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The purpose of the study is to discuss the implications of the prefix “trans” for our current culture when the word is associated with different concepts, as a way of identifying a variety of problems and possibilities that occur at the boundary (or transcending the boundary) that do not or cannot belong anywhere else. The prefix “trans” refers to the process of crossing, transcending, or passing through a boundary. As a prefix of a verb, it means the act of transferring, transcending, trespassing, and transgressing. But the factors that make up such acts are not always physical, and the boundaries do not necessarily refer to the borders between nations. The prefix “trans-,” which cannot be used alone, presents a new paradigm for the domains of glocalization, medium, gender, human nature, and academics by being added to words like “transculturality,” “transmediality,” “transidentity,” and “transdicipline.” The prefix “inter-,” often compared with “trans-” in the current cultural paradigm, has the connotation of a mutual relationship and two-way communication between two equal entities, and another prefix, “multi-,” implies multi-centered, enumeration, co-existence, and relativism (not involved in or intervening in others’ affairs). By contrast, the assumption that lies behind “trans-” is a holistic, meta-community, such as is expressed in the concepts of cyber network and global village, where mutual involvement, intervention, infiltration and influence lead to the changes in individual entities and in the identity of the community. This identity is not a single identity, but a “hyphenated identity.” In other words, it is a double identity that refers to ethnic and cultural identity. The hyphenated identity also rejects the premise that there are two realms that are separated by a border. Now, the dynamics of networks open to sub-entities are shifting from the dichotomous paradigm that guided thinking on the relationship between center and periphery. The process of crossing, transcending, and changing that lies behind “trans-” implies a process of initiation. The space for “trans” does not mean a “house” but a “road.” It does not point to a private space to stay and settle, but to a social space characterized by mobility, interaction, and change. The culture, ego, academics, and media of our time, a time dominated by a discourse of “trans” that symbolizes the process of initiation, force one to risk losing one’s self in order to find one’s self. It is a venture involving a process of introspection that takes place at academic boundaries and at territorial borders. The transcendence in the discourse on “trans-” refers not to metaphysical transcendence, but to a change from one attitude to another. Only for this reason can “trans-” serve as another perspective allowing us to gain insight into our time and culture.

In this article, I try to think about research methods in our trans-humanities agenda by bringing the meaning of the prefix “trans-” into focus. For this purpose, the concepts of “transculturation” and “transculturality” in cultural and literary studies should be analysed. For example, there is the oldest concept of “transculturation,” from the Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in the 1940s, which was incorporated and further developed within the realm of literary studies by the Urguayan critic Angel Rama in the 1970s, as well as the concept of “transculturation” used by the German philosopher Wolfgang Welsch and the discussions concerning his concept in German cultural and literary studies. On the basis of this paper’s analysis, the meaning of the prefix “trans-” in our trans-humanities agenda can be modified in accordance with cultural and scholarly contexts. The trans-humanities are trans-scholarly, which means that this sort of humanities crosses the boundary between the real world and the academy and has relevance to reality beyond the walls of the university. The boundary between outside reality and the academy is permeable, so the humanities of this sort are communicable and interactive. Additionally, the trans-humanities are transdisciplinary, a point relevant to research methods. In order to research phenomena in the glocal area, the disciplines must be open, communicating and cooperating with other disciplines.

For some years, there have been widespread and on-going discussions over the issue of globalization from various perspectives. Some take a positive view of the issue, saying that globalization, in the end, benefits all of us; others take a defensive stance against globalization, defining it as imperialist invasion. The same goes for the cultural globalization issue. Some argue that unless we make efforts to preserve our local culture, our cultures will be homogenized into one dominant global culture, and our cultural objects will become mere commodities in the global market with the trend of cultural imperialism. Others welcome globalization as benefiting cultural diversity, greatly esteeming the willingness of local cultures to embrace the larger global culture and assimilate into it. With our world globalizing, we are witnessing the phenomena of cultural homogenization as well as cultural heterogenization and cultural pluralism, all at the same time. In this context, the concept of glocality becomes very significant because glocalization, a combination of the terms "global" and "local," can serve as an alternative to globalization. Instead of local cultures becoming objects assimilated into global culture, glocalization may enable local cultures to better understand different cultures of the world. McDonald’s, a leading global brand, has become a symbol of globalization in cultural and economic contexts. McDonald’s, at the same time, represents glocalization with its regionalization efforts accommodating local cultures as it expands into many international markets. Since 1997, McDonald’s in Korea has been adapting to local Korean culture, offering a regionalized version of its menu, such as the Bulgogi Burger and the Shrimp Burger, to satisfy the palate of the Korean people. This wouldn’t have been possible without a deep understanding of Korean culture as well as of the sentiments of Koreans. As a multinational corporation, McDonald’s clearly saw the importance of keeping up with the current trends of local culture, communicating effectively inter-culturally, and implementing cultural regionalization strategically. Yet, on a closer look, we see the phenomenon of McDonald’s glocalization efforts as only superficial. In other words, McDonald’s regionalization efforts were made only for the purpose of making maximum profits in the market, without genuine interest in going local. Therefore, in research on glocality, we need to explore how two important issues of the preservation of local culture and the integration into global culture can go hand in hand and how a new paradigm of glocalized culture can be created.

This study was planned to overcome theoretical abstractness about foreign migrants’ identity and to clarify the aspects of discourse about the “other” that are internalized within us and about the gender identity of foreign migrants, treating them and us in the context of inter-subjectivity. For this purpose, methodology of cultural hermeneutics and standpoint theory have been cited. That is, we intend to examine “how foreign migrants exist within us” through analyzing how foreign migrants are shown in “representative media” (TV documentary programs and modern novels). First, through the method of standpoint theory, we examine the possibility of interpreting the lives and cultures of marriage-migrant women using methods to reveal facts and to illuminate how reality is formed into image through mass media representation. In addition, by focusing on migrant-laborer novels, we examine the aspects of representing the other with a focus on viewpoint, narrator, narrative, and relationships among characters represented. Also, by focusing on monologues by mixed-blood children, the process by which they form their multicultural identity is examined, as are aspects of narrative strategies that internalize idealized family ideology. Thus, the process of making discourse about the “other” within us, which characterizes the representation of foreign migrants, is deeply analyzed and interpreted in the extended discussion of gender studies in this paper. Also, the foreign migrant as another “subject” within ourselves is discussed from the perspectives of ethics and humanities.

In the ancient Greek, the term pathos, translated into Late Latin as passio, from which we get the word passion, was used to indicate a momentary and dramatic change that occurred in the disposition and the behavior of an individual ㅡ a change generally caused by a certain intervention of supernatural power (fate, gods) whose nature is disastrous. A shift in perspective was accomplished by Plato, who began to consider the cause of passion in terms of the relation between body and soul. Passion, however, remained for him a horrible and inevitable pathēmata , in that it could destroy not only the stability of an individual, but also the order established with great effort by the city. By contrast, for Aristotle, passion was not a horrible thing any more; it was rather a normal emotional response to particular circumstances, an emotion that a skillful orator could evoke within a certain audience. Following Plato, however, the Stoics defined passion as an excessive and unreasonable impulse of the soul. Against these ancient traditions, Descartes, considered passion not as a movement of the soul reacting to certain circumstances, but as an emotion excited by the body, combined with the soul. According to Descartes, it was the movement of the esprits animaux (vital spirit) that brought about human passion. For Spinoza, though, the cause of passion was not the movement of vital spirit, but an error of judgment. According to him, passion is an affect of which we are the inadequate and partial cause, for it includes exterior causes as well as our nature. Finally, Kant defined passion as “the inclination that the reason of one subject cannot control or only can reach with great difficulty.” According to Kant, passion is an inclination (a habitual and sentimental desire) to which the subject submits. Although there are a diverse number of perspectives and theoretical presuppositions, all these theories concerning passion suggest constant factors that have characterized it throughout its history, that is, passivity, suffering, valuation to an inclination, and exclusiveness.