[KS] Question on colonial photography

[Afostercarter at aol.com]

What a fascinating thread this has proved to be.

Among the very many virtues of this List, I for one
- having missed out on formal training on Korea,
and being too preoccupied with the here and now -
especially appreciate such opportunities as this
to keep abreast of historical and cultural themes
that one would otherwise miss.
Many thanks to all who have contributed.

Aidan FC

AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University 

Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK 
tel: +44(0)  1274  588586         (alt) +44(0) 1264 737434          mobile:  
+44(0)  7970  741307 
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Email: afostercarter at aol.com     (alt) afostercarter at yahoo.com      website: 
www.aidanfc.net


My recent musings on North Korea can be read at 
http://www.newnations.com/headlines/nk.php#up008 and on inter-Korean relations at  
http://www.csis.org/pacfor/cc/0404Qnk_sk.html
 - the latter also picked up by Nautilus, at 
http://www.nautilus.org/fora/security/0508A_FosterCarter.html 
Most recently (as at 11 Feb.) I'm back in Asia Times Online after a longish 
silence, with two pieces: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GB11Dg05.html , 
www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GB12Dg01.html
The former, slightly revised, is also on PacNet t: 
http://www.csis.org/pacfor/pac0506A.pdf 
- and also on Nautilus, at 
http://www.nautilus.org/fora/security/0516A_Carter.html
PS Very latest (7 March) on Asia Times at 
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GC08Dg01.html







Having followed this thread with what I trust is 

In a message dated 08/03/2005 16:01:11 GMT Standard Time, 
hyungpai at yahoo.co.jp writes:


> Subj:Re: [KS] Question on colonial photography  
> Date:08/03/2005 16:01:11 GMT Standard Time
> From:hyungpai at yahoo.co.jp
> To:Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Sent from the Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> Dear Mr. Burgeson and members,
> I have also seen such photos taken by Western commercial
> photographers who resided in the foreign port cities in
> Japan. They were taken in Bakumatsu period and they were
> included in a catalogue from the Peabody Museum at Harvard
> University in the mid 1980's.
> I did go to see this exhibition when I was a student but
> thought they were considered "artistic" photos but not
> pornorgraphic. Young women are usually showed in various
> states of undress either lounging around or in front of
> the cosmetic mirror. I believe at this period it is 
> probably a fine-line between art and pornography. 
> But I agree with you there must have been a market for
> these images because it is obvious they were carefully
> staged and some are even colored at commercial photo
> studios. The fact that the Peabody Museum at Salem and
> Harvard own the collections now is indication that they
> were acquired during part of the international
> import/export trading network with the port of Boston port
> and the Far East.
> When I get back to the U.S.  I will look at this
> catalogue again but I do not believe there was anything in
> the text by the authors about women's bodies and colonial
> desire or gaze. I guess this exhibition happened before
> the proliferation of cultural studies perspectives. 
> 
> --- "J.Scott Burgeson" <jsburgeson at yahoo.com> ?????
> ???:
> > 
> > --- Pai hyungil <hyungpai at yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
> > 
> > > In my recent research on photography in the early
> > > colonial era, I have come across quite a few
> > images
> > of Korean women, such as haenyo (diving women) and
> > country women with exposed breasts. 
> > > Was this part of the male photographers'
> > fascination
> > > with the exotic/erotic female? 
> > 
> > 
> > Apparently an underground photographic pornography
> > market also existed in Korea since at least late
> > Choson/late 19th century. Although I have not seen
> > such images myself as they are extremeley rare,
> > collectors describe intentionally sexualized images
> > of
> > topless Korean women (i.e., exposed breasts but not
> > genitalia) posing seated in interior spaces
> > alongside
> > Korean men. It is probable that these images were
> > taken by visiting Japanese photographers aiming for
> > a
> > Japanese or foreign market. Such images are clearly
> > different from those everyday life portraits
> > described
> > above, and were no doubt meant for purposes of
> > "erotic" arousal...
> >  --Scott Bug 
> 

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