Han (cultural)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Han (cultural) | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 한 |
| Hanja | 恨 |
| Revised Romanization | Han |
| McCune–Reischauer | Han |
Han is a concept in Korean culture, attributed by some as a national cultural trait. Han denotes a collective feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds. It connotes aspects of lament and unavenged injustice.
The minjung theologian Suh Nam-dong describes han as a "feeling of unresolved resentment against injustices suffered, a sense of helplessness because of the overwhelming odds against one, a feeling of acute pain in one's guts and bowels, making the whole body writhe and squirm, and an obstinate urge to take revenge and to right the wrong—all these combined."[1]
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[edit] History
Some scholars theorize the concept of Han evolved from Korea's history of having been invaded by other neighboring nations, such as the Khitans, the Manchu/Jurchens, the Mongols, and the Japanese.[citation needed] Others attribute han to class system strictures, such as the distinction between the elite Yangban class and the peasants. Han permeates Korean cultural expression, for example, in Korean shamanism and Pansori.
Japanese scholar Kimura claims that modern history such as the liberation by the surrender of Japan to the Allies rather than to the Korean Liberation Army, the Korean War and the subsequent division of the nation also contribute to the culture as missing glorious history and unresolved han.[2][original research?]
In Korean American literary works (e.g., Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, The Language of Blood by Jane Jeong Trenka, Notes from the Divided Country by Suji Kwock Kim, Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller) Americans of Korean descent are sometimes portrayed as experiencing "Americanized" or second-generational han.[3]
[edit] Han in popular culture
The Korean poet Ko Eun describes the trait as universal to the Korean experience: "We Koreans were born from the womb of Han and brought up in the womb of Han."[4] Han connotes both despair at recognition of past injustice and acceptance of such matters as part of the Korean experience.
Korean American scholar Elaine Kim has written on han in relation to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[5]
The television show The West Wing also made reference to the trait in Episode 5.4 (entitled "Han"). The episode concludes with Bartlet, the President of the United States, realizing his own personal understanding of the esoteric concept; "There is no literal English translation. It's a state of mind. Of soul, really. A sadness. A sadness so deep no tears will come. And yet still there's hope."[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Yoo, Boo-wong (1988). Korean Pentecostalism: Its History and Theology. New York: Verlag Peter Lang. p. 221. ISBN 3-820416-64-1.
- ^ Kimura, Kan (2004) (in Japanese). 朝鮮半島をどう見るか (Chōsen hantō wo dō miruka). Tokyo: Shueisha. p. 99. ISBN 978-4087202410.
- ^ Seo-Young, Chu Seo-young (2008). "Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature". MELUS: p. 97–121.
- ^ Yoo, p.222.
- ^ Kim, Elaine (1993). "Home Is Where the Han Is: A Korean American Perspective on the Los Angeles Upheavals". Reading Rodney King/Reading Urban Uprising (Routledge): p. 215–35.
[edit] Sources
- Beech, Hannah (June 3, 2002). "The Unbearable Sadness of Being Korean". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,257166,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-17. (Director Im Kwon-taek on han)
- 한 (恨) (Han) Dongseo Encyclopedia (in Korean)
- 한 (한국 문화) [恨] (Han: hanguk munwha) Korea Britannica Encyclopedia (in Korean)
- Kroman, Alex (September 17, 2000). "HAN - The Soul of Korean Literature". Archived from the original on 2006-11-26. http://web.archive.org/web/20021126053722/http://www.keganpaul.com/articles_main.php?url=/main_file.php/articles/30/. Retrieved 2007-11-17. (includes author Park Kyong-ni's essay discussing han "The Feelings and Thoughts of the Korean People in Literature")
