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Shin, Saimdang, the Symbol of ‘a Wise Mother and Good Wife’: the Representation of Shin, Saimdang and Gender Politics

  • The Review of Korean History
  • 2016, (122), pp.155-190
  • Publisher : The Historical Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

Hong, Yang-Hee 1

1한양대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper examined the gender politics operating on Shin, Saimdang discourses through searching for variability of representation on her. The Image of Saimdang had undergone the transformation three times for about forty years from 1905 to 1945. Firstly, She was called the ‘educated woman’ who well trained her children at home as Lee, Yulgok’s mother in order to argue the necessity of education of women. Secondly, Saimdang encountered the discourses on ‘a wise mother and good wife’ and was invented as a traditional and ideal woman, that is a wise mother and good wife in 1930s. There were historical contexts regarding the critiques of western modernity, nostalgic moods of past, and disgust of so-called ‘new woman’. Lastly, She was spent as the symbol of ‘militaristic mother’ and ‘woman in the rear ground’(銃後婦人). It was naturally colonialistic appropriation which stems from national demanding of women. These discoursive representations of Shin, Saimdang were connected with political context at that time and Those were the politics reinforcing gender roles. In short, the images of Shin, Saimdang were reconstructed according to national or colonialist demanding. Futhermore, Shin, Saimdang dicourses together with ‘new women’ discourses have reinforced gender identities in colonial Korea. In particular, the discourses on ‘new women’ continued to ‘après-girl’ or ‘Madame Freedom’ dicourses in 1950s and ‘Doenjang girls’[soy bean paste girls] dicourses in contemporary days.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.