[KS] historical uses of the Korean term YO^BO

[Michael Pettid]

I might add that the term yObo is also used in Hawaii as a blanket term for Koreans in general.  Like many designators for the various ethnic groups in Hawaii, the term does not necessarily carry a negative connotation (although it certainly could).  

Michael Pettid

--- On Tue, 8/11/09, Theodore Hughes <th2150 at columbia.edu> wrote:

> From: Theodore Hughes <th2150 at columbia.edu>
> Subject: Re: [KS] historical uses of the Korean term YO^BO
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 1:44 AM
> Just to clarify, and in response to
> several queries outside of the
> list, the usage of "yobo" I refer to in my previous post is
> camptown
> specific,  appropriated in G.I./camptown Korean in the
> third-person,
> related, I am guessing, more to the second-person term of
> endearment
> similar to "honey" in "standard" Korean than to the
> pejorative "yobo"
> used by Japanese settler colonialists (although we probably
> can't rule
> out a connection to the latter). My sense of the Japanese
> colonialist
> usage, at least as it appears in colonial-period Korean
> literary texts, is
> that it is not so distant in meaning from the various
> racist terms we
> encounter so often in Euro-American colonialism.
> 
> Ted Hughes
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting Theodore Hughes <th2150 at columbia.edu>:
> 
> > In the post-1945 camptown context, the term "yobo"
> used to refer to
> > live-in Korean sex workers, often paid on a monthly
> basis in cash or
> > black market profits (sometimes a combination of the
> two) to service
> > U.S. military personnel.
> >
> > Ted Hughes
> >
> >
> > Quoting dmccann at fas.harvard.edu:
> >
> >> We know how it was used between spouses in the
> 1960's, yes?  Do we   
> >>    know the song
> >> "Hey," by Julio Iglesia?  It just puts into
> song form what people    
> >>  do  with that
> >> word when they wish to speak fondly to
> one-another.  We also know    
> >>   how it can be
> >> used for quite the other way effect as well. 
> Probably the same effect, by
> >> extension, with the phrase "Hey you:" falling
> intonation, one thing; equal
> >> strong emphasis, something else entirely.  I
> noma: Boston pronoz     
> >> for  the former
> >> Red Sox player.  But I digress.
> >>
> >> DM
> >>
> >>
> >> Quoting Richardson <richardson at dprkstudies.org>:
> >>
> >>> All,
> >>>
> >>> I'm also interested in the use of "yobo" as a
> derogatory term for
> >>> Koreans as used by Japanese.  Currently
> reading "The Clan Records: Five
> >>> Stories of Korea" by Kajiyama Toshiyuki, I
> very recently ran across the
> >>> term in two of three chapters read so
> far.  Up to now I'd thought
> >>> perhaps the author had misremembered some
> phrase, but it seems not. From
> >>> page 12 of the book;
> >>>
> >>>    Despite the slogan "Japan and
> Korea Unified," the Japaneses scorned
> >>>    the Koreans.  Even Japanese
> children showed contempt, using
> >>>    expressions like /yobo/, which
> Koreans deeply resented.  A Koran
> >>>    word, /yobo/ originally meant
> "hello," but in the mouths of Japanese
> >>>    ti implied "you slave."
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> V/R,
> >>> Richardson
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Todd Henry wrote:
> >>>> Dear all:
> >>>>
> >>>> I am currently completing an article on
> colonial racialization with a
> >>>> focus on how Japanese settlers and
> journalists appropriated the native
> >>>> term "yo^bo" to derogatorily refer to
> colonized Koreans, particularly
> >>>> lower class laborers.  I am also
> analyzing Korean critiques to this
> >>>> racialized usage of "yo^bo," but am not
> completely satisfied with the
> >>>> explanations they (the Korean critics)
> give as to the social etymology
> >>>> of this term.
> >>>>
> >>>> I would, therefore, be interested in any
> scholarship (or other
> >>>> information) that deals with how this term
> was used during the late
> >>>> Cho^son period and into the colonial
> period.  It would also interest
> >>>> me to hear more about
> post-liberation/colonial uses of "yo^bo" and if
> >>>> they had anything to do with the sort of
> derogatory usages I have been
> >>>> investigating from the colonial period.
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks in advance for your guidance and
> help.
> >>>>
> >>>> Todd A. Henry
> >>>>
> >>>> Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
> (2008-9)
> >>>> Korea Institute, Harvard University
> >>>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> Assistant Professor in Residence
> >>>> University of California-San Diego
> >>>> Department of History
> >>>>
> >>>> Humanities and Social Sciences Building
> Room 3008
> >>>> 9500 Gilman Drive
> >>>> La Jolla, CA 92093-0104
> >>>>
> >>>> Phone: (858) 534-1996
> >>>> Email: tahenry at ucsd.edu
> <mailto:tahenry at ucsd.edu>
> >>>> Webpage: http://historyweb.ucsd.edu/
> >>>>
> >>>
> >> <https://mail.ucsd.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=2b030e9cd5804b7496e5a95e1f07afb0&URL=http%3a%2f%2fhistoryweb.ucsd.edu%2f>
> >>>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> Get back to school stuff for them and
> cashback for you. Try Bing now.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >> <http://www.bing.com/cashback?form=MSHYCB&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MSHYCB_BackToSchool_Cashback_BTSCashback_1x1>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > -- 
> > Theodore Hughes
> > Assistant Professor of Modern Korean Literature
> > M.A. Program Coordinator
> > Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
> > Columbia University
> > 407 Kent Hall
> > New York, NY 10027
> >
> > Tel: (212) 854-8545
> > Fax: (212) 678-8629
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Theodore Hughes
> Assistant Professor of Modern Korean Literature
> M.A. Program Coordinator
> Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
> Columbia University
> 407 Kent Hall
> New York, NY 10027
> 
> Tel: (212) 854-8545
> Fax: (212) 678-8629
> 
> 
> 
>