This thesis examines the role of Tokto/Dokdo in the creation and maintenance of South Korean nationalism, and the way in which Tokto narratives are created and disseminated in Korean society. It...Show moreThis thesis examines the role of Tokto/Dokdo in the creation and maintenance of South Korean nationalism, and the way in which Tokto narratives are created and disseminated in Korean society. It aims to answer the question: how is the Tokto/Takeshima conflict portrayed and communicated through South Korean Tokto-related children’s literature? Based on a critical discourse analysis of a selection of the most popular Tokto children’s literature, this thesis identifies a set pattern that characterizes Tokto children’s literature as a genre. Furthermore, this thesis challenges the modernist notion that nationalism is a top-down affair, as the analysis of Tokto children’s literature shows that nationalist sentiment stems from an interplay between governmental and civil efforts. In the case of Tokto children’s literature, that is the effort to promote and proclaim Tokto as a vital part of South Korean national identity. Lastly, this thesis argues that Tokto children’s literature reflects the agenda of Tokto activists, who seek to strengthen a particular notion of South Korean national identity that centres on the idea of Japan as continuous external threat.Show less
This thesis examines the way in which the fairy-tale Stepmother is portrayed in two versions of the Korean ‘Cinderella Story’ of K’ongchwi P’atchwi, and the German Aschenputtel by Jacob and Wilhelm...Show moreThis thesis examines the way in which the fairy-tale Stepmother is portrayed in two versions of the Korean ‘Cinderella Story’ of K’ongchwi P’atchwi, and the German Aschenputtel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Its aim is to study the power structures, and the social and psychological patterns which create the ‘Evil’ of the Stepmothers in these versions of the ‘Cinderella Story’. This thesis is an attempt to shed some light on the cultural influences which have led to the creation of similar and yet different ‘Evil Stepmothers’, by using an ‘Integrated Approach’ which draws on the Archetypal and Post-modern schools of literary analysis. This approach plays to the strengths of both pre-existing approaches whilst giving a more complete analysis than either would have generated if used in isolation. The thesis concludes that the Stepmothers in the studied versions all have the same function: that of exemplifying the undesirable consequences of the abuse of power and, the ways in which undesirable dark side of the human psyche can manifest itself if one lets it do so. However, despite this shared function, the exact details of the Stepmother’s behaviors as well as other differences between the stories reflect the cultures in which they were created. In this way the abuse of power and the dark side of the human psyche are brought home to readers from different cultures through differing iterations of the Stepmother Archetype.Show less
In this thesis, I discuss the influence of mutual perspectives of South and North Koreans from 1994 till 2015 on the reunification process. This will be done by discussing the perspective of the...Show moreIn this thesis, I discuss the influence of mutual perspectives of South and North Koreans from 1994 till 2015 on the reunification process. This will be done by discussing the perspective of the South Korean people on North Korea, the North Korean people living in North Korea and the North Korean settlers in South Korea. After that I discuss the perspective of the North Korean settlers on South Korea and the South Korean people. This will be followed by a discussion of the problems of the North Korean settlers in South Korean society, how and till what extent they are related to the perspectives of South and North Koreans, and their implications for reunification.Show less
