• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.123-137
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• 1986

The present study was designed to answer the following questions : The first overall question had to do with the relationship between sex-role identity and self-esteem-more specifically, is androgyny or masculinity more importamt in explaining the variation in self-esteem? The second overall question had to do with the degree to which the relationship between sex-role identity and self-esteem is a universal or a culturally specific phenomeon-more specifically, is the relationship between sex-role identity and self-esteem the same in Korean and American cultures? The Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory were administered to 208 American college students and 207 Korean college students, respectively, in introductory sociology classes. The BSRI and SEI are standardized for American subjects and written in English. Prior to administering these instruments to Korean subjects, they were translated ito the Korean Language. In order to fully explore the data, qualitative as well as quantitative measurement of the BSRI were used, and both factorial and regression analyses were performed in this study. The most important cross-cultural differences found in the present study are directly related to the two research questions. In the U.S. sample, masculine attributes were found to be more important in explaining self-esteem. On the other hand, androgynous attributes were positively related to self-esteem in the Korean sample. These findings also provide the answer to the second question. That is, different cross-cultural patterns of relationship were found between sexrole identity and self-esteem, providing some support for a culture-bound relationship. These cross-cultural differences were discussed in terms of both confucian values held by Koreans and Bakan's suggestion of a positive relationship between agentic characteristics and modernization.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.219-238
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• 2018

This essay examines the first-generation Korean American writer, No-Yong Park's falsehoods about his ethnic identity to suggest how and why he passed for Chinese, and to explore the political, anti-Japanese implications of these actions. The essay first identifies erroneous information circulating about his biographical background, presents some other materials that help us better understand the context in which he forged his Chinese identity, and then examines how he represented himself as Chinese in his published works. I would argue that Park's self-identification as Chinese was a resulting outcome of his naturalization caused by the Japanese colonial power in Korea and also one of his surviving strategies in the racist environment within American society. Looking at some of his works-including Making a New China (1929), An Oriental View of American Civilization (1934), Chinaman's Chance: Autobiography (1940)-and examining how he represented Korea and its people reveal how he tried to raise voice for them. By doing so, this essay illuminates Park's resistance to Japan's colonial discourse and power in Korea while revealing his lifetime passing as Chinese-far from his refusal to belong to the Korean community, or to acknowledge being Korean.

• School Mathematics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-43
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• 2010

In this article the conceptual meaning of expression, equation and identity used in Korean mathematics textbooks and American mathematics textbooks is compared and discussed. For this purpose definitions and examples in several mathematics textbooks which are used in Korean elementary school, the 1st grade of middle school and American middle school are investigated. It is founded out that at first there are some parts that give rise to misunderstanding and then there are differences between the Korean terminologies and their corresponding English counterparts. The definitions of expression, equation and identity are advised to examine in the view of middle mathematics curriculum.

• American Studies
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.27-56
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• 2020

This paper attempts to interpret the meaning of nine gams in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. It approaches the topic from an organizational identity perspective. It is the theory which asserts the importance of the reference group in the formation of group members' organizational identity. This paper views the gams as the reference groups for the sailors of the Pequod and shows what meanings or questions each gam presents to them. It divides the nine gams into three groups according to their functions in the organizational sense. This paper argues that the extremely dangerous quest of the Pequod is not led by the captain only, but the sailors, who are given many chances to make their decisions after having gams, eventually choose to obey and follow their leader. The tragic end is partly what they choose, after all.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.61-75
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• 2012

Indisputably school is the main institution that socialises migrant children into the culture of their new country. Through school they learn the new language and customs, which will enable them to become cultural brokers between the new cultural world and their families. During this process migrant children often transit a liminal terrain where their roles and identity become at the same time diverse and ambivalent. Despite the challenges involved these children often become experts in juggling different cultures, environments and expectations. This study explores the experiences of Latin American children and their families as they start primary school in Australia.

• American Studies
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.155-182
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• 2021

This study explores how American war films modify or reenact American exceptionalism depending on political and social situations in the United States. To this end, it analyzes the two war films, Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers that were released before and after the 9/11 attacks as a critical juncture in the twenty first century, respectively. While the former conducts a partial modification on American exceptionalism in order to restore the national identity and moral authority of the United States lost ever since the Vietnam War, the latter demonstrates a complete reenactment of American exceptionalism in accordance with the foreign policy of the Bush administration and neoconservatism. It concludes with the illumination that the examination of American war films within the framework of American exceptionalism is efficacious in understanding from a broad perspective how American exceptionalism is utilized depending on political and social situations in the United States.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.18
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• pp.53-79
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• 2004

This paper explores the relationship between Korean immigrants to the United States and their religious identity from the cultural point of view. Most scholarly studies on Korean immigrants in the United States have been dominated by sociological approach and ethnic studies in examining the social dimension of the Korean immigrant communities while neglecting issues concerning their religious identity and cultural heritage. Most Korean immigrants to America attend Korean churches regardless their religious affiliation before they came to America. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the fact that Korean church has provided a necessary social service for the newly arrived immigrants. Korean churches have been able to play a key role in the life of Korean immigrants. Korean immigrants, however, have shown a unique aspect regarding their religious identity compared to other immigrants communities in the United States. America is a nation of immigrants, coming from different parts of the world. Each immigrant community has brought their unique cultural heritage and religious persuasion. Asian immigrants, for example, brought their own traditional religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism. People from the Middle Eastern countries brought Islamic faith while European Jews brought the Jewish tradition. In these immigrant communities, religious identity and cultural heritage were homo genously harmonized. Jewish people built synagogue and taught Hebrew, Jewish history, culture, and faith. In this case, synagogue was not only the house of worship for Jews but also the center for learning Jewish history, culture, faith, and language. In short, Jewish cultural history was intimately related to Jewish religious history; for Jewish immigrants, learning their social and political history was indeed identical with leaning of their religious history. The same can be said about the relationship between Indian community and Hinduism. Hindu temples serve as the center of Indian immigrantsin providing the social, cultural, and spiritual functions. Buddhist temples, for that matter, serve the same function to the people from the Asian countries. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tibetans, and Thais have brought their respective Buddhist traditions to America and practice and maintain both their religious faith and cultural heritage. Middle Eastern people, for example, have brought Islamic faith to the United States, and Mosques have become the center for learning their language, practicing their faith, and maintaining their cultural heritage. Korean immigrants, unlike any other immigrant group, have brought Christianity, which is not a Korean traditional religion but a Western religion they received in 18th and 19th centuries from the West and America, back to the United States, and church has become the center of their lives in America. In this context, Koreans and Korean-Americans have a unique situation in which they practice Christianity as their religion but try to maintain their non-Christian cultural heritage. For the Korean immigrants, their religious identity and cultural identity are not the same. Although Korean church so far has provides the social and religious functions to fill the need of Korean immigrants, but it may not be able to become the most effective institution to provide and maintain Korean cultural heritage. In this respect, Korean churches must be able to open to traditional Korean religions or the religions of Korean origin to cultivate and nurture Korean cultural heritage.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.773-796
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• 2010

This essay examines, first, the possibility and limitation of Asian America as a category of identity and its political and cultural implications through various theoretical perspectives. Here, by closely reading David Mura's poem "The Colors of Desire," I will argue that "Asian America" as a category of identity is now on the verge of falling apart and its politics of identity is no longer an effective way of fighting back against racism in the US. It is because Asian America is indeed what might be called a historical block, a product of ad-hoc coalition between different ethnic groups historically situated and constructed. In this sense, it is a kind of phantasmal object that is marked by practical absence. This fabricatedness inherent in Asian America as an identity category signifies that it has no essence that is meant to define the group in a transcendental way. The internal totality and coherence of that identity can thus be achieved only by suppressing differences between various ethnic groups and positing a single 'authentic' Asian American identity and culture. More dangerously, according to Viet Nguyen, such idealization of a single subject position can reinforces ideological rigidity that might threaten the ability of Asian America to represent itself in a unified fashion. Then, he predicts, Asian America will lose its cohesive force and fall apart. Eventually, every group within Asian America will be ethnicized. The only way of escaping from this bleak situation, as Vincent Cheng argues, is to foregroud the fabricatedness and ad-hocness of Asian America and to perform "inauthenticity," because Asian America is nothing but a functional category that is marked by absence of essence or authenticity. If Asian Americans admit that they have no essence and that they are essentially inauthentic, the practice of performing inauthenticity can become what we might call an alternative Asian American culture and identity.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.183-217
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• 2012

This study explores the identity-formation of adult Korean-American intentional adoptees who studied Korean in a Korean language center in New York from 2005 to 2007. Based on participant observation in the classroom, observations of student conversations in their gatherings, and discourse analysis of conversations related to why they were studying Korean, I found that adoptees felt that their lack of knowledge of Korean had caused them to fall short of expectations of ethnic Koreans. Stereotyped as Korean (or Asian) based on their looks, they were often assumed to possess knowledge of and skills associated with Korean culture, which they of course lacked. They were motivated to study Korean (and acquaint themselves with Korean culture) in order to meet these expectations.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-79
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• 2013

This study takes a look at the distinct and exclusive culture of Latin America, with a specific focus on Mexico, and attempts to understand its unique cultural identity by comparing, analyzing, and evaluating the characteristics of the Mexican fashion brands, Taller Flora and F$\acute{a}$brica Social, which are brands that have actively used the Latin American cultural identity in its designs. The research method was as follows: 1) performing literature research with specialty publications and thesis that dealt with the two brands 2) analyzing the contents of various articles from the Internet and interviews related to the brands. Thus, this research attempts to understand the characteristics of the fashion brands that use the cultural traits of Latin America in order to dissect its methods and find a way to apply it so that it can be used in different cultures, and in effect, lead to the advancement of the fashion industries, in general. Taller Flora and F$\acute{a}$brica Social are two brands that are able to stand out with a distinct identity by applying traditional native Latin American qualities in its products, as well as its products reflecting a respectful and balanced relationship between people and nature. The characteristics of the two brands are as follows: 1) showing the concept of "the coexistence of diversity" by expressing "the old and the new", "simplicity and flash", and "melding of the Western culture via colonialism and traditional cultures of the aboriginals and other diverse native cultures" 2) achieving "the recovery of the human dignity" by protecting the human rights of the native female artisans and building a network for equality 3) pursuing "free naturalism" by balancing the natural provision of nature and man in addition to promoting environmental protection and conservation of goods 4) becoming "the bridge between communication and exchange" by connecting the artisan, the designer and the consumers together, or the producer and the market, as well as the different cultures of markets from diverse countries.