The Matrix of Gender, Knowledge, and Writing in the Kyuhap Ch'ongsŏ

Abstract

email of the author: jyslee@kmu.ac.kr 211 Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies Vol.17 No.2 © 2017 Academy of East Asian Studies. 211-232 DOI: 10.21866/esjeas.2017.17.2.005 The concept of gendered knowledge is often examined based on the hypothesis that women’s writings deal with intimate and personal concerns in the domestic sphere, while their male counterparts are concerned with professional achievements. The spatial division between men and women in traditional Korea likely impacted the process of knowledge formation, as knowledge requires interaction with the world. Against this backdrop, the Kyuhap ch’ongsŏ (The encyclopedia of women’s daily life), written by Yi Pinghŏgak (1759–1824), reveals conflicts and tensions in the binary structures of male and female, public and domestic, and classical and vernacular. This article therefore investigates the construction of gendered knowledge envisioned in The Encyclopedia of Women’s Daily Life and explores the positioning of the female author in collecting, classifying, and translating knowledge. It reveals how diverse constituents in this encyclopedic work have not only contributed to but also challenged the claims of gendered norms and defines how the author navigates the cultural and literary heterogeneity of knowledge that transcends the demarcation of gender.