The white-clad people: The white hanbok and Korean nationalism

Abstract

The paper diachronically examines the white hanbok as the material and symbolic site of interaction between the hegemonising and the hegemonised in Korea. It traces the changing status of the white hanbok from the end of the 19th century to the present—from being part of unconscious material culture, to the synecdoche of the colonised nation, to the symbol of resistance, to the membrane of a ‘homogeneous nation’, to the symbol of democracy. It analyses the white hanbok as a paradoxical skin—at once inclusive and exclusive—of Korean ethnonationalism, as well as a permeable membrane between the self and other of national identity. By exploring the white hanbok in relation to the ongoing movement towards a decolonised democratic nation, the paper reveals the entwined relations between material objects, practices, and nationalism in Korea.

A Way Forward for South Korea’s Demographic Policy: Re-Thinking of Early Childhood Policy

“…Moreover, up to date, there is still an untold practice of favoring people who have Korean ancestry in their families when giving long-duration visas like work permits, residence permits, and others [Seung-Cheol, 2018]. This situation is associated with certain well-established myths among Korean people that they are pure-blooded and want to stay that way [Yeseung, 2022;Ellermann, 2020;Chung, 2020;Gi-Wook, 2006]. Concerning these public sensitivities governments in South Korea tries to shape their migration and foreign worker policies without discomforting public concerns.…”