Korean Studies Commons^™

Writing The Script: Shaping Korean National Identity, Media Imperialism And The Revolution Of K-Dramas, Isai J. Martinez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis explores the role of South Korean television dramas (K-dramas) as cultural artifacts that the Korean creators have created and become agents, which in turn has constructed and projected globally the modern South Korean national identity. Positioned at the crossroads of cultural imperialism, nationalism, resistance and appropriation, K-dramas have become extremely critical to reshaping South Korea’s place in the global media landscape. Through the lens of the Hallyu (The Korean Wave), this study analyzes how K-drama’s navigate an ambiguous cultural space which simultaneously resists Western media dominance while appropriating global forms including platform-based distribution, tailoring original content to …

Think Piece: New South Korean Framework For Conceptualizing Nonkoreans?: Taehanoegugin And The Politics Of National Boundary-Making, Min Joo Lee

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Taehanoegugin is a newly coined Korean term that gained popularity around 2018 when a television program of the same name began airing on one of the Korean cable networks. It is a mixture of two independent and preexisting terms: the first part of the word, Taehan (대한), refers to the Republic of Korea; the latter part of the term, Oegugin (외국인), means foreigner. Hence, translated, the term means the Republic of Korean-foreigners. The term gained popularity enough to be adopted by other television entertainment programs and a sector of the government. What can we make of the term’s popularity? Does …

Representasi Cancel Culture Di Korea Selatan Dalam Film Pilot (2024), Sharfina Rahmanita Adani, Amelia Burhan

Multikultura

Cancel culture is a social phenomenon that occurs when an individual receives public backlash due to actions or statements considered to violate social norms. This phenomenon has become increasingly prominent in South Korea, attracting attention in its highly collective and responsive digital society, which has led to its portrayal in various media works. One such work is the film Pilot (2024), which tells the story of a famous pilot's reputation falling after a gender-biased comment of his spread widely online and drew public scrutiny. This study aims to analyze the representation of cancel culture in the film Pilot (2024) using …

Everyday Life In The U.S.: An Intersectional Approach To A North Korean Refugee Woman’S Identities, And Experiences, Lyounghee Kim

Communication ETDs

This dissertation examines everyday experiences of a North Korean refugee woman in the U.S., centering her narratives as sites of critique, resistance, and meaning-making. Grounded in Critical Refugee Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Intercultural Communication and framed by intersectionality, it explores how interlocking structures of power shape and are shaped by her life. Rather than focusing solely on trauma or assimilation, this study highlights her digital storytelling, faith, and mutual aid practices as acts of survival, dignity, and moral agency. Using a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach grounded in critical reflexivity, it thematically analyzes her stories to reveal how she …

Untitled, Seung Ho Jeon

Masters Theses

We are, by our very own nature, confined within our own lived experiences. To transcend our inherent loneliness, we seek ways to fulfill a fundamental sense of belonging through symbolic interactions. The external world we navigate is a subjective framework constructed through repetitive, mundane interaction, and as actors, we participate in such monotonous performances as a means to create shared meaning.

Such performance manifests as a collective entity - an intangible force that is not bound by institutionalized systems, emerging organically from grassroots beliefs and practices. Throughout the performance, there are symbols - artifacts, space, and interactions. And these transformative …

Transplant Transplant(Ed) Transplant(Ing), So Jung Yoon

Masters Theses

Boundaries shape our lives and identities. The tangible presence of boundaries becomes a medium for engaging with the world—such as who occupies a space and how, or what tools are deemed valid in a design process. These boundaries aren’t always visible; they’re embedded in systems, habits, and assumptions that shape how we move, create, and are recognized. They extend far beyond fixed geographies and the specific positions we occupy within them.

Transplanting is the process by which things are moved or move across boundaries in hopes of being planted, finding a place to stay. Though it can be a search …

For The Time Beings, Tori Hong

Masters Theses

For the Time Beings is a socially engaged installation and artist book exploring the material consequences and future possibilities of sociocultural time theories. Time, in the West, is typically associated with Newtonian linearity, while in the East, time theory relies on Buddhist principles. These epistemologies reinforce hierarchical and patriarchal structures. Centered on Indigenous Asian and Asian American perspectives, For the Time Beings challenges dominant ideologies of existing in time and space.

For nearly a year, I’ve burned handwritten prayers on new and full moons. The ashes of these prayers are incorporated into reverential drawings of chosen ancestors, made with charcoal …

Citrus Farming, Tourism, And Globalization: Jeju Island’S Transformation Under South Korea’S State-Led Development, Caitlin Hong

Student Work

The Williams Prize in East Asian Studies is awarded to Caitlin Hong for her outstanding senior thesis, “Citrus, Capital, and Control: Jeju Island’s Transformation under State-Led Development.”

Hong’s work exemplifies intellectual ambition, methodological rigor, and original insight. Through an interdisciplinary blend of historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, she offers the first comprehensive English-language account of Jeju Island’s citrus farming industry, tracing its development from the postwar period to the present day.

Demonstrating extraordinary initiative, Hong designed and executed an independent research trip to Jeju Island, conducting interviews with citrus farmers, laborers, and experts, while also consulting numerous primary sources in …

Breaking News And Broken Hopes: Inter-Korean Engagement And The Emotional Consequences Of Media Framing, Sophia Lizanne Trombley

Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes two periods of pro-North Korean engagement regimes in South Korea during the presidencies of Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003), Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008), and Moon Jae-in (2017-2023). Through analysis of the three aforementioned presidents’ initiatives for engagement with the North, categorization of news headlines from two major South Korean sources, and public opinion polls, I argue that especially high and low emotional reactions among the South Korean public during these periods were exacerbated by news media’s overly dramatized portrayal of inter-Korean interactions, both big and small. This has led to desensitization and emotional exhaustion among the South Korean public, causing …

Fan Art, Jacob Lay

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the work of artists like Vincent van Gogh, Donald Baechelor, and Cezanne in their relationship to my work and contemporary painting. Drawing from personal letters, interviews, and essays on these artists, the paper places painting and drawing from the thesis exhibition in a history as well as relates them to current pop culture relics. The paper also includes a process-based analyses of how each painting is made and with what materials.

Pottery As A Socio-Economic Marker In Prehistoric Burials Along The Southern Coast Of South Korea, P. Codi Shoemaker

Theses

This thesis investigates the role of pottery as a socio-economic marker in prehistoric burials along the southern coast of South Korea, with a focus on the Late Jeulmun to Early/Mid-Mumun Pottery Periods. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of burial sites at Janghang (Gadeok-do), Sangchonri, and Yulha-ri, the study examines how ceramic design, placement, and associated grave goods reflect evolving social structures within early Korean communities. While pottery has long been examined through functional and chronological lenses, this research considers its symbolic and cultural value in funerary contexts. Findings suggest that pottery served not only utilitarian or ritual purposes, but increasingly signaled …

Impacts On College-Aged Asian American Mental Health, Zahra Soherwardy

Senior Theses

This study explores the relationship between different forms of racial harassment and mental health issues in Asian American college students. Asian American mental health is a growing concern in the field of public health. Asian Americans have the lowest treatment rates and some of the highest stigma levels of any demographic. They are also impacted by the model minority myth and discrimination, further alienating them from getting help. The topics of subtle racism, blatant racism, and current racial discrimination were compared to depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-esteem, and four domains of aggression using survey data. Subtle racism was found to be …

Making Waves: Comfort Women Justice Movements Across Generations, Julia A. Jacobellis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between 1932 and 1945 an estimated 200,000 women across the globe were coerced into becoming comfort women for the Japanese military. As comfort women they were forced to prostitute themselves to soldiers, and endured physical, psychological and emotional torture. While comfort stations were liberated in 1945 with the end of World War II, the Japanese government has yet to formally apologize for their treatment of comfort women, and has failed to meet the demands of survivors and their families who seek reconciliation and justice. The global leaders of these movements for reconciliation are institutions and organizations in South Korea, China, …

Representasi Alienasi Coda Pada Tokoh Bori Dalam Film Korea Bori, Dea Monica Ulandari, Amelia Burhan, Ph.D

Multikultura

CODA or Children of Deaf Adults are the descendants of deaf parents who have the ability to hear and speak. They also have their own emotional stress because they have to adapt to two worlds, the hearing and deaf worlds. This leads to feelings of alienation which are also reinforced by external and internal factors. This research aims to find out how influential the feeling of alienation is on Bori's identity as a CODA in the Korean movie Bori. The character Bori is a CODA and the only person with hearing ability in her deaf family. The method used …

Rubie K. Lee Photograph Albums, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of three photograph albums documenting Rubie K. Lee's work with the Methodist Church’s Women's Missionary Council (WMC) in Korea from the 1920s through the early 1930s. The photographs depict Korea under Japanese rule, showcasing its people and landscapes. Albums also contains photographs of the Ogeechee River flood of 1929, as well as an extensive collection of color postcards from Lee’s travels to Korea, Japan and China.

Glossed Over, Rebecca Oh

Theses and Dissertations

Glossed Over is a collection of interdisciplinary artworks exploring my Korean-American diasporic identity and how gender, queerness, religion, neurodivergence, and internet culture intersect within that experience. Through a blend of painting, woodworking, and sculpture, this installation carries the various elements of undefinable 한 (pronounced: han), a concept I attempt to define and contextualize in the Introduction and throughout this thesis. Each artwork operates through coded language, metaphor, and partial disclosure, offering space for the othered to find recognition through subtle cues and signifiers. Through Glossed Over and this thesis, I scratch the surface of my journey in reconciling generational trauma …

Motivations And Experiences Of Thai Fans In Attending K-Pop Hybrid Concerts, Phavaran Wonglek

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The rise of hybrid concerts, combining live performances with online streaming, has transformed how global K-pop fans engage with performances. While offering flexibility and broad accessibility, this format raises concerns about replicating the emotional and social richness of offline events. This study investigates the motivations, experiences, satisfaction, and future intentions of Thai fans attending K-pop hybrid concerts via live streaming. It adopts the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) and Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) as its framework. Data were collected from 401 respondents using a questionnaire and analyzed through descriptive statistics. Findings show that emotional motivations were the main drivers, with …

Challenges Of Korean Novel Translation : The Case Study Of Love In The Big City, Ana Catarina Lopes

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study investigates the challenges of translating Korean literary fiction for international audiences, with a focus on Park Sang Young’s Love in the Big City and Anton Hur’s English translation of the novel. While K-pop and K-dramas have become global cultural phenomena, Korean novels have not achieved the same level of recognition, often due to the complexities of cultural translation. This research examines how translation choices shape the way English readers experience Korean fiction, focusing on how culture, society, and emotion are mediated across languages. It also compares this with the accessibility of screen adaptations, understood here as the relative …

Social Integration In International Marriages Between Russian Women And Korean Men In Urban South Korea, Evgeniia Shakirova

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This thesis explores the everyday social integration experiences of Russian women married to Korean men and living in urban South Korea. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Everyday Multiculturalism and Multicultural Space Making, the study investigates how cultural differences are negotiated in daily life through practices such as language use, food preparation, parenting, household routines and everyday social interactions. Using a qualitative research design, a number of in-depth interviews and supplementary observations were conducted with interlocutors residing in Seoul, Suwon, and Incheon. Thematic analysis revealed how these women actively shape their domestic, neighbourhood and digital environments to maintain cultural continuity …

Comparative Study Of Chinese And Korean Webcomic Industries From The Perspective Of Platformization And Copyright Governance : Lessons From The Success Of Korean Webtoons, Jiayi Wang

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Research Objectives: This study aims to comparatively analyze the divergent development paths of the Chinese and Korean webtoon industries, focusing on the synergistic mechanisms of platformization and copyright governance. It seeks to diagnose the root causes of China's "localization failure" and propose a viable ecosystem reconstruction pathway. Methodology: Employing a qualitative comparative case study approach, this research examines primary platforms (Naver, Kakao, Kuaikan, Tencent) through the lens of an integrated theoretical framework combining platformization, media political economy, and copyright governance. Data is triangulated from industry reports, financial disclosures, and academic literature. Findings: The research finds that Korea's success is built …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of The Korean Dramas On Image Building And The Promotion Of Thai Tourism : A Case Study Of King The Land, Episode 10, Sopittha Sintutepparat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research aims to study and analyze the impact of the Korean drama King the Land on Thailand’s national image and tourism in various dimensions. The researcher collected data from two main sources: primary data and secondary data. The primary data were obtained through in-depth interviews with five individuals directly involved in the filming of Episode 10 of King the Land in Thailand, including one government representative, two members of the Thai production team, and two local business owners at the filming locations. The secondary data consisted of the content analysis of the drama, academic articles, research papers, relevant policies, …

The Transculturation Of K-Pop Fans’ Practices : A Case Study Of “Call Me By Fire Vietnamese Version”, Thi Thuy Ngoc Nguyen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research examines the transculturation of Vietnamese K-pop fans’ practices through the case study of Call Me By Fire Vietnamese Version, analyzing how these practices shape domestic fandom and contribute to Vietnam’s entertainment industry. Using a mixed-methods approach (an online survey, twelve in-depth interviews, and digital ethnography), the research applies Transculturation Theory (Ortiz, 1940) and Participatory Culture (Jenkins, 1992, 2006; Jenkins et al., 2016) to conceptualize the show as a contact zone where global fan cultures intersect with local norms. Findings show that while K-pop fan practices serve as a central influence, they are reconfigured through three phases. In deculturation, …

Comparison Of Vat Exemptions In Korea And Thailand, Youngun Lim

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The Value Added Tax (VAT) is a relatively recent innovation compared to traditional taxes such as income and property taxes. Nevertheless, it has been rapidly adopted across jurisdictions worldwide due to its efficiency and revenue-generating capacity. As a general consumption tax, VAT is levied on most goods and services. However, exemptions are commonly granted in many jurisdictions for reasons of social equity, economic policy, or administrative simplicity. This study conducts a comprehensive comparative analysis of VAT exemption regimes in two major Asian economies—South Korea and Thailand—both of which have established mature VAT systems. The research focuses on examining each country’s …

Consumptive Femininity: (De)Constructions Of Gender And Colonization In Korean Diaspora Literature, Jack Kelly

Honors Program Theses

This paper explores how two authors with Korean heritage use similar metaphors to write about the same historical traumas. I engage close readings of two novels—Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and Yu Miri’s The End of August—to interrogate how each author uses images of food/food preparation as well as images of sexual encounters to draw links between exploited bodies and exploited land. Ultimately, I find that the differences in these two authors’ approaches reflect their distance from modern centers of empire. This reminds us of the importance of having a diverse literary and historical canon that centers on authors who have …

Fermented Resistance: The Role Of Kimchi In Preserving Korean Identity Through Colonialism And Modernization, Francis M. Ferreira

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis began with a simple observation during my year abroad in Seoul: kimchi was everywhere. It appeared at every table, in every household, and soon, in every question I had about Korean identity. What started as a personal curiosity evolved into a deep historical inquiry into how this single dish — made of fermented cabbage, radish, and spices — came to represent the soul of a nation. This thesis traces kimchi’s journey from a humble survival food in agrarian Korea to a symbol of resistance during Japanese colonization, a tool for reclaiming identity after liberation, and ultimately, a globally …