[KS] Publication Announcement: Korea Journal, vol. 50, no. 1

[Korea Journal]

Dear list members, 
 
We are pleased to announce the publication of Korea Journal, vol. 50, no. 1. This issue contains five articles commissioned on the topic of “Consuming Food as Cultural Practice in Modern Korea: From an East Asian Perspective,” along with three papers selected from submitted papers through rigorous peer review by the journal’s editors and guest reviewers, and one book review.
 
The first paper by Kim Kwang Ok notes that even among many Asian countries that have adopted rice as the main staple food, Korea has not only developed a distinct dietary structure and style of culinary service based on rice, but also has witnessed a significant proliferation of new rice cuisines amidst an overall trend toward Westernization of foodways. In particular, Kim argues, it is the idea of sinto buri (“body and earth are one”) and the philosophy of well-being that made it possible to popularize a new fashion out of the traditional local dietary system in the era of globalization.  
Moon Okpyo’s paper concerning the reconstruction of royal court cuisine also indicates a renewed awareness of tradition or authenticity of “national” food and foodways in the context of globalization. Moon examines the process by which “royal court cuisine” was officially identified and redefined in the 1970s within the framework of the Important Intangible Cultural Property System in Korea, and analyzes how the reconstructed royal cuisine was established, recognized, and commoditized as a new brand of haute cuisine in an increasingly globalizing Korea. 
The third paper, by Han Kyung-Koo, deals with the development of ramyeon instant noodles, during the industrialization and modernization period. Han finds that with increasing urbanization and concomitant changes in lifestyles that include an individuation and fragmentation of meals, loyal consumers cross class boundaries, leading to what Han refers to as the phenomenon of "ramyeonization" of Korean cuisine in general in terms of taste and meal patterns. 
In the fourth paper, Young-Kyun Yang’s analysis of the changing patterns of Chinese food consumption in Korea indicates a new struggle between familiarity, convenience, and addiction on the one hand, and health and environmental concerns on the other. Examining the image and consumption pattern of Chinese food in connection with the current well-being discourse that often perceives Chinese cuisine negativly, Yang shows how both Korean customers and Chinese restaurant owners are negotiating the dilemmas of familiarity and contradiction. 
Sangmee Bak’s paper explores the nature of Korean patronage of newly emerging ethnic restaurants, and argues that Koreans construct and express their global identities through consuming ethnic cuisine, while the restaurateurs as entrepreneurs strategize their business to suit the Korean cultural environment. In particular, she argues that in adapting to local conditions, these cuisines undergo cultural processes of standardization, localization, and hybridization, thereby acquiring a new global identity. 
 
This issue’s table of contents is as follows: 
 
Special Topic: Consuming Food as Cultural Practice in Modern Korea: From an East Asian Perspective
 
Okpyo MOON / [On This Topic] Food and Food Consumption as Cultural Practices: Lifestyle Changes in Contemporary Korea

Kwang Ok KIM / Rice Cuisine and Cultural Practice in Contemporary Korean Dietary Life

Okpyo MOON / Dining Elegance and Authenticity: Archaeology of Royal Court Cuisine in Korea

HAN Kyung-Koo / Noodle Odyssey: East Asia and Beyond

Young-Kyun YANG / Well-Being Discourse and Chinese Food in Korean Society

Sangmee BAK / Exoticizing the Familiar, Domesticating the Foreign: Ethnic Food Restaurants in Korea
 
ARTICLES
 
Youngsoo YOOK / Historiography and the Remaking of North Korea’s Ideology in the Age of Globalization: Interpreting the Revised Edition of Ryeoksa sajeon

PARK Yunjae / The 1927 "Emetine Injection Incident" in Colonial Korea and the Intervention of Korean Western-Trained Doctors
Chiyoung KIM  / The Emergence of the Modern Concept of “Munye” in Korea
 
BOOK REVIEW
 
KIM Hyoung-chan / Spirit and Ritual: The Religious World of Confucianism
 
 
Taking this opportunity, we would like to remind the list members that we welcome any submissions relevant to the field of Korean Studies. 
 
Best regards,
 
 
Korea Journal
Tel: 82-2-755-6225
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Web site: www.ekoreajournal.net