• Journal of English Language & Literature
• /
• v.58 no.1
• /
• pp.163-183
• /
• 2012

This paper is one of those attempts to explore some possibility of agreement between feminist discourse and postcolonial discourses through the approach of postcolonial feminism in the reading of the controversial novel, So Far from the Bamboo Grove and Year of Impossible Goodbyes. So Far from the Bamboo Grove, when read from the perspective of postcolonial feminism, reveals 'domestic nationalism' of imperial narratives in which the violence of imperial history in Korea is hidden behind the picture of every day lives of an ordinary Japanese family and Japanese women. Furthermore, postcolonial feminist's perspective interprets Yoko family's nostalgia for their 'home,' Nanam in Korea, as 'imperialist nostalgia' working as a mask to hide the violent history of colonization of Empire. In this way, postcolonial feminist reading of the story detects the ways the narrative of Empire appropriates women, family image and even nostalgia for childhood. At the same time, this perspective explains the readers' empathy for Yoko family's suffering and the concerning women issues caused by wartime rape and sexual violence by defining Yoko as a woman of Japanese Empire, whose life of interstice between imperial men and colonial men cannot be free from violence of rape during anti colonial wars. Year of Impossible Goodbyes as a counter discourse does not overcome the traditional binary opposition of nationalism which quietens gender and class issues. As an attempt to fill in the interstice between the two perspectives of feminism and postcolonialism. postcolonial feminist reading turns out to be a valid tool for the reading of the two novels chosen here.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.51
• /
• pp.161-191
• /
• 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.

• Women's Studies Review
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.79-120
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the implication of feminist oral history from a postcolonial feminist perspective as critically reexamining the relationship between hearer and speaker, representer and narrator, the said and the unsaid, and secrecy and silence. Based upon oral (life) history of a U.S. military prostitute (yanggongju), I tried to show the experiences of a historically-excluded and marginalized 'Other,' and then critically reevaluate the meaning of encountering 'Other', not just through the research process but also in the post/colonial society in Korea. The narrative of an old woman in the "kijichon" (a formal prostitute in U.S. military base) shows how woman has navigated the boundaries between inevitability/coincidence, the enforced/the voluntary, prostitution/intimacy, and military prostitute/military bride while continually negotiating as well as having conflict with various myths and ideologies of the 'normative woman,' 'nationhood,' and 'normal family.' In addition, her narrative which causes the rupture of our own stereotypical images of a military prostitute not only proves the possibility of reconstructing the self-identity of a subaltern woman, but also redirects the research focus from the research object to the research subject (ourselves). Consequently, the implication in feminist oral history is that feminist researchers who whish to represent the experiences of other should first inquire 'what/how we can hear,' 'why we want to know others,' and 'who we are,' while simultaneously asking if subaltern woman can speak.

• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
• /
• no.1
• /
• pp.71-92
• /
• 2003

This study examined the condition of an educational discourse, relating the concept of creativity, culture, culture-centered, and critical thinking, to explore Culture-based Art Education(CBAE). In particular, art education practice was examined using interpretations of creativity and critical theory positions from the field of education. Discourse analysis was used as the research method to contextually situate and analyze the ways in which art education theory and practice of creativity and of critical studies encoded meanings. The study helped build an understanding that creativity was formed as a modernist discourse in the humanistic stance. In education, creativity became the fundamental concern for progressive educators who pursued innate ability of individuals. The way to enhance creative potential of students was to induce their motive, as was the same case in art education, while in artist training, free expression was its main method. In this way, as creativity was intimately connected with the concept of expression, in art education art making is the only course for enhancing creativity. However, because creative process cannot intelligently be regarded as logically distinct from the creative product, and creativity can only be said by product, it seems valid to think that creativity is the quality not to be achieved by teaching. Furthermore, its emphasis on art making resulted in unbalance of art making and art appreciation in art education. It was the late sixties when several alternatives for creative education were made their appearance. Critical studies in art adopted critical theory as its theoretical background has developed as an alternative of creative art education, when research and theory for creativity could not be adequate to deal with the problem of practice. Critical theory is a broad and diverse field of theory and practice drawing on aspects of the modernist perspective of the later Frankfurt School, feminism, Freirean pedagogy, postcolonial discourse as well as postmodernism to construct a practical approach to education. It is very this eclectic nature to provide the mosaic that need to experience cultures from different perspectives in a pluralistic society. Because one's personality is formed by multiple aspects of culture which is very complex and is made up of what we do and value, creativity cannot make part of educational discourse with the philosophy of culture centered. On the other hand, critical studies, as a school art program of critical theory, can perform the role of CBAE, because it would have to deal with the investigation of social and cultural issues form multiple personal, local, national, and global perspectives.