A Soulful Egg Can Break a Rock: a Case Study of a South Korean Social Movement Leader's Rhetoric
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses July 2016 A Soulful Egg Can Break a Rock: A Case Study of a South Korean Social Movement Leader's Rhetoric Eunsook Sul University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Recommended Citation Sul, Eunsook, "A Soulful Egg Can Break a Rock: A Case Study of a South Korean Social Movement Leader's Rhetoric" (2016). Doctoral Dissertations. 669. https://doi.org/10.7275/8376851.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/669 This Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A SOULFUL EGG CAN BREAK A ROCK: A CASE STUDY OF A SOUTH KOREAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT LEADER’S RHETORIC A Dissertation Presented By EUNSOOK SUL Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2016 Department of Communication © Copyright by Eunsook Sul 2016 All Rights Reserved A SOULFUL EGG CAN BREAK A ROCK: A CASE STUDY OF A SOUTH KOREAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT LEADER’S RHETORIC A Dissertation Presented by EUNSOOK SUL Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ Leda Cooks, Chair _______________________________________ Henry Geddes, Member _______________________________________ Susan Darlington, Member ____________________________________ Erica Scharrer, Chair Department of Communication DEDICATION To my mother and late father My mother who has enormous vitality, creativity, and shows her love in action My father who planted the seed of inquisitive mind and motivated me always to see beyond where I am ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As in lengthy and complex research and writing, my work is enormously indebted to my dissertation committee members, Professor Leda Cooks, Professor Henry Geddes, and Professor Susan Darlington. First and foremost, to my wonderful advisor Leda Cooks: I am not able to express how much I owe to her. She assisted me and guided me throughout the whole writing process, with her invaluable comments and committed help, always with great patience. Without her enormous input, I could not have arrived at this point. To Professor Henry Geddes, I am indebted greatly to his assistance in inspiring me and sharpening my research questions with the most critical and eye-opening conversations. He has always helped me with his great knowledge of academic resources, especially from a global, post-colonial perspective. I am grateful to Professor Susan Darlington and her work, through which I learned a critical and sincere approach to religious leaders as conscientious social activists. I greatly appreciate her enthusiasm and encouragement, especially with going through my old and new prospectuses. I am deeply grateful to my supportive family, my mother and two sisters. My mother has been there all the time when I went through tough times and joyful times, along the way of this long and never-ending process. Her devoted help and emotional support were the source of what sustained me. Without her, I could not have completed this task. Abbot Jikwang and Jabiseong have been great cheerleaders for me to regain spirit whenever I was down; without their support, I might have given up along the way. I also appreciate my dear friend, Michael, who shared both the joyful and frustrating moments v from the start to the end of this project. His support will not be forgotten during my whole life. I also am indebted greatly to my permanent mentor, Betso, who believed in my intellectual possibility. Finally, by no means the least, Fanny and Elisa: they have been great contributors to the final product of writing and formatting. I admire their generosity and excellent capacity. vi ABSTRACT A SOULFUL EGG CAN BREAK A ROCK: A CASE STUDY OF A SOUTH KOREAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT LEADER’S RHETORIC MAY 2016 EUNSOOK SUL, B.A., EHWA WOMANS UNIVERSITY IN S. KOREA M.A., STATE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, FAIRBANKS Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Leda Cooks This dissertation introduces and analyzes Ven. Hyemoon’s rhetoric emanating from his leadership of the civic group, the Committee for the Return of Korean Cultural Property in South Korea. On the surface, he seems focused on retrieving cultural artifacts, pillaged by the Japanese colonial invasion. His work, upon deeper analysis, emerges to be about regaining a Korean cultural and national identity that is historically grounded, civically engaged and morally reflective. This study is informed by multiple theories (i.e., framing, narrative, social semiotics, critical geography, rhetoric, and social movement) to examine aspects of a phenomenon in depth – involving nationalism, social movement, rhetoric, repatriation, colonialism, and cultural resources – that work together to dissect or dismantle the complex construction of meanings and processes of specific social movement rhetoric. The central focus is on the examination of Hyemoon’s discursive construction of what it means to be authentic Koreans within the context of South Korea situated within a post- colonial, post-cold war, and post-democratizing movement as well as within global capitalism. vii The primary focus is on how historical, cultural, and moral landscapes mediated by Korean cultural artifacts are constructed and represented to the public in Hyemoon’s rhetoric and performance. In particular, the ways in which Korean collective-identity landscapes are depicted by relating cultural artifacts to specific places in history is considered. Moreover, the study examines discursive and performative practices and strategies that Hyemoon has adopted and developed to construct and represent his message by using linguistic, visual, and other material signs and symbols. Each chapter explores Hyemoon’s discourse by adopting different theories and focusing on specific events. The study concludes that Hyemoon’s discourse and performance appeals to the Korean public, engaging this audience in associating particular cultural assets with experiential, historic, and social collective memory. Most importantly, he reframes the meaning of cultural artifacts while also searching for cultural assets in terms of morality and civic agency. By offering a new interpretive framework, this work also finds that Hyemoon’s activism is effective in specific historic, political contexts of South Korea, in particular during the extension of the previous democratization social movement that had become quiescent. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................................xv ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 1.1 Overview ......................................................................................................1 1.2 Primary Data ................................................................................................7 1.3 Notes on Romanization, Translation and Photos .........................................8 1.4 Basic Framework .........................................................................................9 1.5 My Positionality in the Current Research ..................................................11 1.6 Hyemoon and the Committee for the Return of Korean Cultural Property ......................................................................................................13 1.6.1 Comments about Hyemoon from the Mass Media ..............................14 1.6.2 Hyemoon’s Role in the Committee for the Return of Korean Cultural Property ..................................................................................15 2. RHETORICAL CONTEXTS ................................................................................21 2.1 Origin of Social Movements in S. Korea ...................................................21 2.2 Historicity of S. Korean Social Movement ................................................24 2.2.1 Social Movement between 1960s and 1987 .........................................24 2.2.2 Changed Concerns and Mode of Civic Participation in the 1990s and 2000s ...................................................................................30 2.3 The CRKCP in the Context of Two Koreas...............................................34 2.3.1 Political Changes and Interaction of NGOs .........................................35 2.3.2 Buddhist NGOs ....................................................................................37 2.3.3 Civic Organizations and Governmental Institutions for Repatriating Cultural Properties ..........................................................38 ix