International Center for Cultural Studies

《IACS》21.3期出版介紹

2020-10-16

A cultural question for the division and unification of the Korean Peninsula

KIM Sung Kyung
University of North Korean Studies, Seoul, South Korea

North Korea, often described as a “hermit kingdom,” has been widely demonized as irrational and barbaric. On the other hand, North Koreans are portrayed as passive victims subject to state violence. Within this simplistic dichotomy, it is hard to grasp the complex reality of North Korea where lives are intertwined with the regime, but at the same time daily life operates in different spaces with completely different meanings and resistance to the regime. A lack of understanding on North Korea and people tackles the further development of peace building process and the possible integration among Koreans. Therefore, the feature section of this issue aims to provide new perspectives on both North Korea in relation to the context of division and possible unification of the Korean Peninsula through the “question of culture”; in particular, the everyday cultural practices of North Koreans. The rise of the active agency, the widespread of technology, the increase of consumeristic desire and the reorganization of everyday life in North Korea are important aspects to be unpacked. By doing so, the papers in this section examine the potential changes that might happen in the future of North Korea and the division/unification of the North and South by inter-referencing comparable experiences of Vietnam, China, the Soviet Union and Germany.

Inter-Asia Cultural Studies: Movements
Volume 21 Number 3 September 2020

Editorial statement
Kuan-Hsing CHEN and CHUA Beng Huat

Essays

“Race” and “Racism” in contemporary Africa-China relations research: approaches, controversies and reflections
Roberto CASTILLO

Rewriting “the personal is political”: young women’s digital activism and new feminist politics in China
HOU Lixian

The emergence and development of Zainichi Korean media in post-war Japan: focused on the topography of magazines from 1945 to 1979
LEE Seungjin

Resistance in disguise and the re-construction of identity: a case of the Pashtuns in Pakistan
Usman KHAN, Yu CHENG, Zahid Ali SHAH, Shakir ULAH

Visual essay

The 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests and the everyday
LEE Chun Fung

Rethinking movements

From resistance to co-Living: rural activism in contemporary Hong Kong
Shaw-wu JUNG

Reconciliation/Integration

A cultural question for the division and unification of the Korean Peninsula
KIM Sung Kyung

On possible transformation of everyday life in North Korea via referencing other East Asian socialist nations in transition
CHUA Beng Huat

The German unification as a process of dominance culture and its implications for the situation in South Korean society
Ingrid MIETHE and Hee-Young YI

Politics of identification of Zainichi Koreans under the divided system
CHO Kyung Hee

Landscape of the minds of South and North Koreans: unification perception, mutual recognition and the possibility of cultural integration
Moonyoung LEE

Pandemic

Pandemic musings in inter-Asia
Tejaswini NIRANJANA