Jun-ho Hwang

Asian American literature is no longer a new area in Korean academia, as there have recently been major conferences and a number of research papers, both of which have discussed various related matters. These academic activities register multifaceted dimensions of Asian American literature, which have raised intense debates among Asian Americanists in U.S. academia and the literary community, particularly since the publication of the anthology Aiiieeee (1974). A key issue of these debates is to

This essay discusses the political and aesthetic significance in Suji Kwock Kim’s description of Koreans’ suffering as a way of reviving the Korean War, conventionally referred to as the “Forgotten War” in American society. The war serves as key subject matter in her first book, Notes from the Divided Country (2003), which received much critical acclaim, including the 2002 Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets. In her Korean War poems, Suji Kwock Kim represents Koreans’ collective

The role of the US media during war has always been subject to controversy due to their alleged collusion with the reigning ideology of the day. As Jean Baudrillard recently pointed out, the manipulated battlefield images of the Gulf War on CNN, for instance, served to justify US intervention in the region and concretize the seeming inevitability of US hegemony in the post-Cold War era. Yet, questions concerning the role of the media in relation to state propaganda are as old as World War II. It

This article intends to open discussions about comic books as potential texts for advancing college students’ understanding of Western, particularly American culture and society. As a case study, the article presents a teaching experience of Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese in “Seminar for First Year Students” in the spring of 2012. The choice of the text foregrounds not only the increase of overseas Korean students but also “Korean Korean” students’ lack of experience with a diverse and m

Science fiction stimulates our imagination with advanced technologies, cultures, and social systems yet to come, but the futuristic world may not be as imaginary as it seems. Since the birth and development of science fiction can hardly be separable from Western civilizations, the genre frequently registers Westernized perspectives on the world and naturalizes a “white” future, which reinforces the dominant ideology and values of contemporary American society, (in particular). Likewise, the futu

American baseball has been mythologized as an embodiment of the American Dream since its emergence as a “national game” or “national pastime” in the nineteenth century. The privileged title evinces the American ideological belief that baseball concretizes the traditional national values, integrating pastoral ideal, morality, work ethic, individualism, communal cooperation, democracy, and so forth. The historical facts tell us, however, that the mythology of baseball, based on the belief in the s

American sport films have allowed socio-political and cultural discourses, envisioning American society as the land of opportunity in which the protagonist can achieve the American Dream regardless of differences in race, gender, or class. Ironically, however, the capitalist and systematized society, realistically portrayed as an impediment to the protagonist’s success, can also lead to a realization that an individual’s talent and hard work does not guarantee reaching the dream. The contradicti

Although their release dates trace back to the early post-Cold War era, Black Rain (1989) and Mr. Baseball (1992) still serve as noteworthy examples of complicating the traditional dichotomy of “us” and “them.” A traditionally stereotyped Japan still can hardly be missed; nevertheless, the Japanese protagonists are no longer those who work in the shadows of the white heroes in old-fashioned Hollywood films located in Asia. Given that they are all human beings with universal weaknesses, the Japan

Science fiction stimulates our imagination with advanced technologies, cultures, and social systems yet to come, but the futuristic world may not be as imaginary as it seems. Since the birth and development of science fiction can hardly be separable from Western civilizations, the genre frequently registers Westernized perspectives on the world and naturalizes a “white” future, which reinforces the dominant ideology and values of contemporary American society, (in particular). Likewise, the futu

During his lifetime, Robert Lowell was willing to publicize and poeticize his liberalism in his activities and poems, where he often identifies himself with the socially marginalized. Lowell`s expression of his political stance in close association with his personal life deserves our attention, for many so-called canonical poets are politically conservative or hesitant to present their political positions. Nevertheless, Lowell`s liberalism has often been questioned as well because of the way he

The James Bond films have a unique position in motion picture history as the oldest and most popular franchise ever. The underlying structure, in which a British secret spy defeats master-criminals while enjoying upper-class luxuries and entertaining beautiful women, distinctively creates a fantasy that registers irresistible escapism and entertainment. In the fantasy, however, Asians are frequently portrayed as stereotyped or invisible despite their more recognizable status in the world since t