Borderline society and ‘rebellious mourning’: the case of South Korean feminist activism

ABSTRACT In this article I propose two concepts – a borderline society and ‘rebellious mourning’ – to present a conceptual framework for understanding contemporary Korean feminism. This article argues that borderline society is both a concept and a product of co-existing and contesting ways of Korean women’s speaking against the culture of gender-based violence to consider the (imagined) topography for their co-existence as one that requires the psychic conception of reality as a counterpart to the patriarchy. Given that the 2016 femicide accelerated the movement of Korean women speaking about their experiences as an act of mourning, borderline society provides an understanding of how Korean women perform it. Drawing on contemporary news clippings and websites related to Korean feminist activism, this article examines how ‘rebellious mourning’ is embodied through the cultural practices of Korean activist groups. While Womad stands in opposition to #MeToo because of its negation of the patriarchy, Flame, Femi, Action is situated as a point of contact between the two. This article will thus provide a new understanding of the particularity of Korean feminism based on the link between the psyche and gender subjectivity of women speaking up, thereby placing a specific local situation into the broader context of constructing activism.