by Dal Yong Jin (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Hojin Song
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture: Transmedia Storytelling, Digital Platforms, and Genres by Dal Yong Jin Hojin Song Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture: Transmedia Storytelling, Digital Platforms, and Genres by Dal Yong Jin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2022. 252 pp. As the first monograph on South Korean
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Note from the Editor Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 John P. DiMoia
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Note from the Editor John P. DiMoia, Editor-in-chief For this latest edition of SJKS, 36.1 (June 2023), we bring you both our regularly featured content, along with a special issue, with the latter’s content spread across two issues: the current issue (June 2023) and the following one (December 2023). The ambitious number of papers, along
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Guest Editor's Introduction Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Guest Editor’s Introduction Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka (bio) Zainichi. A reference that has become autonomous. Freestanding on its own. Once second-class citizens of a colony, residing in the metropole of the Imperial Other. Bound to tumultuous turns of history, torn between the hopes of liberation and the uncertainties of a dawn of “freedom
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Colonial Responsibility for Education of Koreans in Japanese Schools Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Eika Tai
Abstract: As soon as their homeland was liberated in August 1945, Koreans living in Japan opened schools for children, who hardly spoke Korean. They fought back against the Japanese government’s intervention, but the majority of Korean children had to attend public schools, where they were treated as if they were Japanese. Some Japanese teachers opposed postwar assimilationist education and tried to
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Building Connections to Protect Ethnic Education: The Chōsen Schools' Intercultural Network Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Ryoko Okamura, Hosok O
Abstract: Prompted by the desire to return to their homeland and reclaim their ethnic identity after the end of Japan’s colonial rule, Zainichi Koreans taught their children the Korean language and educated them about their cultural heritage at what later became known as Chōsen schools. While neither the Japanese nor the South Korean government supported the Chōsen schools, the North Korean government
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The Presentation of the Korean Self with Everyday Food: Negotiating "Koreanness" through Kimchi Diplomacy in Contemporary Japan Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Yoko Demelius
Abstract: This study explores domestic cultural diplomacy efforts to brand “Koreaness” using kimchi as a medium of civic movement for minority awareness and intercultural dialogue in Japan. Amid current global consumption trends, popular Korean dishes, including kimchi, have become diffused among the many other international dishes appropriated in Japan. Once negatively regarded in Japan as immigrants’
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The Korean Restaurant: Beyond Violence in Zainichi Korean Film Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Jonathan Glade
Abstract: Depictions of conflict, frequently in the form of physical violence, occupy a prominent space within Zainichi Korean film. Even the most violent of films, however, depict other divergent forms of interaction that shape social ties and inform explorations of identity. These divergent forms of interaction, in many cases, revolve around the consumption or production of Korean food and frequently
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Ikaino's Afterlives: The Legacies of Landscape in the Fiction of Kim Yujeong Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Julia Hansell Clark
Abstract: This article examines the works of Kim Yujeong as a contemporary response to Ikaino literature, a subgenre of Zainichi Korean literature that flourished from the 1950s–1980s. Ikaino is the old name of the neighborhood of Osaka that was and remains the area of Japan with the largest population of Zainichi Koreans. Ikaino’s origins as a settlement of Korean migrant laborers in the 1920s and
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Zainichi Korean Women and Intersectional Visibility: Private Talk, Public Speech, Political Act—Seeking Justice in Japan Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka
Abstract: Currently, Zainichi Korean women emphasize being “ethnic women” in the public sphere. Individual consciousness, in conjunction with the history of the ethnic community, socio-political realities and trends within the mainstream Japanese society, and international collective movements are charting the course of action in discovering their public voice. The merging of spaces from private talk
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Book Note Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Christopher Laurent
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Book Note Christopher Laurent, Adjunct Professor Zainichi Koreans and Mental Health: Psychiatric Problem in Japanese Korean Minorities, Their Social Background and Life Story by Taeyoung Kim. New York: Routledge, 2022. 130 pp. A long time ago, while still in graduate school, I remember being absorbed in a discussion with an eminent scholar
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Felled Forests and Fallowed Fields: Establishing a Narrative of Ecological and Climate Change in Mongol-Era Goryeo Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Aaron Molnar
Abstract: Goryeo (918–1392) was a politically and commercially integrated part of the wider Mongol Empire (1206–1368), while also temporally situated in the difficult transition from the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) to the Little Ice Age (LIA). Yet narratives of Goryeo’s incorporation into the Mongol world remain overwhelmingly focused on politics, economics, and culture. Since Alfred Crosby’s Ecological
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Reading at the Joseon Court: The Practice and Representation of Reading in the Sejong sillok (1418–1450) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Giovanni Volpe
Abstract: We know more about how Joseon people wrote, and the texts they produced, than about how and why they read. Existing scholarship has primarily investigated Korean premodern texts from a linguistic and bibliographical perspective, while comparatively few approaches have centered on the social and cultural aspects of their reading. The present paper offers an understanding of how the practice
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The History of the Formation of Silhak in Modern Korea: A Preliminary Research Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Kwan Bum Noh
Abstract: This article examines the historical trajectory of the construction of historical knowledge about Korean silhak. It focuses on the formation of modern notions of silhak and the invention of modern knowledge about silhak scholars. The following four points need to be taken into account in considering the formation of silhak in modern Korea. First, the relationship between the Way and the Instrument
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Transforming Non-Memory into Memory: Photographic Representations of Korean Pipokja in Kim Hyoyeon's Gamgak isang (Abnormal Sense) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Nayun Jang
Abstract: This essay examines Kim Hyoyeon’s photographic series Gamgak isang (Abnormal sense) (2018–2021), which explores the memories of Korean A-bomb victims (pipokja) living in Hapcheon, South Korea. Starting from the artist’s own memory of her grandmother, Kim’s work focuses on the lives of the victims and their descendants, who retain painful memories as a form of physical and psychological suffering
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Korea, Its People and Customs as Seen by the World Renown Novelist Vicente Blasco Ibañez (1923) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Antonio J. Domenech, Aurelia Martín-Casares, Eun Kyung Kang
Abstract: This article examines the image that the famous Spanish novelist Vicente Blasco Ibañez offers of Korea, its people, and its customs based on his writings derived from his stay in the country in 1923 during the period of Japanese occupation. It discusses his descriptions of Korea’s dress, weather, and customs, as well as his praise for the Korean people. In the same way, it addresses the subtle
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New Perspectives on Modern Korean Buddhism by Hwansoo Ilmee Kim and Jin Y. Park (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Jonathan C. Feuer
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: New Perspectives on Modern Korean Buddhism by Hwansoo Ilmee Kim and Jin Y. Park Jonathan C. Feuer New Perspectives on Modern Korean Buddhism edited by Hwansoo Ilmee Kim and Jin Y. Park. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022. 334 pp. In the introduction, editor Hwansoo Kim states that this book is a sequel to Makers
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The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory by Kevin Blackburn (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Ming Gao
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory by Kevin Blackburn Ming Gao The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory by Kevin Blackburn. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2022. 208 pp. In his nuanced yet bold study of the highly politically charged comfort women issue, Kevin Blackburn convincingly
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Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Youth Culture by Kyong Yoon (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-07-18 CedarBough T. Saeji
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Youth Culture by Kyong Yoon CedarBough T. Saeji Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Youth Culture by Kyong Yoon. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. xii, 152 pp. Dr. Yoon Kyong’s [Yun Gyeong] short book, Diasporic Hallyu, should be required reading for scholars
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State-Building Discourse and the Failed Commemoration of the March First Independence Movement during the Liberation Period in Korea Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-01-11 Lee Min Young
Abstract: The March First Movement was a politically significant event during Korea's liberation period. Left- and right-wing political figures fiercely opposed one another over questions of state-building and aimed to justify their leadership by referencing events of the colonial era. The March First Movement played a crucial symbolic role in this context, and its commemoration subsequently became
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Attribution of Sijo Song Authorship to Historical Figures: Sijo of Late Goryeo and Early Joseon Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-01-11 Park Jaemin
Abstract: This study examines the authenticity of sijo songs attributed to the late Goryeo (918–1392) and early Joseon (1392–1897) periods. These sijo songs primarily adhere to themes of loyalty to the ruined Goryeo dynasty, or to the tragic execution of King Danjong (r. 1452–1455) in the early Joseon period. The former is typically represented by Jeong Mongju 鄭夢周 and Gil Jae 吉再, and the latter by
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Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan: Elite Graffiti in Premodern Korea by Maya K. H. Stiller (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2023-01-11 Yoonjung Seo
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan: Elite Graffiti in Premodern Korea by Maya K. H. Stiller Yoonjung Seo Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan: Elite Graffiti in Premodern Korea by Maya K. H. Stiller. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021. 240 pp. Why were so many names written on a mountain? Why and how do we study and interpret
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Note from the Editor Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Sem Vermeersch
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Note from the Editor Sem Vermeersch, Editor-in-chief This issue of the Seoul Journal of Korean Studies opens with a theme issue on "Hallyu Storytelling in the Americas." It is the outcome of a panel organized by Wonjung MIN for the fourteenth Kyujanggak International Symposium on Korean Studies (Nov. 4–6, 2021). Together with Dal Yong
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Guest Editors' Introduction Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Min Wonjung, Dal Yong Jin
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Guest Editors' Introduction Min Wonjung (bio) and Dal Yong Jin (bio) In the 2020s, several elements from Korean culture, including the music of BTS, Bong Joon-ho's movie Parasite, and the TV drama Squid Game, penetrated both Western and non-Western cultural spheres. When the Korean Wave, referring to the rapid growth of Korean cultural
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Transnational Proximity and Universality in Korean Culture: Analysis of Squid Game and BTS Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Dal Yong Jin
Abstract: By utilizing transnational proximity as a primary theoretical framework, I analyze the reasons why global audiences beyond Asia prefer contemporary Korean popular culture to other cultural products. I investigate several distinctive cultural programs and Korean screen spheres—BTS and Squid Game (2021) in particular—as well as fan communities. I mainly discuss whether "transnational proximity"
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Pandemic to "Fandomic:" The Revival of Fandom Publics in the Digital Space of Latin American K-Pop Fandom Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Hyunsuk Jang
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
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Reckoning with the World: Infrastructural Imaginaries of Cuba in Contemporary Korean Television Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Benjamin M. Han
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
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Reworking the Cultural Imaginary: K-Pepsi Chile, Neo K-Pop, and Exoticized Otherness Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Wonjung Min
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
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A Hypothesis on the Hen-Dragon (Gyeryong) of Silla Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Maurizio Riotto
Abstract: In a field such as Korean Studies, where Gyeongju is considered by many the eastern arrival point of the various "Silk Roads" (both land and maritime), and a "multicultural" approach to the various topics is strongly encouraged (although still extremely rare are the scholars able to follow this encouragement), this article is an invitation to consider the possibility, hitherto never explored
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The Fault in Our Stars? Korea's Strategy for Survival and Germany's Rise, 1876–1910 Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Dylan Motin
Abstract: Observers often attribute the disappearance of Korea in 1910 to the failure of Korean elites to modernize the country. Yet, this explanation overlooks both Korea's foreign policy and the international power shift ongoing during the early twentieth century. Accordingly, this study uses international relations theory to shed new light on the Japanese annexation of Korea. First, it shows that
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Tradition as Strategy: An Analytic Narrative of Hahoe Village's Transition to Modernity Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Chong Min Kim, Tae Gyun Park, Ju Yim
Abstract: In this study, we examine how tradition and sustainability were preserved in Hahoe Village over the course of modernization, using the analytic narrative method. Combining historical and ethnographic narratives with game theoretic analysis, we try to understand the distinctive character of Hahoe Village, resulting from systems of norms, beliefs, and checks and balances between traditional
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Dreaming of an Intact Home Front: Erasing Female Subjectivity through Popular Media Representations of the Vietnam War Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Eunhee Park
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
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Soju: A Global History by Hyunhee Park (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 John M. Frankl
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Soju: A Global History by Hyunhee Park John M. Frankl Soju: A Global History by Hyunhee Park. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 281 pp. Hyunhee Park's Soju: A Global History is the first book of its kind in English, and, it is safe to say, there is also nothing quite like it in Korean or any other language for that
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Note from the Editor Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Sem Vermeersch
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Note from the Editor Sem Vermeersch, Editor-in-chief This issue of the Seoul Journal of Korean Studies opens with a theme issue on "Hallyu Storytelling in the Americas." It is the outcome of a panel organized by Wonjung MIN for the fourteenth Kyujanggak International Symposium on Korean Studies (Nov. 4–6, 2021). Together with Dal Yong
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Guest Editors' Introduction Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Min Wonjung, Dal Yong Jin
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Guest Editors' Introduction Min Wonjung (bio) and Dal Yong Jin (bio) In the 2020s, several elements from Korean culture, including the music of BTS, Bong Joon-ho's movie Parasite, and the TV drama Squid Game, penetrated both Western and non-Western cultural spheres. When the Korean Wave, referring to the rapid growth of Korean cultural
-
Transnational Proximity and Universality in Korean Culture: Analysis of Squid Game and BTS Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Dal Yong Jin
Abstract: By utilizing transnational proximity as a primary theoretical framework, I analyze the reasons why global audiences beyond Asia prefer contemporary Korean popular culture to other cultural products. I investigate several distinctive cultural programs and Korean screen spheres—BTS and Squid Game (2021) in particular—as well as fan communities. I mainly discuss whether "transnational proximity"
-
Pandemic to "Fandomic:" The Revival of Fandom Publics in the Digital Space of Latin American K-Pop Fandom Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Hyunsuk Jang
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
-
Reckoning with the World: Infrastructural Imaginaries of Cuba in Contemporary Korean Television Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Benjamin M. Han
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
-
Reworking the Cultural Imaginary: K-Pepsi Chile, Neo K-Pop, and Exoticized Otherness Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Wonjung Min
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
-
A Hypothesis on the Hen-Dragon (Gyeryong) of Silla Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Maurizio Riotto
Abstract: In a field such as Korean Studies, where Gyeongju is considered by many the eastern arrival point of the various "Silk Roads" (both land and maritime), and a "multicultural" approach to the various topics is strongly encouraged (although still extremely rare are the scholars able to follow this encouragement), this article is an invitation to consider the possibility, hitherto never explored
-
The Fault in Our Stars? Korea's Strategy for Survival and Germany's Rise, 1876–1910 Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Dylan Motin
Abstract: Observers often attribute the disappearance of Korea in 1910 to the failure of Korean elites to modernize the country. Yet, this explanation overlooks both Korea's foreign policy and the international power shift ongoing during the early twentieth century. Accordingly, this study uses international relations theory to shed new light on the Japanese annexation of Korea. First, it shows that
-
Tradition as Strategy: An Analytic Narrative of Hahoe Village's Transition to Modernity Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Chong Min Kim, Tae Gyun Park, Ju Yim
Abstract: In this study, we examine how tradition and sustainability were preserved in Hahoe Village over the course of modernization, using the analytic narrative method. Combining historical and ethnographic narratives with game theoretic analysis, we try to understand the distinctive character of Hahoe Village, resulting from systems of norms, beliefs, and checks and balances between traditional
-
Dreaming of an Intact Home Front: Erasing Female Subjectivity through Popular Media Representations of the Vietnam War Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Eunhee Park
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
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Soju: A Global History by Hyunhee Park (review) Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-14 John M. Frankl
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Soju: A Global History by Hyunhee Park John M. Frankl Soju: A Global History by Hyunhee Park. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 281 pp. Hyunhee Park's Soju: A Global History is the first book of its kind in English, and, it is safe to say, there is also nothing quite like it in Korean or any other language for that
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Note from the Editor Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-11 Sem Vermeersch
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Note from the Editor Sem Vermeersch, Editor-in-chief In the thirteen years that I have managed the Seoul Journal of Korean Studies, the world of academic publishing has seen its fair share of changes. When I started in 2008 the printed version was still paramount, since its contents were not yet easily available on the internet. Within
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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 Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-11 Sungoh Yoon
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
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Between Imperial and Colonial Universities: The Institutional Characteristics and Coloniality of Keijō Imperial University Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-11 Joon Young Jung
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
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The Divine Mengdu and Their Creators: A Study of the Divinity of the Mengdu and Their Relationship with Smiths in Jeju Indigenous Shamanic Religion Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-11 Yohan Yoo
Abstract: This paper argues that shamanic instruments known as mengdu are revered as sacred on Jeju-do and that the smiths who make the mengdu, as creators of divine mengdu and as transmitters of these instruments to the simbang (Jeju shamans), are regarded as sacred beings. The relationship between shamans and smiths could be seen in many places in Korea, including Jeju-do, until quite recently, though
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Newly Discovered Sources on Carl von Waeber (1841–1910): Sylvia Bräsel, "Bilder eines Diplomatenlebens zwischen Europa und Ostasien" Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-11 Tatiana M. Simbirtseva, Sergei V. Volkov
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Newly Discovered Sources on Carl von Waeber (1841–1910): Sylvia Bräsel, “Bilder eines Diplomatenlebens zwischen Europa und Ostasien”* Tatiana M. Simbirtseva (bio) and Sergei V. Volkov (bio) “Bilder eines Diplomatenlebens zwischen Europa und Ostasien”: Carl von Waeber (1841–1910) [Pictures of one diplomat’s life between Europe and East