• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.59-76
• /
• 2015

This paper proposes an approach in Southeast Asian studies using a post-colonial framework in the study of post-colonial Southeast Asia. This framework is based on the sociology of knowledge that analyzes the dialectical relationship between science, ideology, and discourse. Post-colonial studies is critical of the concept of universality in science and posits that a scientific statement of a society cannot stand alone, but is made by authors themselves who produce, use, and claim the so-called scientific statement. Several concepts in post-colonial theories can be used to develop area studies, i.e. colonial discourse, subaltern, mimicry, and hybridity. Therefore, this study also explores these concepts to develop a more comprehensive understanding of Southeast Asian culture. The development of post-colonial theories can be used to respond to the hegemony of social theories from Europe and the United States. The main contribution of area studies in the field of the social sciences and humanities is in revealing the hidden interests behind the universal social sciences.

• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.115-146
• /
• 2024

Southeast Asian detective stories and their scholarships have shown new understandings of justice and identity in this region. This study on Vietnamese detective stories in the early twenty-first century contributes to post-colonial discourses to reflect how colonial structures were constructed and reconstructed from the past until now. Starting with transnational characters and contexts, we demonstrate the subversion revealed in the way the perpetrator-victim are transposed and their motivations for the crimes. The Vietnamese detective novelists adjust the conventions of detective stories to address these issues of law, ethics, and truth that arise in the post-colonial context. These multidimensional narratives of crime and justice also serve as resistance to the grand narratives of power that have dominated Vietnam for years.

• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.85-108
• /
• 2017

This paper argues that Thailand's internal colonial model is facing severe challenges: no longer is it so possible to suppress local and regional identities, or to submerge ethnic difference in an all-embracing but potentially suffocating blanket of "Thainess." In recent decades, Thailand's diverse localities have become increasingly assertive. This is most acutely the case in the insurgency-affected southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, but also applies in the "red' (pro-Thaksin) dominated North and Northeast. As the old ruling elite faces serious legitimacy challenges, Thailand's emerging post-colonial politics may require a radical rethinking of the relationship between center and periphery.

• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.61-89
• /
• 2023

This research explores the fall of pre-independence Sultanates and its continued political, economic, and cultural influence in post-colonial Indonesia. By using qualitative and historical methods, this paper compares the Sultanates of Mataram in Yogyakarta and Al-Kadrie in Pontianak, which represent different historical paths supporting the struggle for independence during the mid-20th century. Sultan Hamid II of the Al-Kadrie was a supporter of federalism whereas Sultan Hamengkubowono IX of Yogyakarta was an advocate of the republican system. Eventually, Indonesia became a Republic, and the idea of federalism was sidelined, which led to the abolition of sultanates in the rise of the = Indonesian nation-state, except for the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. After the 1998 Reform, the current development of democracy created political opportunities for the Al-Kadrie to reclaim its authority through engagement with various civic organizations. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of Yogyakarta faces internal friction because of succession concerns.

• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
• /
• no.49
• /
• pp.209-238
• /
• 2013

In recent years, a Zainichi playwright Jeong Ui Sin has been very active in the Korean theatre scene. However, the production of Yakiniku Dragon-first performed in Korea in 2008-which received numerous awards both in Japan and Korea gave him the recognition of Koreans' that was long overdue. In this paper, I will look closely into his two plays-Ineo Jeonseol (1990) and Yakiniku Dragon (2008)-which was written twenty-eight years apart from each other and reveal both similarities and differences between them in terms of the formation of post-colonial Zainichi identities. And to do so, I will utilize various opinions from post-colonial theories, performance studies theories, ethnic studies theories and theories on Zainichi Koreans. In the first, introductory chapter, I will delineate the theories on which this paper is based and some common factors of Jeong Ui Sin's 1990s plays as a point of departure. Then, I will move into the second chapter in which the two plays and actual productions of them will be closely examined to reveal different types of Zainichi identities and their social and cultural place within Japan by using Millie Creighton's concept of uchi others. In the third chapter, the identities of double negative (not not) and nomadic identities that are relevant to three types of Zainichi identity formation will be discussed. The fourth chapter will debate about various scholars' speculations about the future of Zainichi Koreans' identities and, finally, illuminate the changes/shifts that Jeong Ui Sin shows in terms of his stance as a Zainichi subject. In conclusion, even though it is very hard to speculate exactly what will happen to the Zainichi identity and their existence in Japan, the differences between the two plays-especially the endings-can be interpreted as revealing the changes in Jeong Ui Sin's Zainichi identity and it certainly sheds positive light on the future of the Zainichi identity and existence.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.5
• /
• pp.179-208
• /
• 2002

In this paper, I explained the dominating/dominated relationship of Japan and Colonized Korea by analysing the management system of official documents. I examined the theory and practices of the classification used by the office of the Governor-General for preserving official documents whose production and circulation ended. In summary, first, the office of the Governor-General and its municipal authorities classified and filed documents according to the nature and regulations on apportionment for the organizations. The apportionment of the central and local organs was not fixed through the colonial period and changed chronologically. The organization and apportionment of the central and local organs reflected the changes in the colonial policies. As a result, even in the same organs, the composition of documents had differences at different times. The essential way of classifying documents in the colonial period was to sort out official documents which should be preserved serially and successively according to each function of the colonial authorities. The filing of documents was taken place in the form of the direct reflection of organizing and apportioning of the function among several branches of the office of the Governor-General and other governmental organs. However, for the reason that filing documents was guided at the level of the organs, each organ's members responsible for documents hardly composed the filing unit as a sub-category of the organ itself. Second, Japan constructed the infrastructure of colonial rule through the management system of official documents. After Kabo Reform, the management system of official documents had the same principles as those of the Japan proper. The office of the Governor-General not only adopted several regulations on the management of official documents, but also controlled the arrangement and the situation of document managing in the local governmental organizations with the constant censorship. The management system of documents was fundamentally based on the reality of colonial rule and neglected many principles of archival science. For example, the office of Governor-General labelled many policy documents as classified and burnt them only because of the administrative and managerial purposes. Those practices were inherited in the document management system of post-colonial Korea and resulted in scrapping of official documents in large quantities because the system produced too many "classified documents".

• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
• /
• no.48
• /
• pp.51-84
• /
• 2012

In Korea, historical plays took an epoch-making turn from the previous historical plays in terms of approaches to topic and material and methods of rewriting history in the 1990s. Historical plays became dehistoricized with individual, everyday life, and faction emerging as major codes of historical plays according to mistrust in history and grand narrative as the original and disappearance of trust in the growth and totality of history. A new trend became dominant of presenting fictionality prominent instead of reproduction of history and freely playing with history outside the context. While modern historical plays were subject to the content of history, post-modern historical plays sought after new history writing to tell a new story on history within a framework of fiction. Focusing on some of the trends in post-modern historical plays since the 1990s, which include play with history, daily life-style history writing, and reproduction patterns of colonial modernity, this study examined the goals, representations, and text strategies of new history writing in three historical plays, Generation After Generation(2000) by Park Geunhyung, The Mercenaries(2000) by Park Sujin, and Chosun Detective Hong Yunshik(2007) by Sung Giwoong. In Generation After Generation, the author adopts a plot of starting with the present and tracing back to the past, breaking down the myth of racially homogeneous nation. At the same time, he discloses that the colonial history is not just by the oppressive force of Japan but also by the voluntary cooperation of Korean people. That is, we are also accountable for the colonial history of the nation. The Mercenaries contrasts the independence movement during the colonial period against the modern history developed after Liberation, thus highlighting the still continuing coloniality, namely post-colonial present. The past is presented as the "phantom of history" making its appearance according to the request of the present hoping for salvation. The author politicizes history and grants political wishes to history by summoning the history by personal memories such as fictional diaries and letters with Messiah-like images opposed to the present of collapse and catastrophe. In Chosun Detective Hong Yunshik, the author makes an attempt at the microscopic reproduction of daily life by approaching the 1930s as the modern period when capitalist daily life started to take root. The lists of signs comprising daily life in colonial Gyeongseong are divided between civilization and savagery and between modern and premodern. With the progress of narrative, however, they become mixed together and reversed in the representation system in which the latter overwhelms the former.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.40
• /
• pp.29-60
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study is to trace the formation process of "parallel provenance" concept in the context of Australia's aboriginal community archives development and draw its implications for contemporary rebuilding of domestic "past affairs-related committee archives". Focused on historical development of aboriginal community archives in Australia, this writing divides its development into three periods: colonial archives, post-colonial archives, and contemporary archives and investigates each period's distinct features in managing and building of aboriginal community archives. First of all, for colonial archives, it pays attention to Australia's archival tradition, which focused on current record-keeping and then development of multiple provenance resulted from this tradition. Second, for post-colonial archives, it examines the appearance of aboriginal people as the subject of documentation category and name indexing on them. Finally, for contemporary archives, it analyzes current activities of Australia's academic world of archival science for overcoming "the otherness" of aboriginal people through conceptualization of "parallel provenance". Conclusively, through current meaning of parallel provenance, this study draws implications for democratic contemporary rebuilding of domestic past affairs-related committee archives, in which historical victims become the subject of archives.

• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.67-90
• /
• 2024

This article paid attention to three types of children's characters in Vietnamese children's literature in North Vietnam from 1945 to 1975, including children's characters as young soldiers in the frontlines, young citizens in daily life, and role models. The goal of this body of literature was illustrated as educating young generations on patriotism, the revolutionary spirit, and civic consciousness. Our research suggests that politics in children's literature is universal and that the power discourse of adults is an inevitable factor predominating in children's literature. Besides, juxtaposing Vietnamese children's literature with Southeast Asian literature helps us see that the political orientation and moral concepts in children's literature have created a stagnation in the current pace of Vietnamese children's literature. This paper, therefore, contributes to identifying Vietnamese children's literature in the overall picture of Southeast Asian children's literature in the post-colonial context.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.16
• /
• pp.151-166
• /
• 2003

Contemporary Buddhist scholarship in Korea has been strongly affected by its origins in the Victorian era, when Western religious scholars sought to rationalize and historicize the study of religion. Modern Korean scholars, trained within the Western scholarly paradigm, share this prejudice which tends toward the rational. The result is a skewed understanding of Buddhism, emphasizing its philosophical and theoretical aspects at the expense of seemingly "irrational" religious elements based on the direct experience of meditation practice. This paper seeks to look at the historical context in which modern Korean Buddhist scholarship had been shaped during the colonial period of Japan. Two case studies will be examined particularly in the light of post-colonial perspectives of Buddhist studies: the case of Jonghong Bak(1903-1976) and the case of Donghwa Gim(1902-1980), two pioneering scholars in the field of Buddhist studies. They share similarities as well as differences. Both were born and active at almost the same period, during which Korean peninsula experienced modernization forced upon by Japanese colonialism. And thus, the experience of colonialism and modernization brought them into conflict between tradition and modernity. Their responses, however, were different. Pak, originally trained in Western philosophy, especially German philosophy, wanted to study Korean Buddhism in the context of the so-called Korean Philosophy per se. He was motivated to seek for the national and cultural identity of Korea. And thus his scholarship on Korean Buddhism naturally led him to look for an original Korean Buddhism distinct from the Buddhism of India, China and Japan. On the other hand, Gim, who became a monk in his youth, later went to Japan for college where he was exposed to modern Buddhist scholarship. He was the first to introduce modern Buddhist scholarship to Korea, and since then, contemporary Korean Buddhist scholarship owes much to his contributions. Despite his contributions to contemporary Korean Buddhist scholarship, if we look at his efforts in the light of post-colonial perspective, his ideas need to be reevaluate.