In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active... more In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active consumer product in a globalizing world. States or regional governments also support ethnic or regional foods as economic resources. During modernization, the Korean diet came under the scanner of nutritional and medical sciences. Therefore, dietary habits became part of the modernization policy of the state. State-led programs for improvements in dietary life were conducted and campaigns for dietary improvements in which nutritionists emphasized the daily intake of protein and calories were implemented. The western diet, which was considered scientific and nutritious, was introduced as a superior and model diet. Korean food, which was thought of as inferior from scientific and nutritional perspectives, came to be signified in a new way in the new discourses during the process of globalization in the 1990s. In the West, which saw an era of chronic diseases because of overnutrition and obesity, health provided an important context for food discourses. Korean food was re-positioned in a new way by the discourse on health. This paper explores how the indigenous food of Jeju is constructed through the process of how, as slow food in the 21st century, it has become a symbol of health and ecological food. At
... Editorial Collective Volume Editors China DU Fangqin ZHENG Xinrong India MalaKHULLARPooja JUY... more ... Editorial Collective Volume Editors China DU Fangqin ZHENG Xinrong India MalaKHULLARPooja JUYAL and the Faculty of lsabella Thoburn College ... Ra-keum MM Eun-Shil K1M HyunMee K1M Sun-Uk LEE Sang Wha Senior Manuscript Editors Mala KHULLAR Jason LE ...
The fact that teenagers construct a unique identity of their own different from the older generat... more The fact that teenagers construct a unique identity of their own different from the older generation became the subject of new discourses in Korean society since the 1990s. As the sexual experience of teenagers came to be understood as an important element in constructing their differentiated identity, the issue of teenager’s sexuality has drawn attention from the mass media and culture studies scholars alike. In particular, as it became widespread that the sexuality of teenage women became the “yonggae”2 product which adult men favored, the sexuality of teenage women became one of the most sensationally portrayed topics in Korea’s mass media since the mid 1990s. The most dominant discourse on the sexuality of teenage women is based on the approach of protectionism. Another approach, which is usually adopted by feminist studies on teenage women, is that of acknowledging the reality where teenage women are constituted as sexual subjects within the consumercapitalist society. In the approach of protectionism, the teenagers’ practicing their sexuality is understood within the discourse of defiance, delinquency or victimization. Here teenagers are positioned as sexless beings and as minors living a present that only exists only subordinate to the future. What is noteworthy is that the word “teenagers” in general usually refers to teenage boys. Teenage girls are usually described more specifically as female students or young ladies who are considered as a sub-category within the definition of teenagers. They represent the “young lady” (the Korean word for young lady also has the meaning of virgin), a minor preparing for the future in a patriarchal society. Since the mid 1990s, feminism studies in Korea have criticized and deconstructed the way in which the teenagers, especially teenage women have been categorized, and the male-centric norms and morals that were used when defining their sexuality. (Kim 1997; ChoHan 1998; Lee 1998; Min 2000) First of all, feminism studies on teenage women understood the reality that teenagers living in the consumer culture of the 1990s had desires and curiosities of sexualities and relationships, and described how a teenager’s sexuality was situated in Korean society.3 They have carried out discussions on what teenagers consider to be the sexual, on the relationship between the meaning of what they accept and practice as sex and the sexual script that is dominating the Korean society, on what knowledge or education on sex they are looking for and how this can be provided. With this as a background, this paper attempts to study how the experience of sexuality in prostitution is possible for teenage women and how their experience constitutes their sexualized gender identity. This paper does not apply the categorization of pro-positive sex feminism, anti-sex feminism or sexradical feminism (Chapkis 1997) as such in looking at the teenage women within the sex industry. Rather, this paper attempts to understand why there exists a cultural acceptance that makes teenage women entering the sex industry a viable choice as a means to fulfill their needs, and to reveal how the Korean society makes them use sex as a trade.
In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active... more In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active consumer product in a globalizing world. States or regional governments also support ethnic or regional foods as economic resources. During modernization, the Korean diet came under the scanner of nutritional and medical sciences. Therefore, dietary habits became part of the modernization policy of the state. State-led programs for improvements in dietary life were conducted and campaigns for dietary improvements in which nutritionists emphasized the daily intake of protein and calories were implemented. The western diet, which was considered scientific and nutritious, was introduced as a superior and model diet. Korean food, which was thought of as inferior from scientific and nutritional perspectives, came to be signified in a new way in the new discourses during the process of globalization in the 1990s. In the West, which saw an era of chronic diseases because of over nutrition and obesity, health provided an important context for food discourses and Korean food was re-positioned in a new way by the discourse on health. This paper explores the process of how the indigenous food of Jeju is constructed, the process of how, as slow food in the 21st century, it has become a symbol of health and ecological food. At the same time, this paper seeks to show the ability and know-how of Jeju women, who have cooked everyday, and became involved in the discourse on their local food.
This arride explores how the agenda of feminism can relate to rhe everyday experience of Korean m... more This arride explores how the agenda of feminism can relate to rhe everyday experience of Korean middle-class housewives. Feminist inquiries have tended to homogenize Korean women as a subject and focused their critiques on the institutional patriarchy as fixed phenomena. Illustrating the women's effons to give binh to a son and their subjectivity of son-preference, this article interrogates the discursive powers of son-preference practices and reveals itS negotiating and contrasting strucrun:s. Registered as the effects of social relations of married women, the subjectivity is constrUcted in different classes in different ways. This artide shows chat the middle-class women's way of engaging wirh patriarchal culture is also class specific, while arguing that a new way of feminist questioning is needed in Korea to criticize the way in which patriarchal culture affecrs women differently and to rake up the emergent: space of middle-class women's 3genLy for feminist movements. Kim Eun-Shil with her mother_ She was angry and said not to spend her time in preparing food but to spend it on herself. Her mother said that she was very happy when her children and gra.ndchildt"en ate her food enthusiastically, saying, "I am afraid of you, 'a feminist', who are always analyzing me.~ (quun:d from an author-'s friend, Ms. Cho)
With the first undergraduate level women’s studies course started in 1977 in Ewha Womans Universi... more With the first undergraduate level women’s studies course started in 1977 in Ewha Womans University, it has been more than 30years since women’s studies has been taught in universities and feminist research carried out in Korea. And the circumstances and frames of women’s studies have been constantly changing. This paper seeks to explore the epistemic interface of Korean Women’s Studies with respect to the West where it had its origin and “Asia” as a newly rising context for feminist knowledge production in South Korea. I explore three points in this paper. First, I point out changes in the epistemology of women’s studies in Korea, from the time it was introduced and received within the context of Korea’s modernization and development. This also relates to the epistemic framework of universality and particularity of Korean Women’s Studies. Second, I deal with the rise of “Asia” as a new category for criticizing western knowledge systems or theoretical frameworks which had been considered universal and to show instances of how the category “Asia” is being used. Third, I suggest cross- cultural comparison as a research methodology to provincialize the West and think of Asia as a new community for our discussions. There are differences in understanding and appropriating the term, “Asia,” at multiple levels even among feminist scholars involved in the discussion of “Asian Women’s Studies” in South Korea. At the same time, feminist scholars are very much concerned that the globalization discourse, still based on the nation-state development model, has mobilized Asia as a partner in transnational corporate capital, business and as a market for more productivity and profit. In this context, I want to suggest that feminist scholars from Asian countries should discuss how we should construct questions about women in globalizing and re-regionalizing Asia and also how we should play a role in creating a new communicative space in the process of restructuring Asia. In order to do this, efforts need to be made to transform ways of inquiring about “women,” based on the nation-state within the modern socio-political order. For research with mutual reference to grow, more joint projects across state boundaries need to be carried out and a new transnational comparative methodology needs to be created.
In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active... more In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active consumer product in a globalizing world. States or regional governments also support ethnic or regional foods as economic resources. During modernization, the Korean diet came under the scanner of nutritional and medical sciences. Therefore, dietary habits became part of the modernization policy of the state. State-led programs for improvements in dietary life were conducted and campaigns for dietary improvements in which nutritionists emphasized the daily intake of protein and calories were implemented. The western diet, which was considered scientific and nutritious, was introduced as a superior and model diet. Korean food, which was thought of as inferior from scientific and nutritional perspectives, came to be signified in a new way in the new discourses during the process of globalization in the 1990s. In the West, which saw an era of chronic diseases because of overnutrition and obesity, health provided an important context for food discourses. Korean food was re-positioned in a new way by the discourse on health. This paper explores how the indigenous food of Jeju is constructed through the process of how, as slow food in the 21st century, it has become a symbol of health and ecological food. At
... Editorial Collective Volume Editors China DU Fangqin ZHENG Xinrong India MalaKHULLARPooja JUY... more ... Editorial Collective Volume Editors China DU Fangqin ZHENG Xinrong India MalaKHULLARPooja JUYAL and the Faculty of lsabella Thoburn College ... Ra-keum MM Eun-Shil K1M HyunMee K1M Sun-Uk LEE Sang Wha Senior Manuscript Editors Mala KHULLAR Jason LE ...
The fact that teenagers construct a unique identity of their own different from the older generat... more The fact that teenagers construct a unique identity of their own different from the older generation became the subject of new discourses in Korean society since the 1990s. As the sexual experience of teenagers came to be understood as an important element in constructing their differentiated identity, the issue of teenager’s sexuality has drawn attention from the mass media and culture studies scholars alike. In particular, as it became widespread that the sexuality of teenage women became the “yonggae”2 product which adult men favored, the sexuality of teenage women became one of the most sensationally portrayed topics in Korea’s mass media since the mid 1990s. The most dominant discourse on the sexuality of teenage women is based on the approach of protectionism. Another approach, which is usually adopted by feminist studies on teenage women, is that of acknowledging the reality where teenage women are constituted as sexual subjects within the consumercapitalist society. In the approach of protectionism, the teenagers’ practicing their sexuality is understood within the discourse of defiance, delinquency or victimization. Here teenagers are positioned as sexless beings and as minors living a present that only exists only subordinate to the future. What is noteworthy is that the word “teenagers” in general usually refers to teenage boys. Teenage girls are usually described more specifically as female students or young ladies who are considered as a sub-category within the definition of teenagers. They represent the “young lady” (the Korean word for young lady also has the meaning of virgin), a minor preparing for the future in a patriarchal society. Since the mid 1990s, feminism studies in Korea have criticized and deconstructed the way in which the teenagers, especially teenage women have been categorized, and the male-centric norms and morals that were used when defining their sexuality. (Kim 1997; ChoHan 1998; Lee 1998; Min 2000) First of all, feminism studies on teenage women understood the reality that teenagers living in the consumer culture of the 1990s had desires and curiosities of sexualities and relationships, and described how a teenager’s sexuality was situated in Korean society.3 They have carried out discussions on what teenagers consider to be the sexual, on the relationship between the meaning of what they accept and practice as sex and the sexual script that is dominating the Korean society, on what knowledge or education on sex they are looking for and how this can be provided. With this as a background, this paper attempts to study how the experience of sexuality in prostitution is possible for teenage women and how their experience constitutes their sexualized gender identity. This paper does not apply the categorization of pro-positive sex feminism, anti-sex feminism or sexradical feminism (Chapkis 1997) as such in looking at the teenage women within the sex industry. Rather, this paper attempts to understand why there exists a cultural acceptance that makes teenage women entering the sex industry a viable choice as a means to fulfill their needs, and to reveal how the Korean society makes them use sex as a trade.
In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active... more In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active consumer product in a globalizing world. States or regional governments also support ethnic or regional foods as economic resources. During modernization, the Korean diet came under the scanner of nutritional and medical sciences. Therefore, dietary habits became part of the modernization policy of the state. State-led programs for improvements in dietary life were conducted and campaigns for dietary improvements in which nutritionists emphasized the daily intake of protein and calories were implemented. The western diet, which was considered scientific and nutritious, was introduced as a superior and model diet. Korean food, which was thought of as inferior from scientific and nutritional perspectives, came to be signified in a new way in the new discourses during the process of globalization in the 1990s. In the West, which saw an era of chronic diseases because of over nutrition and obesity, health provided an important context for food discourses and Korean food was re-positioned in a new way by the discourse on health. This paper explores the process of how the indigenous food of Jeju is constructed, the process of how, as slow food in the 21st century, it has become a symbol of health and ecological food. At the same time, this paper seeks to show the ability and know-how of Jeju women, who have cooked everyday, and became involved in the discourse on their local food.
This arride explores how the agenda of feminism can relate to rhe everyday experience of Korean m... more This arride explores how the agenda of feminism can relate to rhe everyday experience of Korean middle-class housewives. Feminist inquiries have tended to homogenize Korean women as a subject and focused their critiques on the institutional patriarchy as fixed phenomena. Illustrating the women's effons to give binh to a son and their subjectivity of son-preference, this article interrogates the discursive powers of son-preference practices and reveals itS negotiating and contrasting strucrun:s. Registered as the effects of social relations of married women, the subjectivity is constrUcted in different classes in different ways. This artide shows chat the middle-class women's way of engaging wirh patriarchal culture is also class specific, while arguing that a new way of feminist questioning is needed in Korea to criticize the way in which patriarchal culture affecrs women differently and to rake up the emergent: space of middle-class women's 3genLy for feminist movements. Kim Eun-Shil with her mother_ She was angry and said not to spend her time in preparing food but to spend it on herself. Her mother said that she was very happy when her children and gra.ndchildt"en ate her food enthusiastically, saying, "I am afraid of you, 'a feminist', who are always analyzing me.~ (quun:d from an author-'s friend, Ms. Cho)
With the first undergraduate level women’s studies course started in 1977 in Ewha Womans Universi... more With the first undergraduate level women’s studies course started in 1977 in Ewha Womans University, it has been more than 30years since women’s studies has been taught in universities and feminist research carried out in Korea. And the circumstances and frames of women’s studies have been constantly changing. This paper seeks to explore the epistemic interface of Korean Women’s Studies with respect to the West where it had its origin and “Asia” as a newly rising context for feminist knowledge production in South Korea. I explore three points in this paper. First, I point out changes in the epistemology of women’s studies in Korea, from the time it was introduced and received within the context of Korea’s modernization and development. This also relates to the epistemic framework of universality and particularity of Korean Women’s Studies. Second, I deal with the rise of “Asia” as a new category for criticizing western knowledge systems or theoretical frameworks which had been considered universal and to show instances of how the category “Asia” is being used. Third, I suggest cross- cultural comparison as a research methodology to provincialize the West and think of Asia as a new community for our discussions. There are differences in understanding and appropriating the term, “Asia,” at multiple levels even among feminist scholars involved in the discussion of “Asian Women’s Studies” in South Korea. At the same time, feminist scholars are very much concerned that the globalization discourse, still based on the nation-state development model, has mobilized Asia as a partner in transnational corporate capital, business and as a market for more productivity and profit. In this context, I want to suggest that feminist scholars from Asian countries should discuss how we should construct questions about women in globalizing and re-regionalizing Asia and also how we should play a role in creating a new communicative space in the process of restructuring Asia. In order to do this, efforts need to be made to transform ways of inquiring about “women,” based on the nation-state within the modern socio-political order. For research with mutual reference to grow, more joint projects across state boundaries need to be carried out and a new transnational comparative methodology needs to be created.
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