Session 7 readings - Colonial Korea (11/14)

[Anonymous]

Both male and female intellectuals played a role in defining female identity, power and self-determination as it pertains to the “New Women” of Colonial Korea. Western and Japanese role models heavily influenced the construction of the new woman identity based on media representations of female feminist role models – mainly from Japan – which helped shape this new identity. At the core of this new identity was “freedom and liberation” and is the basis for what I perceive as colonization as an escape from the traditional societal roles imposed on women. Essays were written calling for women to claim their “basic human rights,” and they begin to challenge their roles both in society and in the family. However, it is clear by Yi Chonghui’s essay, “true freedom” that the conflict between individualism and group identity served to complicate the road to female self-actualization. [In comparison to the black female participation in the feminist movement in America, black women were heavily criticized for prioritizing women’s issues over the struggle for equality made by the civil rights movement.]

Both politics and male intellectual “watch-dog” policing of female thought did little to advance female rights by creating exaggerated caricatures as stereotypes of the new woman. [In comparison to the civil rights movement in the U.S. media representations of blacks were also exaggerated caricatures used to thwart the advancement of African Americans.] Despite these stereotypes, with Korea being under Japanese rule, the expectations was that this “new” woman would play a major role in Korea’s revitalization, however, the reduction of the new woman criterion to that of a “wise mother and a good wife” served – in my opinion – as the ultimate demise of what could have been a powerful movement. A “wise father and a good husband” were not limitations placed on the male identity, however served to limit the roles of what the woman could potentially become in this new society. In effect, the new woman was reduced back to the “old women” as “New Women themselves participated in elaborating the modern gender ideology of ‘wise mother and good wife.’”
edited by rcharles on 11/26/2016

[Anonymous]

New Woman With A Violin – Cartoon 1 should be entitled “Men judge a well-dressed woman dressed in western attire carrying a violin.” The older traditional men find her to be arrogant simply based on their judgment of her physical appearance and access of western culture. The man representing a younger generation finds her stylish, however, ironically implies he is married to a traditional woman and is inaccessible. Ultimately, this “new woman’s” elevation is the reason she is being alienated by both generations based whether or not the men find her lifestyle agreeable. I find this to be a psychological weapon used to persuade women to remain in their traditional societal roles. If you were a young woman seduced by the ideal of the “new woman,” after reading this particular commentary you would be less inclined to pursue this if you did not want to be alienated, judged or if you desired to have a family.
edited by rcharles on 11/26/2016

[Anonymous]

First, it was important for me to clarify with Jennifer Jung-Kim the gender of the authors of these cartoons. She confirmed that they all were men. This is important because the issue of cultural authority in media representations of the “other” is just as important as it pertains to the media representations of gender. Represented in these cartoons is the male struggle to come to terms with a new female identity. In order to do so, men construct an identity that is agreeable to male expectations of a new woman’s role in society, which in fact is not accepting a new female identity but confining her to traditional societal norms. Poor Kim Iryop as depicted in Cartoon 2, in order for her to take on her new identity, she not only has to fulfill traditional expectations but add on new responsibilities so as to not disrupt or challenge male security. Again, this is a psychological weapon. I f you were a young woman curious about the impact of being a “new woman” would have on your life, to find yourself agreeable to men you would have to carry so great a burden you would essentially have no life.
edited by rcharles on 11/26/2016

[Anonymous]

Derisive drawings and portrayals based on exaggerations not of natural features but of stereotypes assigned a culture or a people is not political satire. It is a hateful and reductive way to create a politicized “other.” As an African American woman in the media, I am completely sensitive to this device, but from a female perspective solely, to look at derisive drawings of women within a culture is heartbreaking. One anticipates cultural divisions but when the attack comes from within it is doubly erroneous. To look at these male depictions of the new woman as ridiculous – coming out of a hut dressed in fine clothes, exaggerated materialistic self involved women who advertise how superficial they are or who are ultimately the opposite of the “wise mother and good wife” who neglects her children and forces her husband to supply her with comfort , yada yada yada – what I find fragile here is the male ego. I will definitely use these images in lessons both at the high school and college level because the real issue is when one lacks control or power of how the media depicts them, how do representations impact not only how groups or genders are depicted but most importantly what does it say about the authors?
edited by rcharles on 11/26/2016

[Anonymous]

I think this will be an excellent article to discuss the current political climate. There are many exertions made by the left and the right that are applicable to her experiences in this article. First is the issue of controlling thought and second is the issue of controlling the people. We are in the midst of a great debate over policing thought. Both Google and Facebook are “banning fake news.” In an article published by TechCrunch, Snowden discusses Facebook’s fake news controversy, “Snowden cautioned that social media networks are careful to respect users as they grow, but get more reckless as they establish dominance. ‘To have one company that has enough power to reshape the way we think — I don’t think I need to describe how dangerous that is,’ he concluded.” So now is the hot debate over the issue of gatekeepers deciding what is fake news? Are satirical sites such as the Onion going to be affected? What would that count as fake news? What about receiving what has been classified as fake news? Say for instance the Onion falls under this category and one places it on his/her timeline anyway. Would that post be blocked or would the thought police stay for dinner?

In the article she states, “The Japanese secret police know, we received that paper, so they assigned a police detective permanently to our house. Every morning the detective arrived and sat there in my father’s office. All day. So we fed him, and gradually we go to be friends with him. After all, we were all humans. One detective we didn’t like, but another one came and we got along with him just fine.” Well, today we live with technological advancements that would negate the need for a physical presence. Aside from surveillance cameras, we have something even more powerful… social media. People have lost their jobs, had to move from their homes or endure public shaming for some of their more shameful posts. How will this be impacted by so-called and real “fake news.” What repercussions will users face for posting, reading and/or disseminating fake news? How will it be tracked and/or blocked? Most importantly, how will it be qualified? I think these are important discussions to have in classrooms and lecture halls.

In regard to people living under constant suspicion, I can relate to a few of her experiences. I too have been either the only or one of two people of my color in my class so I know how it feels both alienating and yet be accepting of this as just a reality. I think a more pressing thought here was living as an outsider within someone else’s culture. This is a very real reality for several groups today, especially in this current political climate. But to focus on Muslim Americans specifically nothing has been more relevant than the current articles around this issue: “Japanese American internment is ‘precedent’ for national Muslim registry, prominent Trump backer says,” via the Washington Post. “Talk of a registry for Muslims has Japanese internment survivors asking: 'Can’t they see what’s wrong?'” - per the LA Times. This essay would lead a very real discussion about what the current political climate could mean for certain groups living in the U.S. today. Or as the saying goes, one know understand the past to understand the present or they will be forced to relive it.
edited by rcharles on 11/26/2016

[Anonymous]

I do not know his name. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe that’s the way the essay was copied. I do know that his new Japanese name is Iwamoto, but what did it replace? I do not know my African heritage, however, I do know my American. Maybe that’s the point. There are two wars waged during a conflict, the physical war and the war on the mind. Forcing the Koreans to severe their connection with their family legacy was the ultimate psychological defeat. The Japanese were not just invading Korea, they invaded their identity, their legacy and their spirit. They subjugated them by forcing them into a Japanese identity. There are similarities and differences with blacks forced into slavery and having their identities ripped from them. The ultimate end it the severance to ones ancestors. The black and Korean relationship in America (and in Korea) has been full of conflict and divided by hate; a hate that has been shaped and propagated by American media. Maybe a discussion around legacy, lineage and the loss thereof, could be the common ground that could help two very divided cultures meet an understanding.
edited by rcharles on 11/26/2016

[Anonymous]

I thought the videos were important in bringing different topics into the classroom. The most poignant take away are the ideas and stories of comfort women. I am still trying to decide how I would like to bring in these ideas. I think one could approach it by bringing up how Japan teaches the war now. One could bring up some of these ideas and not go into graphic details but give the students an idea of why some people in Japan don’t want to teach these concepts.

[Anonymous]

As I read this story, many things came to my mind. It made think about the similar experiences that had happen to the Mayan, Aztec, and many other indigenous children during the time of the conquest; they had to change their names because the Spaniards had a hard time pronouncing and learning the natives names, therefore gave them a “Christian name” one easier to remember and pronounced. Changing their names was like stripping them of their own self. Certainly the Japanese did everything they could to take as much as they could from the Koreans, but Pride, intelligence can never be taken away. The care and time taken to choose their new name was a very interesting way to show that beyond the sounds of the words, they kept a name that has the meaning as the Korean name. There are many lessons we can draw from this story. By the way I enjoyed learning about the meaning of the Korean Flag.

[Anonymous]

As I read this article, it came to mind a poem called Hombres Necios (Stubborn Men) by the Mexican writer Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. In the poem, she basically scolds men for accusing women of being selfish and dumb individuals. The poem basically expresses similar ideas as this essay. Those who think that women are frivolous are the exact same ones who oppress them and have prevented them from excelling in education. Men refuse to see that women are what they have been created to be by societal and cultural norms. Just as the essay, the poem encourages women to seek an education and to break away from all chains that may hold her from becoming a successful human being. The essay discusses the notion of the Ideal Women. But, the idea of what an ideal woman should be it is only that, an Idea. Maybe and New the ideal women would be a successful female in both worlds, professionally and as a housewife.

[Anonymous]

01/06/17
Yesterday Japan suspended talks with South Korea over a foreign currency swap arrangement; temporarily recalled Japan’s ambassador to South Korea; and halted high-level economic talks between the two nations. The reason: to protest against placing a statue symbolizing victims of Japanese wartime sex slavery outside of Japan's consulate in the city of Busan.

Professor Jennifer Jung Kim talked about the legacy of “comfort women” in session 7. She told us the Japanese had a long history of legal prostitution which they imposed on occupied countries. The term "comfort women" is a euphemism for girls and women, from South Korea, China, Philippines and elsewhere, forced to work in wartime Japanese military brothels. Dr. Kim said that between 60,000 to 200,000 women (many of them Korean) were victims of systematic rape by the Japanese. To make matters worse, Japan has historically downplayed the issue and tried to dismiss these human rights violations by saying it wasn’t officially sanctioned. However, Dr. Kim told us the prostitutes were regularly inspected by military doctors.

The statue in Seoul—a bronze of a young, seated woman with a small bird on her shoulder—has proven to be an extremely potent symbol. Last year the Japanese government offered to settle the long-standing feud by officially apologizing and paying $9 million to the 46 surviving women, but the majority of Koreans feel it doesn’t go far enough. In fact, the Busan statue was a protest against the deal struck with disgraced President Park Geun-hye.

[Anonymous]

War is hard on any country, but to be torn and divided after as spoils of war is especially devastating. Russia and America dividing it into the two different trains of thought and really setting it up for what it has become today. It was Japan and China however in the past that conquered and held back Korea. I remember when I was in Korea one of the things I heard and kept hearing over and over was the dislike of the Chinese and the Japanese because of the take overs that occurred constantly during war times in their country. When we went on a tour of the shrines the two architectural styles of the countries and differing cultural items were present in all the Korean shrines. My sister in law and her family still have deep rooted anger and prejudice against the Chinese and the Japanese being in their country. I think their pride was constantly shoved down that still today this is hard to overcome.

In the paper “thought police Stay for Dinner’ the young Korean girl again faced prejudice and scrutiny from the Chinese and the Japanese. Even from her own people of Korea, her mother was arrested and she really had no hope of escaping scrutiny from any of the people, because of living and going to school in China. She was scorned from all sides. I think there were many people who were caught in between all of these countries just trying to survive. To try and be Korean.

[Anonymous]

Jennifer Jung-Kim an expert on Korea had an interesting talk and lesson. I had just finished reading a book called Sold by Patricia McCormick and it was still resonating with me when I came to class and heard Jennifer. When she began to talk about the treatment of women and the conditions in which the poor lived connected to the story I was so intrigued. Human trafficking has always been around, but lately it is being shown to still be an issue in our world. When the Japanese took women from Korea and put them into prostitution camps against their will it was a story you don’t hear much about. The “comfort women” as they were called, showed the brutality of war. The behind the scenes atrocities of war are often overlooked. Some of the movies that we watched clips from were very informative, but disturbing. I can understand some of the deep hatred that still resonates with the Koreans against the Japanese. The treatment of the women and poor were horrific. The thrown aside of a brutal war.

[Anonymous]

Hukou is a government system that determines where a person may live and other economic factors affecting their lives. It evolved from an ancient family registration system and usually includes the births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and moves, of all members in the family. However, the modern system was put in place around the time of the Cultural Revolution, ostensibly to give everyone a place in Chinese society. By the 1980s the Hukou system was identified, along with China’s one-child policy, as having a negative impact on Chinese society. Because the Hukou system shapes the life chances of a person in China, it is now viewed as a socially-engineered caste system, seriously impairing social and economic mobility by keeping people tied to the land instead of allowing them to urbanize. A citizen is given a Hukou identification card, which gives them access to coupons redeemable for food and material goods. Those in the urban areas have access to better schools, health care, food, luxury items, marriage prospects, and so on.

[Anonymous]

South Korea
Website Mapping Women of Childbearing Age
The topic of birth in Asia has been interesting to me during both of the seminars that I have been involved with. The South Korean government had a controversial website that was tracking the number of women in childbearing age by each city and region. Women were outraged by pink mapping that the website featured and only after a few hours, the website had gone offline. Criticism was thrown at the government for only making this an issue about women and shaming women into having children. In the pink birth map, the regions with a higher number of female residents within the 15-45 year old range were colored a dark pink while regions with a lower number of these same women were shown in light pink. The site used this information to rank the different regions.
There was anger from many viewers and the question of what does the number of women who can get pregnant have to do with encouraging people to have more babies? This made many women feel that the government was only viewing their bodies as reproductive tools for the country and not belonging to the women. The government’s argument was that the site was a tool to increase the public’s knowledge in the area of birthrate and compare the benefits from local governments for having and raising a child. South Korea’s government has one of the lowest birthrates among rich countries which they are trying to increase.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know much about Korea until recently, and it's still a little hazy. However, the idea of the thought police put me in the mind of the Red Guard searching houses for evidence of the Four Olds and counterrevolutionary material. Turns out the Thought Police was "a thing", as my students would say. It was established in 1911 as a higher order police group to "control political groups and ideologies deemed a threat to public order," according to Wikipedia. Knowing that, I began to wonder after reading the first paragraph, if all of the family's moving around was to truly seek a better life for the family or to evade the thought police...although I imagine that evading the thought police would lead to a better life!

The incident with the author on the field trip to Japan with her class was frightening and reminds me of episodes in Red Scarf Girl when the daughter is asked questions at school by her teachers and always fearing the scrutiny of her peers.

This text could be used in my English class when we read Red Scarf Girl and draw comparisons of the experiences and the circumstances. The juxtaposition of the two could spark a discussion about efforts of those in control to maintain power, the value of diaries or memoirs, etc. ...not to mention the fact that the author calls out the irony at the end of this chapter... I'd be interested in reading the next chapter about "Becoming Japanese"... after all that the Japanese put her family through, this is the result??? Could it be? Irony indeed...

[Author]

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