• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.453-468
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• 2018

Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831 was considered pre Civil War South's most dreadful nightmare due to the merciless murder of white slave owner victims. The motive of vengeance has been emphasized as that of Turner's notorious black preacher religious fanaticism. However, the recent film, The Birth of a Nation (2016) directed by Nate Parker, utilized the identical title of a film (1915) directed by D. W. Griffith. Providing limited evidence, information about the rebellion in Thomas Gray's pamphlet The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831), was the only accessible historical source for the factual event of the slaves' rebellion. In addition, William Styron's The Confessions of Turner (1967), a fictionalized biography, also examined Turner's life in the harshness of slavery. Although these two texts deal with the personal level of Nat Turner's rage and religious enthusiasm, both provide only fractured parts of the motive of vengeance. Strikingly, Parker's film interrogates the ideology of "victims," as well as the hierarchical term of "confessions," with their different positions between whites and blacks. More specifically, Parker's film offers discursive fields of proslavery arguments regarding biblical interpretations in addition to external visualization of slaves' inner emotional lives. The film demonstrates how the institution of slavery allowed slaves to be exploited, beaten, raped, through interrogating the problematic image of the "contested hero" Nat Turner. In contrast to the traditional image of blacks' bloody rebellion, the film underlines the absurdity of certain Biblical misinterpretations. It furthermore implies how the 1915 film manipulated proslavery propaganda in America.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.79-111
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• 2016

Malaya attained independence on August 31, 1957 from Britain. However this new nation faced a communist insurgency known today as the "Malayan Emergency" (1948-1960). Then in 1961, Tunku announced a wider federation of "Malaysia", viz. Malaya, British Crown Colonies of Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo, and the protectorate of Brunei. Countering communism was a principal motive for "Malaysia". Sarawak's leftist elements were rejected with an armed opposition. Malaysia was formed excluding Brunei. Amidst its birth pangs, Malaysia faced hostile neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines; the former objected by way of Konfrontasi (1963-1967) while the latter laid claim to Sabah (formerly North Borneo). Malaya/ Malaysia was borne in the midst of the Cold War (1947-1991), a bipolar world between the US and the USSR. Malaya/Malaysia is utilized as a case of analysis and evaluation in the context of the twin trends of continuities and transformations in tracing the historical developments from the 1950's to the 1990's. The risks, motives, and challenges that prompted the shift in foreign relations reveal as much of the personality of the political leadership, the prevailing situations, and conditions from within and circumstances from without.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.50
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• pp.171-200
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• 2016

The full-scaled study of Joseon conducted by Japan in the 1910s was part of its colonial policy, while the native Joseon studies against it contained political aspiration to recover the national rights and independence. Accordingly, the conceptual meaning of 'Joseon' varied according to its subject of speech. The establishment of modern nation-state failed along with the extinction of Korean Empire, but 'Joseon' was newly discovered within national ideology. It became a historical concept in which the experience of the past and the expectation toward the future could be united. The so-called 'Joseon Studies' was only limited to intellectuals in the academic circle, but 'Joseon' embraced the articulations from more various social agents. Furthermore, it is only natural that 'Joseon Studies' should be interpreted within the historical semantics of 'Joseon', considering the connection between concept and discourse. In his The History of Joseon Civilization, An Hwak encompassed the history from the times of ancient mythology to the contemporary times under the banner of 'Joseon'. Opposing Japanese distortion of history carried out in the name of historical positivism, he idealized Joseon history as comparable to that of the Western democracy. He extended the study of 'Joseon' into culture at large, foreshadowing a kind of Joseon philosophy. In his An Overview of Joseon Philosophical Ideas, the first description of 'Joseon philosophy' as an independent field, he proposed philosophy as one of three sources of pride in Joseon and asserted its uniqueness and originality compared to the West. It was an attempt to grasp the peculiarity of Joseon ideas from a perspective of the history of universal human civilization. He considered 'Jong'(倧) as an ideological foundation held from the ancient to the modern times, and the acceptance of Buddhism and Confucianism as beneficial to 'Joseon philosophy'. The birth of 'Joseon philosophy', the modern transformation of the traditional knowledge system, was an intellectual experiment to apply traditional knowledge to the modern disciplinary classification system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.256-270
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• 2016

This purpose of this study is to present a new theoretical framework on birthrate recovery in advanced countries in the 21st century. As a result of socioeconomic development and individualism diffusion, the central axis of the family has transformed from the vertical axis of the father-son relation, to the horizontal axis of the husband-wife relation. This process is divided into 2 stages. In the industrialization stage, a nation or a society achieves equality of the individual in family formation, including marriage or divorce. In the post-industrialization stage, it accomplishes the couple equality in family maintenance, including child rearing and household labor. This paper grouped 33 OECD member countries as post- industrialization countries and 103 countries as industrialization countries. This study utilizes 6 variables affecting marriage and childbearing based on previous research. Research results find that during the industrialization stage, the birthrate falls as the education level of women is higher. In the post-industrialization stage, the birthrate rises as gender equality level is higher.