Colorado Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 5, Issue 1
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COLORADO JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES Volume 5, Issue 1 (Summer 2016) 1. Comparative Cultural Trauma: Post-Traumatic Processing of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Cambodian Revolution Carla Ho 10. Internet Culture in South Korea: Changes in Social Interactions and the Well-Being of Citizens Monica Mikkelsen 21. Relationality in Female Hindu Renunciation as Told through the Life Story of Swāmī Amritanandā Gīdī Morgan Sweeney 47. Operating in the Shadow of Nationalism: Egyptian Feminism in the Early Twentieth Century Jordan Witt 60. The Appeal of K-pop: International Appeal and Online Fan Behavior Zesha Vang Colorado Journal of Asian Studies Volume 5, Issue 1 (Summer 2016) Center for Asian Studies University of Colorado Boulder Page i 1424 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80309 Colorado Journal of Asian Studies Volume 5, Issue 1 (Summer 2016) The Colorado Journal of Asian Studies is an undergraduate journal published by the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Each year we highlight outstanding theses from our graduating seniors in the Asian Studies major. EXECUTIVE BOARD AY 2016-2017 Tim Oakes, Director Carla Jones, Interim Director, Spring (Anthropology, Southeast Asia) Colleen Berry (Associate Director/Instructor) Aun Ali (Religious Studies, West Asia/Middle East) Chris Hammons (Anthropology, Indonesia) Sungyun Lim (History, Korea, East Asia Terry Kleeman (Asian Languages & Civilizations, China, Daoism) RoBert McNown (Economics) Meg Moritz (College of Media Communication and Information) Ex-Officio Larry Bell (Office of International Education) Manuel Laguna (Leeds School of Business) Xiang Li (University Libraries, East Asia-China) Adam LisBon (University Libraries, East Asia-Japan, Korea) Lynn Parisi (Teaching about East Asia) Danielle Rocheleau Salaz (CAS Executive Director) CURRICULUM COMMITTEE AY 2016-2017 Colleen Berry, Chair Aun Ali (Religious Studies, West Asia/Middle East) Jackson Barnett (Student Representative) Kathryn GoldfarB (Anthropology, East Asia-Japan) Terry Kleeman (AL&L; Religious Studies. Daoism) Nathan Wright (Student Representative) Ex-Officio Sylvie Burnet-Jones (Office of International Education) Allison Frey (Academic Advisor) Manuel Laguna (Leeds School of Business) Danielle Rocheleau Salaz (CAS Executive Director) Center for Asian Studies University of Colorado Boulder Page ii 1424 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80309 Colorado Journal of Asian Studies Volume 5, Issue 1 (Summer 2016) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR The Center for Asian Studies is pleased to publish four senior theses from the 2015-2016 academic year and one exceptional paper written by a high school senior, Carla Ho, as part of her work at the Stanford Humanities Institute. Each senior graduating with a degree in Asian Studies is required to complete a research project under the guidance of a faculty advisor on any topic related to Asia. Each year, students produce excellent work on a wide variety of topics, and this year was certainly no exception. In this issue, Carla Ho looks at cultural trauma during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and in the Cambodian Revolution; Monica Mikkelsen writes about the effects the internet is having on Korean families and individuals; Morgan Sweeney reports on her fieldwork on female renunciation in India; Jordan Witt examines the historical context of the different strands of feminism in Egypt; and Zesha Vang delves into the issue of international fandom in the K-Pop phenomenon. Center for Asian Studies University of Colorado Boulder Page iii 1424 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80309 Colorado Journal of Asian Studies Volume 5, Issue 1 (Summer 2016) Comparative Cultural Trauma: Post-Traumatic Processing of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Cambodian Revolution CARLA HO ABSTRACT cultural, geographic, and demographic factors that defined Chinese and Cambodian society at hile revolutions have occurred the onset of their revolutions. throughout history, the cultural When analyzed through an understanding of W reactions to specific revolutions are cultural trauma, revolutions can be understood as often distinct. I argue that a central reason for impacting both the individuals and the broader these differences is that revolutions cause collective. Thus, inserting cultural trauma into cultural—rather than psychological—trauma. discussions surrounding the Cultural Revolution What sets cultural trauma apart from and Cambodian Revolution allows for further psychological trauma is the scope: cultural study into not only these revolutions, but also trauma is experienced collectively, whereas other events, and how they affect the formation psychological trauma is often an individual, of modern identity and culture. isolated experience. Furthermore, given its inherent collective nature, cultural trauma often threatens the identity of the group. Thus, the Introduction cultural context in which a revolution occurs is critically important in shaping the downstream Revolutions are often thought of only in terms consequences of a revolution. These of the political aftermath, and revolutionaries are consequences can be accessed through an the ones that go down in history. The impact of examination of core cultural products: literature, revolutions, however, goes beyond political art, and academic theory. differences, and there are many more people Through this lens, I examine two contrasting involved in revolutions than just the leaders. In revolutions of the latter half of the 20th century: this paper, I will examine the cultural aftermath China’s great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (the of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the “Cultural Revolution”) and the Cambodian Cambodian Revolution. The analysis will focus on Revolution, both of which occurred in the 1970s. the general population and society, not the few The Chinese cultivated a unique form of coping leaders whose stories are reiterated throughout known as “scar literature” as a method of most historical accounts. First, I will introduce redefining Chinese identity through literary the two revolutions and the arguments that this culture. Scar literature involved short stories paper will make. detailing the mental and physical pain the The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976, Cultural Revolution caused, and many Chinese was an initiative by the Chinese Communist Party read and related to this prose. The spread of this to purge all bourgeois influence from China and new literary genre gave the Chinese people an assert Mao Zedong’s complete influence over the outlet to come together and make sense of their country. Adherents to the ideals of the Cultural pain. In contrast, Cambodians collectively Revolution did this by executing intellectuals, revitalized Buddhism as a method of reclaiming “revolutionaries,” and anyone they saw as having Cambodian culture. They rebuilt pagodas the the potential to betray. The Party mobilized Khmer Rouge had burned down, ordained new youth by turning masses of them into Red monks, and revived Buddhist traditions Guards—pseudo-soldiers that would maintain previously banned. The contrasting reactions to the cult of personality that Mao was creating. these revolutions are grounded in the distinct Millions of people were sent to labor camps Center for Asian Studies University of Colorado Boulder Page 1 1424 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80309 Colorado Journal of Asian Studies Volume 5, Issue 1 (Summer 2016) where they encountered inhumane conditions “some degree of cohesion.”1 The entity suffers and treatment. This revolution killed around 30- through an event that threatens and/or harms 50 million people through executions, the group’s cultural identity. Psychological persecution, starvation, and other means, and it trauma does not necessarily lead to in cultural destroyed hundreds of millions of lives. The exact trauma, but cultural trauma assumes forms of number of deaths is not known, as millions of psychological trauma in both the individual and bodies were neither found nor reported. collective psyche.2 The trauma of the revolutions The Cambodian Revolution, 1975-1979, began goes beyond the personal parameters of when the Khmer Rouge overthrew the previous psychological trauma, and is thus, cultural Cambodian government and took power. They trauma. then engineered a genocide that killed nearly The identification of trauma as cultural is 30% (between two and three million) of the significant as it acknowledges the collective Cambodian population. As in China, the total impact. This paper will focus on how the culture number of deaths is also unknown. The genocide itself rebounded from the events, rather than was a result of famine, exhaustion, executions, individuals. China and Cambodia both processed and other methods of killing. Again, following the their respective traumas differently, and thus, example of China, the Khmer Rouge also executed through analyzing the trauma as cultural trauma intellectuals, “revolutionaries,” and other people we can explore how cultural variations can lead that they felt threatened the regime’s power. to different methods of processing trauma People were also sent to prison camps or processing. agricultural fields for agrarian work. The Cultural Revolution led to cultural trauma Both revolutions caused mass trauma and had for the Chinese because it seriously threatened a lasting impact on the people and their culture. Chinese culture and altered conceptions of This paper will make a cross-cultural analysis of Chinese identity. To begin with, the Cultural the post-revolutionary cultural trauma