• Title/Summary/Keyword: colonial discourse

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Re-writing World Literature through Juxtaposition: Decolonizing Comparative Literature in Vietnam

  • Pham, Chi P.;Do, Ninh H.
    • SUVANNABHUMI
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.9-29
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    • 2022
  • Postcolonial critics have criticized Comparative Literature for exclusively studying literatures from the non-Western world through Western lenses. In other words, postcolonial criticism asserts that theorists and practitioners of comparative literature have traced the "assistance" of the classic "comparison and contrast" approach to an imperialist discourse, which sustains the superiority of Western cultures and economies. As a countermeasure to reading through the comparative lens, literary theories have offered a "juxtapositional model of comparison" that connects texts across cultures, places, and times. This paper examines practices of Comparative Literature in Vietnam, revealing how the engagement with decolonizing processes leads to a knowledge production that is paradoxically colonial. The paper also analyses implementations of this model in reading select Vietnamese works and highlights how conventional comparisons, largely based on historical influences and reception, maintain the colonial mapping of World Literature, centralizing Western, and more particularly, English Literature and in the process marginalizing the others. Therefore, the practice of juxtaposing Vietnamese literary works with canonical works of the World Literature will provoke dialogues and raise awareness of hitherto marginalized works to an international readership. In this process, the paper considers the contemporary interest of Comparative Literature practice in trans- national, trans-regional, trans-historical, and trans-cultural perspectives.

Dress and Ideology during the late $19^{th}$ and early $20^{th}$ centuries Korea, 1876~1945

  • Lee, Min-Jung;Kim, Min-Ja
    • International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.15-33
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    • 2011
  • The late $19^{th}$ and early $20^{th}$ centuries of Korea were the times when the Confucianism (牲理學) ideology was shaken heavily under the influences of modernism and capitalism by Western and Japanese military and political-economic forces. Under such circumstances, alteration of clothing was much influenced by ideologies than changes in social structure or technological advance. In this study, an ideology was defined as "the force which drives people into a particular social order". Ideologies were postulated as an ongoing process of socialization with dialectic features rather than being a static state. Comparative analyses on conflict structures and different clothing patterns symbolizing the ideologies of the Ruling (支配) and the Opposition (對抗) were conducted. Investigating dresses as representations of ideologies is to reconsider the notion of dichotomous confrontation between the conservatives (守舊派) and the progressives (開化派) and a recognition of Koreans' passively accepting modernity during the Japanese occupation. This may also have contributed to enlightening Koreans about modernization. Here are the results. First, the theoretical review found that ideologies were represented by not only symbols of discourse, but also dresses, and that dresses embodied both physical and conceptual systems presenting differences between ideologies and their natures, Second, during the late 19th century Korea, conflict between conservatives' Hanbok (韓服) and progressives' Western suits (洋服) was found. Moderate progressives showed their identity by "Colored Clothing" (深色衣), and radical progressives by black suits with short hair (黑衣斷髮) or by western suits (洋服). The ultimate goal of both parties was a "Modern Nation". With these efforts, pale jade green coats and traditional hats symbolizing the nobleman class was eliminated within 30 years from 1880 to 1910, and then simple robes and short hair emerged. However, the powerful Japanese army had taken over the hegemony of East Asia, and Korea was sharply divided into modernization and pro-Japanese camps. Third, during the time of Japanese colonial rule, the dress codes having set by the modernization policies during the time of enlightenment were abandoned and colonial uniforms for the colonial system was meticulously introduced. During this period, Western or Japanese-style uniforms were the symbol of the ruling ideology. In the mean time, Hanbok, particularly "White Clothing (白衣)", emerged as a representation of the opposition ideology. However, due to Japan's coercive power and strong zeal for "Great orient (大東亞)", white clothing remained as a mere symbol. Meanwhile, Reformists (實力養成論者) movement toward improving quality of life followed a similar path of the Japanese policies and was eventually incorporated into the ruling ideology. Fourth, dresses as representations of ruling ideologies were enforced by organizational powers, such as organizations and laws, and binding policies, and changes in such dresses were more significant when the ruling ideologies were stronger. Clothing of the opposition ideology was expressed as an aggregation of public consciousness. During the period, the subjects of ruling ideology and the objects who were granted modernization benefits were different although their drives for colored clothing with short hair (色衣斷髮) for modernization were similar.

Aimé Césaire's postcolonial thought as a 'Non-Western resistance discourse': In terms of speaker, language and counter-discourse ('비서구 저항담론'으로서의 세제르(A. Césaire)의 탈식민주의 비평, 그 가능성과 한계: 화자(話者), 언어(言語), 대항담론(對抗談論)의 측면에서)

  • Choi, Il-Sung
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.51
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    • pp.161-191
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    • 2018
  • In the beginning of the 20th century, post-colonialism has directly raised questions about western-centered universalism. One of its main achievements is that the political liberation of a colonial society does not guarantee the social, economic and cultural liberation of a society. Therefore, the discourse of liberation in the Western society, in particular, Marxism, nationalism, feminism and postmodernism, cannot be directly applied to the non-Western society. As a result, Western and non-Western societies are unfortunately dreaming of different futures and liberation; therefore, a'geopolitical dialogue' is needed between them. However, the theorists' efforts for postcolonial liberation failed to distinguish themselves from the western-centric traditions. It is also true that they have, in conjunction with these traditions, established their own power. As we know, many of the postcolonial criticisms somehow had relations with the West. This study will re-read the postcolonial thought of $Aim{\acute{e}}$ $C{\acute{e}}saire$, the father of the so-called $N{\acute{e}}gritude$, as a 'non-western resistance discourse'. Through this process, we have a chance to reflect on $C{\acute{e}}saire$ and his postcolonial thoughts.

Rethinking Korean Women's Art from a Post-territorial Perspective: Focusing on Korean-Japanese third generation women artists' experience of diaspora and an interpretation of their work (탈영토적 시각에서 볼 수 있는 한국여성미술의 비평적 가능성 : 재일동포3세 여성화가의 '디아스포라'의 경험과 작품해석을 중심으로)

  • Suh, Heejung
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.14
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    • pp.125-158
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    • 2012
  • After liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, there was the three-year period of United States Army Military Government in Korea. In 1948, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Republic of Korea were established in the north and south of the Korean Peninsula. The Republic of Korea is now a modern state set in the southern part of the Korean. We usually refer to Koreans as people who belong to the Republic of Korea. Can we say that is true exactly? Why make of this an obsolete question? The period from 1945 when Korea was emancipated from Japanese colonial rule to 1948 when the Republic of Korea was established has not been a focus of modern Korean history. This three years remains empty in Korean history and makes the concept of 'Korean' we usually consider ambiguous, and prompts careful attention to the silence of 'some Koreans' forced to live against their will in the blurred boundaries between nation and people. This dissertation regards 'Koreans' who came to live in the border of nations, especially 'Korean-Japanese third generation women artists'who are marginalized both Japan and Korea. It questions the category of 'Korean women's art' that has so far been considered, based on the concept of territory, and presents a new perspective for viewing 'Korean women's art'. Almost no study on Korean-Japanese women's art has been conducted, based on research on Korean diaspora, and no systematic historical records exist. Even data-collection is limited due to the political situation of South and North in confrontation. Representation of the Mother Country on the Artworks by First and Second-Generation Korean-Japanese(Zainich) Women Artists after Liberation since 1945 was published in 2011 is the only dissertation in which Korean-Japanese women artists, and early artistic activities. That research is based on press releases and interviews obtained through Japan. This thesis concentrates on the world of Korean-Japanese third generation women artists such as Kim Jung-sook, Kim Ae-soon, and Han Sung-nam, permanent residents in Japan who still have Korean nationality. The three Korean-Japanese third generation women artists whose art world is reviewed in this thesis would like to reveal their voices as minorities in Japan and Korea, resisting power and the universal concepts of nation, people and identity. Questioning the general notions of 'Korean women' and 'Korean women's art'considered within the Korean Peninsula, they explore their identity as Korean women outside the Korean territory from a post-territorial perspective and have a new understanding of the minority's diversity and difference through their eyes as marginal women living outside the mainstream of Korean and Japanese society. This is associated with recent post-colonial critical viewpoints reconsidering myths of universalism and transcendental aesthetic measures. In the 1980s and 1990s art museums and galleries in New York tried a critical shift in aesthetic discourse on contemporary art history, analyzed how power relationships among such elements as gender, sexuality, race, nationalism. Ghost of Ethnicity: Rethinking Art Discourses of the 1940s and 1980s by Lisa Bloom is an obvious presentation about the post-colonial discourse. Lisa Bloom rethinks the diversity of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender each artist and critic has, she began a new discussion on artists who were anti-establishment artists alienated by mainstream society. As migration rapidly increased through globalism lead by the United States the aspects of diaspora experience emerges as critical issues in interpreting contemporary culture. As a new concept of art with hybrid cultural backgrounds exists, each artist's cultural identity and specificity should be viewed and interpreted in a sociopolitical context. A criticism started considering the distinct characteristics of each individual's historical experience and cultural identity, and paying attention to experience of the third world artist, especially women artists, confronting the power of modernist discourses from a perspective of the white male subject. Considering recent international contemporary art, the Korean-Japanese third generation women artists who clarify their cultural identity as minority living in the border between Korea and Japan may present a new direction for contemporary Korean art. Their art world derives from their diaspora experience on colonial trauma historically. Their works made us to see that it is also associated with postcolonial critical perspective in the recent contemporary art stream. And it reminds us of rethinking the diversity of the minority living outside mainstream society. Thus, this should be considered as one of the features in the context of Korean women's art.

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Performance Activities and Social Role of the Theater in Ulsan during the Japanese Colonial Period (일제강점기 울산지역 극장의 공연활동과 사회적 역할)

  • Kim, Joung-Ho
    • (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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    • no.42
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    • pp.107-146
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    • 2021
  • This article examined the current status of performance activities in the theaters in Ulsan during the Japanese colonial period, and examined the characteristics and social roles of performance culture at that time.,The cultural space during the Japanese colonial period can be divided into theater space and semi-theater space.,The theater spaces in Ulsan include Daejeonggwan, Sangbanggwan, and Ulsan Theater. The semi-theater spaces include Ulsan Youth Center, Ulsan Youth Alliance Hall, Barrack Youth Hall, Eonyang Youth Alliance Hall, Eonyang Christian Hall, Eonyang Christian Hall, Eonyang Inn, Eonyang Public Inn, Eonyang Public Normal School, Seosaeng School, Ulsan Public Aid Auditorium, Night school.,These spaces not only held events or performances for a specific purpose, but also played a role as public spaces producing local discourse. The theater was a complex cultural space where performances are performed along with movie performances, and artists and audiences meet.,Furthermore, the theater provided a special experience of producing and consuming various issues such as colonial modernization, modern city formation, and the emergence of new popular culture beyond the meaning of stage space.,The theaters in Ulsan also functioned as a space to represent the foreign culture acceptance, leisure activities, the performance and viewing of cultural contents, and the artistic skills of local artists in accordance with the purpose of establishing local theaters.,It was a base space for local discourse production and enjoyment activities by holding political rallies, meetings, lecture activities, and various conferences.,Political rallies were also concerts, enlightenment activities were also accompanied by film screenings, and music performances were associated with dance performances and charity gatherings.,In particular, Ulsan Theater, which is the first theater in Ulsan, and the role of the public hall, held a lecture, debate, and oratory for public enlightenment along with performances such as musical drama, children's song contest, fairy tale contest, small-sized play performance,, It was widely used as a large-scale rallying place, and served as a public hall, such as a place to visit outside theaters. Thus, the theater and semi-theater space in Ulsan during the Japanese colonial period improved the cultural level of the region, fulfilling the aesthetic needs of the local people and faithfully fulfilling the social role as a public sphere leading the public opinion and agenda.,And it was also positioned as an alternative public area of ​​modern society and also played a role as a public institution.

Southeast Asia in Japan's Spiritual Market: The Sacralization of Exoticism

  • Gaitanidis, Ioannis
    • SUVANNABHUMI
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.95-119
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    • 2016
  • From the migrant care-workers arriving in Japan from the Philippines and Indonesia to support the depleted social support system for the large population of the elderly (Ogawa 2012) to the increasing number of retiring Japanese embarking on long-stay tourism in Malaysia (Ono 2015), the Japanese image of Southeast Asia as an exotic destination offering cheap labor in return for official development assistance seems to be fading away. Yet these changes are not necessarily reflected in the way contemporary Japanese, especially those who belong to the global, "spiritual-but not-religious" (Fuller 2001) population, think of and "consume" Southeast Asia in their daily lives. Using three case-studies, spiritual tours, Thai massage, and an NGO founded by a Japanese spiritual therapist, this paper argues that in Japan's large spiritual market, which targets people seeking alternative ways to express their religiosity, the old-fashioned colonial exoticism of Southeast Asian narratives were integrated in a totalizing discourse, in which Japan remains the exceptional outlier (Tanaka 1993), a country still claimed to be "advanced" both spiritually and economically.

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Masculinization of Femininity: A Gender-Based Reading of Đoạn tuyệt [Breaking Off] by Nhất Linh

  • TOAN, TRAN VAN
    • SUVANNABHUMI
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.81-99
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    • 2013
  • Đoạn tuyệt is the representative of not only Nhất Linh's literary life but also of the Tự Lực Văn Đoàn [Self-Strength Literary Group]. Đoạn tuyệt's contributions are emphasized in the following aspects: 1) critique of the feudal family model, 2) an advocate of female and individual liberation, 3) nationalistic content, though rather vague. Based on analysis of gender power relations in the masculinization of femininity exemplified in the character Loan of the novel, this paper addresses the following points: - In Đoạn tuyệt, the woman is eager to free herself from feudalist ties not to construct her own identity but to identify her with men's identities. - The construction of new feminine identities was conditioned in new rising discourses of Western modernity-based nationalisms in pre-revolutionary Vietnam. - The feminization of masculinity echoes the crisis of Vietnamese masculine in facing colonial power.

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Analysis on Policy Discourse of Female Traditional Musician in Joseon Era (문화정책 관점에서의 조선시대 여악에 대한 담론 연구)

  • Kwon, Youngji;Hong, Kiwon
    • 지역과문화
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    • v.6 no.3
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    • pp.29-53
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    • 2019
  • Korean traditional women artists are placed in dual suffering from unequal rights in terms of gender and misrecognition endowed by historical legacy. There has been no clear cut definition but interchangeable adoption of various terms such as Yeo-ak, Yeo-gi, and Gisaeng even in the study of music theory and history itself. Study on female musician has been mostly performed on the basis of music theory and history so that one sided discourse on female traditional artist has survived and aggravated its connotation during the colonial ages and modernization. Envisioning traditional female artist as instrumentalizing their body and status as artist resulted in crucifying victims of sexual harassment is one recent example. This study is an attempt to collect knowledge on the various layers of discourse about the status and role of female traditional artist. This is a first stage of analysis covering the period Joseon dynasty where original and official records regarding female traditional artists remains until today. The findings are that policy discourse are to be classified as politico-ideological layer, music theoretical layer, and socio-political layer. It is to be clarified in the future which layer has the most sustaining influence to the present and why.

The Study on the Correlation between Value Recognition and Urban Design Policy on the Urban Street - Focused on the Spatial Changes in Seoul during the Modern Periods - (도시공공환경의 변인으로서 사회가치인식과 제도의 변화상에 관한 연구 - 근대기 서울의 도시가로환경에 관한 담론을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Ji-Young
    • Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.164-173
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    • 2013
  • This study starts from the genealogical analysis of the urban public spaces through local history of Seoul which is significantly different from western countries. The analysis targets the discourse on the urban street, the basic unit of urban tissue and the settlement condition in urban life, which defines urban space-structure among the urban public spaces. And this research classifies and categorizes the value recognition and policy value occurred each period. Based on these, this research defines the progress levels of urban public design policy in Seoul as follows. Results Firstly, 1890's and 1900's was the period of development in commerce and industry, which caused congested and crowded streets. The open port policy allowed the experience of the foreign circumstance, and thus the identity of the urban streets and the value of symbolism come to realize among the society. During the Japanese colonization, urban streets put on modernized images through the urban remodeling out of the context according to the colonization policy. The brand-new values such as publicness and amenity are injected as well as modern regulations by system and authority. From Liberation to 1950's, it performed only street restoration as a repair from war with Japanese colonial system because of the political confusion and administrative vacuum. Finally, each period can be defined as follows. 1890's and 1900's can be defined as 'spontaneous finding the modernization' because urban street was intentionally transformed by the empire. Period of the Japanese colonization can be defined as 'the formation of modernized urban street concept and the compulsion of modernized regulation.' And period of from Liberation to 1950's, can be called as 'the absence of value recognition and maintenance of colonial system.' methodology.

A Postnationalist Critique of Irish Nation-State Ideology in Patrick Kavanagh's The Great Hunger (패트릭 캐바나의 『대기근』에 나타난 포스트민족주의 -아일랜드 민족국가 이데올로기 비판)

  • Kim, Yeonmin
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.60 no.2
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    • pp.315-338
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    • 2014
  • In The Great Hunger (1942) Patrick Kavanagh opens an Irish postnationalist discourse. Taking advantage of historical revisionism and postcolonialism, he not only demystifies a romantic nationalist ideology rooted in rural Ireland but also searches for an autonomous literary tradition free of the Irish Literary Revival, supposedly an outcome of a colonial influence. As a farmer-poet, Kavanagh deconstructs in two ways myths of rural areas, to which the Revivalists aspire. Contrary to Revivalism, he reveals that rural Ireland is not an idealized place where national identity arises and individual spirits are restored. It is instead a cruel place where farmer Maguire, deprived of health, wealth, and love, is tortured by hard labor in the field, moral regulations imposed by the Church, and his mother's domestic authority, all of which leave him unmarried until age sixty-five. Kavanagh also challenges the Revivalist tradition, led by W. B. Yeats commonly referred to as the poet of the nation, by indicting its reliance on former colonial authority and its lack of a sense of communal autonomy, both of which are diagnosed as "provincialism" by Kavanagh. Given that modern Irish literature has been strongly colored as nationalistic during the course of anticolonial resistance, Kavanagh's critique of the Revival in The Great Hunger, whose proponents blindly beautify the lives of farmers, runs directly against the grain of the founding ideology of the Irish nation-state. His voice, like that of a whistle-blower, disclosing the harsh realities of rural Ireland, ushers in a "post"-nationalist perspective on nation and national myths in Irish poetics.