Gender Politics at Home and Abroad: Protestant Modernity in Colonial-Era Korea (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781108487436)

Hyaeweol Choi examines the formation of modern gender relations in Korea from a transnational perspective. Diverging from a conventional understanding of 'secularization' as a defining feature of modernity, Choi argues that Protestant Christianity, introduced to Korea in the late nineteenth century, was crucial in shaping modern gender ideology, reforming domestic practices and claiming new space for women in the public sphere. In Korea, Japanese colonial power - and with it, Japanese representations of modernity - was confronted with the dominant cultural and material power of Europe and the US, which was reflected in Korean attitudes. One of the key agents in conveying ideas of "Western modernity" in Korea was globally connected Christianity, especially US-led Protestant missionary organizations. By placing gender and religion at the center of the analysis, Choi shows that the development of modern gender relations was rooted in the transnational experience of Koreans and not in a simple nexus of the colonizer and the colonized.

Author: Hyaeweol Choi
ISBN-10: 1108487432
ISBN-13: 9781108487436
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 07/30/2020
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.12lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.63d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2021