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University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 8921287 Reactions of Korean women who adopted western-style dress in the acculturation period of 1045-1002: An oral history Park, Sunae, Ph.D. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1988 Copyright ©1988 by Park, Sunae. All rights reserved. 300 N. Zeeb R& Ann Arbor, MI 48106 REACTIONS OF KOREAN WOMEN WHO ADOPTED WESTERN- STYLE DRESS IN THE ACCULTURATION PERIOD OF 1945-1962: AN ORAL HISTORY by SUNAE PARK A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 1988 Approved by Dissertation Adviser APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the faculty of the Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dissertation Adviser Committee Members foXriUCi. i^d>YU4rf U. c/cGrS~\ •x^. u, Date of Acceptance by Committee iOcfakvv m, /fgg Date of Final Oral Examination 11 © 1988 by Sunae Park PARK, SUNAE, Ph.D. Reactions of Korean Women Who Adopted Western-Style Dress in the Acculturation period of 1945-1962: An Oral History. (1988) Directed by Dr. Billie Oakland and Dr. Patricia Warner. 132 pp. The purpose of the study is to analyze the reactions of Korean women who adopted the western-style dress in the acculturation period of 1945-1962. The focus of this study theoretically concerns the reactions of selected Korean women toward to western-style dress, as viewed through the anthropological concept of acculturation. The specific theories generated from this study seem to revolve around the variables of physical and psychological comfort, conformity, body image, societal and peer pressures, and clothing symbolism of ethnic identity in the acculturation process. Once Korean women began to have contact with western culture, they adopted western-style dress more quickly than they did other objects or concepts. As the women turned more and more to western clothing for everyday clothing, they started wearing their traditional hanbok only for special occasions. During the process of adopting western-style dress by Korean women, two important concepts of ethnic identity and acculturation clashed. Although the women were becoming acculturated with western culture, they wanted to keep their ethnic identity by using hanbok as an national symbol. For this study, twenty-four Korean women over fifty years old who are now living in the United States were selected, interviewed, and recorded on tape. The particular reason to choose the Korean women who are living in America now is because they were acculturated by the contact with western cultures twice, once in Korea, then later in America. Before the military took over the government in 1963, Korea was unstable both politically and culturally from 1945 to 1962. This transition period represented the initial acculturation of western culture in Korea and therefore was the time period chosen for this study. The oral histories collected from the twenty-four Korean were qualitatively examined to achieve the purpose of this study. The findings that may generate specific theories include the following: 1. The acknowledgement that psychological comfort is as influential as physical comfort is an important finding of this study. If people are not psychologically at ease wearing a particular type of clothing, they will not feel comfortable, even if the style is attractive and physically comfortable. 2. Family, societal, and peer pressures are important factors influencing Korean women's clothing behavior. Certainly family members, eg., mother-in-law, appear to exert a special influence in Korean women's clothing behavior. 3. The use of ethnic symbols for Korean women have changed since coming to America. Hanbok has become an important item that Korean women use as their ethnic symbol in this new environment. 4. Body image is another important factor identified in this study as influencing Korean women's clothing behavior. Clothing influences body image both positively and negatively. That is, an individual may see her figure as being improved or not improved depending upon the clothing and his/her self-perception. This perception of body image then influences clothing behavior. These women perceived their body images in terms of what each considered to be the cultural ideal. 5. The most influential factors affecting the Korean women's adaptation of western-style dress during this acculturation process were education and relative age. In summary, this is an exploratory study in its approach to acculturation through clothing changes to western-style dress in Korean women. Moreover, this study not only utilizes a conventional method for historical research, but also provides an anthropological, life history approach. By considering acculturation as a framework for understanding the different reactions of Korean women, we see that change has been dramatic and influenced by two major factors, age and educational background of informants. Adoption of western clothing by Korean women reflects the Korean women's cultural adaptations. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to my research supervisor, Dr. Patricia Warner for her guidance, support, and encouragement. She helped me in the years I have been in the graduate program. I sincerely appreciates the support and guidance of my committee members for their interest and suggestions: my committee chairperson, Dr. Billie Oakland of Clothing and Textiles, Dr. Thomas Fitzgerald of Anthropology, who provided theoretical framework for my study, Dr. Jean Gordon of History, who guided the historical methodology for this study, and Dr. Mildred Johnson of Child Development and Family Relations. I also want to acknowledge the Korean women, without whose willingness to share their experiences, this stuidy would not have been possible. I can not ignore my fellow graduate students and friends (Duk Kim, Bill Smith, Rosemarie Scherzer, and Christine Garren) inside and outside of school, of course, in Korea, for their help and encouragement. Special thanks to Missy West who shared good friendship with me throughout this difficult period. I believe that she can feel how much I appreciate of her E V help and encouragement. I wish to express my appreciation to Tom Evans ( D ). Without his support and encouragement, I would not have achieved my goal this quickly. Finally, I would like to thank my family. The support, reassurance and love given so freely by my aunt, Choon, made this research effort possible. My brother and sister-in- law, Youngbum and Yoonju, who are going to the same direction as me have provided practical help from Korea. My grandmother, aunt, Dungja, and my parents have been iii amazingly patient, cheerful, and loving throughout the many years I have studied in the United States. tDN, °1DN £)• °M*1. f*h2.5., £ j>«u iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPROVAL PAGE ! ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES . vii LIST OF TABLE viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 The Purpose of the Study 1 The Statement of the Problem 1 Significance and Scope of the Study 3 II. METHODOLOGY 4 Library Research 4 Oral History Methodology 4 III. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 8 Acculturation and Ethnic Identity 8 Oral History: A Qualitative Analysis 11 Korean History and Culture 13 Clothing Acculturation in Other Countries 15 IV. CULTURAL ASPECTS OF KOREAN WOMEN 19 Background of Korean History 19 Korean Women's Life 21 (1) Before the Japanese Annexation Period (pre-1910) 22 (2) Japanese Annexation Period (1910-1945) 25 (3) Acculturation Period (1945-1962) 26 Korean Women's Traditional Clothing 27 v V. ORAL HISTORIES 30 VI. SUMMARY 90 VII. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS 100 BIBLIOGRAPHY 110 APPENDIX A. FIGURES 117 APPENDIX B. TABLE 128 APPENDIX C. QUESTIONNAIRE 131 vi LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER IV Figure Page 1. Veil prior 1910 118 2. Hanbok 119 3. Jugori 120 * 4. Chima 121 5. Undergarments worn with hanbok 122 6. Korean shoes 123 7. Bosun 124 8. Jok 125 9. Binyo 126 10. Trends of school uniforms 127 vii LIST OF TABLE Table Page 1. Overview of the Interviewees 129 viii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The Purpose of the Study After liberation from Japan in 1945, a number of acculturation changes were occurring at the same time in Korea.