Doenjang in the Air: Maangchi and the Mediation of Korean Cultural Authenticity

Humanities Pub Date : 2023-12-25 DOI:10.3390/h13010005
Justin Sprague
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Abstract

In this article, I explore the ways that women of the Korean diaspora engage in cultural meaning-making through material culture in efforts to redefine what it means for people, things, and ideas to be considered “authentically Korean”. Using the case study of famous internet chef Maangchi, I examine one of her best-selling cookbooks and her digital presence to identify the tactics she uses to exert agency in the meaning-making and community-building process, using Korean food and her role as a maternal figure as vehicles for analysis. Due to her roles as a mother and her positioning as a quintessential immigrant subject in the US context, I argue that Maangchi challenges colonial and Eurocentric models of cultural authenticity as part of a long history of women of color that actively disrupt social perceptions of value, expertise, and knowledge production. By exploring her business ventures, I consider how embedded pieces of knowledge, racialization, perceived expertise, and cultural assumptions are all connected to challenge the historical concepts and applications of authenticity in favor of a more inclusive, radical, and politically potent understanding of what truly makes something “Korean”.
空气中的 Doenjang:舞池与韩国文化真实性的调解
在本文中,我将探讨散居国外的韩国女性如何通过物质文化参与文化意义的创造,从而重新定义人、事物和思想被视为 "正宗韩国人 "的含义。通过对网络名厨 Maangchi 的案例研究,我考察了她最畅销的一本烹饪书和她的数字化形象,以韩国美食和她作为母亲的角色为分析载体,找出她在意义塑造和社区建设过程中发挥能动作用的策略。由于她作为母亲的角色以及她在美国语境中作为典型移民主体的定位,我认为 Maangchi 挑战了殖民主义和欧洲中心主义的文化真实性模式,是长期以来积极打破社会对价值、专业技能和知识生产看法的有色人种妇女的一部分。通过探究她的商业冒险,我思考了知识的内嵌片段、种族化、感知的专业知识和文化假设是如何联系在一起的,从而挑战真实性的历史概念和应用,以支持一种更具包容性、激进和政治效力的理解,即什么才是真正的 "韩国人"。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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