- P-ISSN0023-3900
- E-ISSN2733-9343
- A&HCI, SCOPUS, KCI
Vol.64 No.1
Abstract
Surgical face masks have become commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic, producing debates on mask practices. This paper explains the semiotic practices of the face mask among Koreans, who accepted the mask early and have simultaneously remained uneasy about it until late 2020. It aims to explain this paradox by discovering various meanings Koreans ascribe to the mask. A content analysis of reader responses to news articles finds that Koreans signify what the mask means for life in various voices (i.e., instrumental meanings) in which they concurrently reveal multiple and contradictory meanings of everyday life (i.e., existential meanings) during the pandemic. Eight themes—beneficence, futility, nuisance, routine, privacy, dominance, collective commitment, and intricacy—constitute what the mask and everyday life mean. This study also finds that contradictions among these meanings are resolved either incidentally by their being simultaneously harbored in one piece of the mask that stays and holds tight in most circumstances or semiotically by certain integrative meanings embracing multiple meanings at once. The study argues that the meanings of the mask reflect meanings of life that are often contradictory and yet held together during the pandemic. It demonstrates that mask sociology serves as a promising humanistic inquiry on how the Maussian totality of everyday life is concretely experienced in the context of the pandemic.
Abstract
In the Joseon period, the maritime ban policy gradually became a means of controlling the people when a reorganization of the military defense system and the preparation of countermeasures against the appearance of unidentified vessels were required. In the process, a maritime boundary consciousness was formed, and a defense system centered on the inner sea was established. As a result, islands located in the West and South Seas were transformed into garrison areas, receiving increased attention from the central government. By contrast, the change in the island policy toward Ulleungdo was relatively uncomplicated. In the early Joseon period, the governance of evacuating residents of Ulleungdo and the so-called island vacancy policy were carried out as a way of preventing damage from Japanese pirates. And the sutoje of Ulleungdo was formalized when the territorial dispute over Ulleungdo with Japan began in earnest at the end of the 17th century. The character of Ulleungdo was the same as that of the islands located on the West and South Seas in that it revealed the government’s determination to properly control domestic territory. The development of the sutoje of Ulleungdo was also related to changes in maritime territorial consciousness and island policies.
Abstract
Modern cultural heritage has clear significance and value as part of the historical record of a given country. However, perspectives on the value and role of cultural heritage can vary. This study compares the perceptions of various subjects on urban colonial cultural heritage. The similarities and differences between the direction of local culture pursued by local experts and the perceptions of different subjects are analyzed, and the reinforced image of a multifaceted city image is examined. The results reveal that, first, differences exist within the reference group. The reference group determined the city of Gunsan’s resources, which led to regional revitalization projects to improve the city’s image. Second, commonalities were observed between the perceived images of local residents, visitors, and non-visitors. All three groups understood Gunsan as a city of modern history and a city where past and present coexist. Third, examining non-visitors’ perceptions of Gunsan as a reinforced image revealed that their perceptions were similar to those of visitors. The public’s view of colonial history is the same: it is a painful history but one that must be remembered. However, the interpretation and use of that heritage differ widely. The administration of Gunsan should manage the city’s image to prevent historical distortion or the misunderstanding of history by the perceiving subjects.
Abstract
When many people think of Asian martial arts, they picture the white uniform and black belt as used in many Japanese and Korean martial arts. With that image in mind, belt-rank promotion and the often-theatrical fashion of these events symbolize an important ritual in fostering loyalty and reinforcing hierarchy. It is a significant source of revenue for martial arts schools and organizations. Against this backdrop, this article focuses on the popular Korean martial art of taekwondo, which is also an Olympic sport. Participation in the Olympics and other international taekwondo events requires a black belt certificate issued by the Kukkiwon (Gukgiwon), a quasi-South Korean government-supported organization. On the other hand, the Olympic sport of taekwondo is administered by World Taekwondo (WT), an international sports organization. In 2017, the idea arose within WT of issuing its own black belt certificates, thereby sidelining the Kukkiwon. Accordingly, this article aims to describe the present conflict between these institutions, which is threatening the survival of the Kukkiwon, which is not only a symbol of taekwondo but also of Korean national identity.
Abstract
This study examines the mobility regulation and discipline that persisted amid the currents of internationalization and opening during the 1980s through the case of security education films for overseas travelers—an essential component of the education program for South Koreans going abroad. With the liberalization in the policy for overseas travel, attending this educational session before departure became a prerequisite for South Koreans traveling overseas. By analyzing the content and production process of two films produced by the National Film Production Center in the early 1980s, this study argues that the securitization of imagination regarding foreign spaces, overseas travel, and new mobile subjects was implemented by the authoritarian nationstate, facing a transition from immobility to global mobility. This project of regulation and discipline, rooted in the Cold War imagination, persisted as a shadow of internationalization. The conceptual framework suggested by this study, the securitization of imagination, facilitates an understanding of a conjuncture in which Cold War social-cultural history and the history of globalization overlapped in South Korea in the 1980s.
Abstract
The May 1980 Gwangju Democracy Movement was a seminal event in the democratization process of South Korea. However, it was also a critical event in the development of anti-Americanism in the country. The US government recognized this and towards the end of the 1980s began to engage in public diplomacy to explain the US role in the events of May 1980 to the Korean public to dampen anti-American sentiment. These efforts culminated in the release of the “United States Government Statement on the Events in Kwangju, Republic of Korea, in May 1980” on June 19, 1989. This article reviews US motivations for producing the 1989 statement and argues misinformation provided by the Chun government to the Korean people and rising antiAmericanism were the two main factors. Next, the US public diplomacy effort to explain US actions during May 1980 is analyzed before showing that Korean reactions to these US efforts were on the whole negative.
Abstract
This article examines the ways in which Korean-American artist Yong Soon Min visualizes the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an emblem of the division of her home country, highlighting her unique perspective toward the subject, which stems from her hybrid and diasporic identity as a Korean American. A series of works she created after her visits to the DMZ, such as Kindred Distance (1996), Bridge of No Return (1997), Bangapsubnida (2004), On the Road (2009), Both Sides Now (2018), Liminal Space (2018), and We did not cross the border, the border crossed us, twice (2019), embody Min’s prolonged process of mapping the contested space of the DMZ. In this map-making journey, Min reveals her ambivalent and complex perspective as a Korean American toward the rhetoric of unification and the DMZ, which has drawn upon a Korean ethnic nationalism based on the homogeneity of ethnic identity, utilizing fragmented images and multiple languages.
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