Articulating the shifting interests in Korean art and offering new ways of conceiving the biases that initiated and impacted its collecting, this book traces the rise of the modern Korean art market from its formative period in the 1870s through to its peak and subsequent decline in the 1930s. The discussion centres on the collecting … [Read More]
Booklist: Non-Fiction (page 11)
Modernization of Korean Theatre in the 20th Century
Lee provides a comprehensive guide that traces the transformation of Korean theatre from traditional to modern theatre and examines the impact of the introduction of Western plays to Korean society. Important changes in Korean theatre are discussed chronologically from the beginning of the modernization: Sinpa Theatre, Singeuk Theatre, Theatre of Ideology, The Little Theatre Movement, Madanggeuk, experiments for modernizing traditional … [Read More]
The Passenger: South Korea
Eighty years ago, at the end of a devastating fratricidal war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, completely dependent on the United States for security and development. Today it’s the tenth economy in the world, dynamic and innovative, a lively and participatory democracy that sits at the table of the … [Read More]
The South Korean Film Industry
As shown by the success of Squid Game and Parasite, South Korea’s film industry is producing films and original series for streaming services, film studios, and television stations worldwide. South Korea is now arguably considered one of the few countries outside the United States to have captivated the world’s hearts and minds through pop music, TV dramas, and … [Read More]
The State’s Sexuality: Prostitution and Postcolonial Nation Building in South Korea
The State’s Sexuality uncovers how the lives and work of women engaged in prostitution, long considered the most abased members of society, have been strategically intertwined with the lofty purpose of building South Korea’s postcolonial nation-state. Through a complicated, contradictory patchwork of laws and regulations, which Park Jeong-Mi conceptualizes as a “toleration-regulation regime,” the South Korean … [Read More]
Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire: Colonial Rule and the Battle over Memory
This is an important and controversial book, hitherto available only in Korean, Japanese and Chinese, a book which has been subject to court cases attempting to have some parts of the book deleted. The author reconsiders the issue of the “comfort women”, that is the Korean women who were compelled to provide sexual comfort to … [Read More]
Bojagi: The Art of Korean Textiles with Techniques and Projects
A creative guide to a unique and beautiful form of Korean art, steeped in ancient tradition. Bojagi (wrapping cloths) are textiles pieced together from small scraps of fabric – they are a unique form of Korean textile art. The careful arrangement of shapes and colours shows an abstract composition which has made bojagi popular with … [Read More]
Civic Activism in South Korea: The Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism
In recent decades, neoliberalism has transformed South Korean society, going far beyond simply restructuring the economy. In response, a number of civic organizations that emerged from the democratization movement with a conscious emphasis on social change have sought to address socioeconomic and political problems caused or aggravated by the neoliberal transformation. Examining how “citizens’ organizations” … [Read More]
Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl
For readers of Crying in H Mart and Minor Feelings as well as lovers of the film Minari comes a searing coming-of-age memoir about the daughter of ambitious Asian American immigrants and her search for self-worth. A daughter of Korean immigrants, Hyeseung Song spends her earliest years in the cane fields of Texas where her … [Read More]
State, Rural Women, and Domestication in Korea: The Aspiring Middle Class
This book explores the dynamic interactions between the state and society during the industrialization of South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on rural women as a marginalized social group. By illuminating rural women’s interactions with the state and their aspirations for entering the middle class, it effectively reveals insights into the gender and … [Read More]
Song of Arirang: The Story of a Korean Rebel Revolutionary in China
Song of Arirang tells the true story of Korean revolutionary Kim San (Jang Jirak), who left colonized Korea as a teenager to fight against Japanese imperialism and fought alongside Mao’s Red Army during the Chinese Revolution. First published in 1941, this remarkably intimate memoir (as told to the American journalist Nym Wales aka Helen Foster … [Read More]
The Three Kingdoms of Korea: Lost Civilizations
Korea’s Three Kingdoms period is a genuine ‘lost civilization’, during which ancient realms vied for supremacy during the first millennium CE. Nobles from this period’s feuding states adopted and adapted Buddhism and Confucianism through interactions with early medieval Chinese dynasties. In the mid-seventh century, with the assistance of the mighty Chinese Tang empire, the aristocratic … [Read More]
The Korean War Novel: Rewriting History from the Civil War to the Post-Cold War
Uncovers how historical novels rewrite the history of the Korean War Revisits the Korean War and the Korean War novels from a post-Cold War perspective of decolonisation Examines the dual role of East Asians as both victims and agents of the Cold War Recovers previously hidden dimensions of the conflict, including its framing as a … [Read More]
North Korea: Survival of a Political Dynasty
The Kim family of North Korea is the most successful political dynasty of the twentieth century, and it shows no signs of loosening its grip on power. A communist dictatorship formed in the embers of the Second World War, it heads one of the most repressive regimes in the world with human rights abuses and … [Read More]
The Forgotten Political Elites of North Korea: Woe to the Vanquished
This book comprises the biographies of the North Korean politicians whose actions played a pivotal role in shaping the formation of the country during the late 1940s, the Korean War of 1950–53 and the power struggles of the mid-1950s. Drawing from a rich array of archival material in Korean, Russian and oral testimonies, this book … [Read More]
Precious Beyond Measure: A History of Korean Ceramics
This is a captivating, richly illustrated history of the use of fired clay in Korea, spanning ancient times to the present day. Drawing on the latest research from Korean scholars, Precious beyond Measure features a wide range of examples from archaeological sites and museums. In addition, it offers a rare glimpse into the world of … [Read More]