Building Women's Studies Curriculum : 8 Country-Level Workshops

Asian Center for Women's Studies & Korean Women's Institute Ewha Womans University Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2000 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.6 No.2

The eight country-level workshops were held over a period of one year in 1999 and were attended by 350 women's studies practitioners from 220 universities and other research institutions in Asia. The workshops not only created strong motivation among women's studies practitioners in the countries to introduce women's studies courses, but also to develop it further in higher education. These meetings, therefore, have been instrumental in furthering the United Board's objectives of promoting women's studies and gender equality in the Asian region, as well as placing Ewha Womans University on the international map. The proceedings of the country workshops are summarized below.

Reading and Writing Our Own Stories : The Alternative Reading Group

LIU, Kai-ling Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2002 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.8 No.2

Since women are the primary participants in most reading groups in Taiwan, this research experiments with the use of women's personal narratives in one such group. Reading of ordinary women's personal narratives encourages women to reflect on their own lives and then write out their own life stories. Further, with the sense of community that this reading and writing generates, women may come to a better recognition of their own value. This group, comprising ten middle-aged women, held two-hour meetings once a week for twenty weeks. In the reading phase, the participants read 7 publications of women's personal narratives, which came in various forms such as letters, diaries, autobiographies, oral testimonies, and biographies. In the writing phase, the participants wrote their life stories, dwelling on themes of family, education, women and the body, the family-in-law, care-giving, appearance, and miscellany. This exercise led to three kinds of results. First, the reading of ordinary women's personal narratives introduced participants with the form and content of writing life stories. Then, the writing of their own life stories enabled the women participants to re-evaluate their past. Third, with the reading, writing, and group sharing, a collection of writing or what I call a `community of narratives' was formed. This helped the participants recognize the differences amongst them and at the same time to value their own experience.

Recounting "History" : Documentary as Women's Cinema

NAM, Soo-Young Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2001 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.7 No.1

In this paper, I examine the interview materials in Dai-Sil Kim-Gibson's Silence Broken and Trinh Minh-Ha's Surname Viet Given Name Nam, in order to see whether they can give us immediate access to women's histories without denouncing the quest for objectivity in documentary representation. It is also for this, reason that we need to reflect on whether it is possible to avoid trivializing the individuality of oral histories by the overarching rhetoric of documentary. Before we hail the so-called truthful representation of women's voices in documentary, I propose that we need to analyze documentary as an independent genre with both reflexivity and interactivity. Then, functions and limits of orality in film that have been considered as anchored in and, therefore, subjugated to the visual text, need to be reexamined, as well. In short, I will show that the documentary transcriptions of women's testimony lead us to move beyond the "received truth" of official history. By examining women's voices as central forces of historicization-rather than as mere informants-I will argue it is only when we release ourselves from the logic of unity and synchronicity that we understand the individual's subjectivity presented at the moment of interview.

Women's Labor Movement, State Suppression, and Democratization in South Korea

NAM, Jeong-Lim Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2002 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.8 No.1

This study focuses on how Korean women's labor activism in the 70s shaped the democratic struggles of the 80s an examines the spillover impact of the former on the latter. Women's labor protests contributed to the movement of the 80s by promoting (1) the rise of the opposition consciousness, (2) the growth of radical ideology, (3) the mobilization and consolidation of opposition groups, and (4) the expansion of the concept of human rights and democracy. These findings provide evidence that runs counter to the assumption that the democratic movement was a new wave, disconnected from earlier social movements. In addition to the movement-to-movement influence, overlooked in previous research, state suppression of labor protests ironically played a key role in fostering the democratization process in South Korea. By producing a group of full-time activists and by transforming labor issues into political problems, state repression unintentionally enhanced the strength of the democratic movement in the long run. This suggests that the authoritarian government's suppression of women's resistance through violent measures was not very effective over time.

Marital Conflicts and Women's Identities in the Contemporary Korean Family

LEE, Jae Kyung,PARK, Hye-Gyong Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2001 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.7 No.4

The purpose of this study is to investigate contradictions in Korean women's identities as wives, mothers, daughters-in-law, and daughters, as manifested in marital conflict. The contradictions in and negotiation of women's multiple identities in the family portray change in the Korean family, wherein marital equality has become increasingly important. It is thereby seen that married women are unhappy because they lack the support of husbands in housework and childcare. The women also bear the physical and emotional burden of fulfilling responsibilities towards their in-laws, while their husbands tend to have an indifferent attitude towards their wives' parents. While the ideal of the conjugal family is pursued, the identity of mother has a prominent status and provides stability under the given patrilineal customs, especially if the woman has a son. The identity of mother is an important factor in reconciling the multiple identities of women, as a result of the fact that children are primarily considered to belong to the father's family. Simultaneously, the identity of mother signifies the centrality of children in the contemporary Korean family. In contrast, the identity of married daughter is a potential source of marital conflict, questioning the privileged relationship with parents-in-law. While such a situation is never stable, as signified in women's contesting identities, nonetheless, it implies that the patriarchal family order is being challenged in contemporary Korean society.

Achievements and Challenges of an Asian Women's Studies Project

KIM, Hyun Mee,KANG, Sun-Mi Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2001 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.7 No.4

Women's Studies at Ewha : Retrospect and Prospect

KIM, Yung Chung Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2001 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.7 No.2

Behind the Lines : Women in the History and Literature of the Philippine Revolution

DORAN, Christine Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2001 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.7 No.3

This paper examines women's participation in the Revolution of 1896-1902 in the Philippines, and considers how women have been represented in both histories of the rebellion and in literature. The paper begins by outlining women's involvement in this process and noting their absence from the mainstream histories of the revolution. Nevertheless, knowledge of women's contributions has been preserved in more marginal texts, and efforts have recently begun to construct revisionist histories, including those of women. The second part of the paper analyzes depictions of revolutionary women in recent literature in the Philippines. Although limited in their representations of women, some of these works indicate a reassessment of the interrelations between gender and the revolutionary ethos, which is still central to the national psyche. Although revolutionary women remain virtually invisible in most histories and have received little recognition in recent literature, there are signs of change in both these areas of cultural production.

The "Actress" and Japanese Modernity : Subject, Body, Gaze

Yasuko, Ikeuchi Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2000 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.6 No.1

Reform of theatrical practice in Japan was based on Western models and its agenda was to distance itself from the classical Kabuki Theater and to restructure theatrical practice in the country. Crucial to this process was the fostering of a new breed of performers, including the introduction and development of the "actress." Women had been banned from public stage performances since 1629 and the Kabuki of the Edo period, in fact, had become famous for its characteristic "female impersonators," i.e., onna gata or male actors playing female roles. However, those who had traveled and studied in the West considered these "outmoded traditions" inappropriate for the emerging modern nation or empire of Meiji. In this paper it is seen that in order to promote the emerging nation or empire and cultivate so-called "noble pursuits" among people, it was considered necessary to treat this reform as a national project. The construction of the Western-style Imperial Theater was completed in 1911, the last years of Meiji, and became a symbol of the reform. However, the significance of the "actress," as a crucial element and a symbol of the modernization process, have yet to be fully explored. I address this issue here and examine the new forms of corporeality and expression brought to the theater by the modern actress. Furthermore, I examine how the audience viewed these women within the reformed theatrical space, and how the actresses viewed themselves in terms of being part of a Western-based practice, distanced from the traditional "female impersonation" of Kabuki. Also, I look at what the introduction of the modern actress, such as Matsui Sumako, hoped to achieve and the difficulties encountered in the process.

Discourses on (Un)Veiling in Egypt

EUM, Ikran Asian Center Women's Studies Korean Women's Instit 2000 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.6 No.4

Clothing is usually accepted as an aspect of the symbolic language of people and a form of an unspoken communication system (Lurie, 1986: 1). In other words, through clothes it is possible to express oneself using a "silent language" communicated through the use of visual, non-verbal symbols because these can sometimes implicitly tell us what people are thinking (Horn, 1975: 179).An item of clothing that has ignites one of the most controversial debates in the world is the veil of Muslim women. In this era. where the freedom of individuals in considered important, many people view the veil as oppressive. The origin of the controversy over Muslim women's veiling and unveiling can be traced back to the colonial era, when the Middle East was ruled by western powers. Interpretations about the veil have undergone many changes through history and both positive and negative view points about it are to be found. On the one hand, many westerners who support the unveiling movement, see veiling as a marker of inequality, sexual oppression and subjugation (Mikhail, 1979: 22-3; Mince, 1980/1982; 49-50). On the other hand, supporters of the veiling movement, who are largely drawn from the indigenous Arab point of viw, perceive the veil as a marker of autonomy, individuality, and identity.