Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, East Asian Languages and Literatures

Even after more than a century of linguistic research, the question of whether the Japanese and Korean languages share a common origin remains unanswered. This dissertation presents evidence for a comprehensive theory that Japanese and Korean descend from the same ancestor language, `proto Korean Japanese'. I employ the Comparative Method of historical linguistics (Campbell 1999, Hock & Joseph, 1996) to propose over 500 Korean Japanese related words that build on the foundations laid by Martin (1966) and Whitman (1985). I also offer original theories of how the Japanese and Korean grammatical systems can be traced back to a common proto Korean Japanese grammar, and explain how such grammatical correspondences are unlikely to be the result of borrowing or chance. This means that related words and grammatical structures can only be explained as inheritances from the same source language. Finally, I discuss how the most reasonable interpretations of non linguistic evidence from Korean and Japanese history also point to common linguistic ancestry. Crucially, this dissertation is able to identify a significantly greater number of shared Korean Japanese words than previous research such as Martin (1966) or Whitman (1985), who have previously underestimated the amount of shift in grammar and meaning that has taken place in both languages. This dissertation thus establishes a strong set of core correspondences in the vocabulary of Japanese to that of Korean, and provides a solid basis for positing common origin for these two languages.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, History of Art

The Mireuksa, literally, “Temple of the Future Buddha Maitreya,” was built during the reign of King Mu (r. 600–41) of the Baekje dynasty (18 BCE–660CE), Korea. It was constructed as the grand imperial temple of the kingdom, and has a distinct ground-plan with three pagodas and three image halls. No other temples with such a layout have been discovered in East Asia to date. Therefore, this temple has attracted the attention of numerous scholars of Buddhist studies. Although the impressive remains of the Mireuksa have been the topic of several monographic studies in Korean, a comprehensive analysis has been lacking. By means of a thorough examination of the written documents, material remains, temple plan, contemporaneous images of Maitreya (Ch. Mile, Kr. Mireuk, Jp. Miroku) in East Asian Buddhist art, and most importantly, the historical temple –construction traditions of East Asia, I hope to provide such a comprehensive study. The investigation of the written evidence about the Mireuksa, in particular, the golden reliquary plate that was written and installed in the west pagoda in 639, has revealed important evidence of Buddhist practice associated with the temple construction. Fulfilling the devotional purpose of the Sakyamuni Buddha's relics, the reliquary plate reveals the belief of the king and the queen as Buddha, based on the Buddha–land concept, and also a definitive declaration of royal authority. Along with an ardent dedication to Buddhism, the inscription also provides the Baekje court's deep awareness of Buddhist practice, including veneration of the Buddha relic, and beliefs in karma, and concept of tathagatagarbha (Buddha essence in every individual). The comprehensive exploration of the Mireuksa temple plan within the East Asian temple construction tradition has shown that the temple design of the Mireuksa is derived from the “one pagoda, one image hall” plan, namely the Yongningsi plan in China, the Baekje plan in Korea, and the Shitenno (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, English-Literature

Read together, non-fiction, fiction, and poetry of the Korean War, from American, British, and Korean perspectives, inform one another to create a complex and engaging look into "the forgotten war." Taking a look at National Security documents from the Truman administration as well as Bruce Cumings' War in Korea, the Korean War might be understood from a historical perspective. Now read the fiction and poetry inspired by the war, about the war, sometimes by artists who served in the war, and the cracks begin to show in the master narrative that dictated American and allied nations' policy and action in the Korean conflict. Themes addressed in this thesis are "military readiness", "demeanor and performance", "brutal methods", "politics and propaganda", "bigotry and racism", "counter-culture" and more. The critical approaches used include new historicism, ecocriticism, deconstructionism, and others.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, East Asian Studies

This thesis examines the interpretation and representation of Korea and Korean people through Korean art and material culture at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1914 – 1945). To meet these ends, this research focuses on contextualizing the museum and its Korean art collection through an intersectional lens that considers both Japanese colonial and Western hegemonies. This contextualization reveals how the purposes of the modernist, universal survey museum and the hermeneutics of Japanese colonial historiography of Korea and Eurocentric Orientalism incorporated the ways that Euro-Americans appropriated Korean material culture into the museum to understand Korean civilization and people, thus reproducing Japanese colonial hegemony over Korea and validating Western colonial-imperial hegemonies generally. Based on articles from The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art and other primary sources, Korea typically occupied a position under Japan in the museum's iconographic program. Similarly, museum professionals at CMA, such as Langdon and Lorraine D'O. Warner, were directly involved with the Japanese colonial apparatus in Korea, and admired its colonial efforts. I argue that this resulted in the double Orientalization of Korea, as such researchers adapted Japanese colonial knowledge about Korean material culture for the purposes of Western enlightenment, resulting in Korea becoming both the West's and Japan's inferior Other in the museum space.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2019, History

The Korean War is often remembered in America's public spaces with the phrase "The Forgotten War." It is also remembered as a war that is overshadowed by the legacy and remembrance of World War II and the Vietnam War. Both forgotten and overshadowed are not accurate words to describe the public or collective memory surrounding the Korean War because there are many places around the country that exist for the purpose of remembering the war. These places include war memorials, monuments, and museum exhibits that feature the bravery and courage the service members exhibited while defending American values abroad. Through a nationwide material cultural study, it has become clear that the Korean War is in fact remembered and has been remembered for a while. Many memorials around the country were built and dedicated in the 1990s, and the planning and design for these began even earlier. Korea was also remembered in the nation's capital with a national war memorial on the National Mall that was dedicated before a memorial for World War II was ever constructed. This thesis is focused on exploring how the war has been remembered and future efforts being put in place to ensure that the memory of the Korean War lives on. These efforts are to ensure that the memory does not fade into the background as white noise like older war memorials like those for World War I.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2018, Speech Language Pathology

Speech comprehension in multitalker backgrounds is particularly challenging for non-native listeners. Previous studies have shown that although native listeners consistently outperform non-native listeners in listening comprehension tasks, both native and non-native listeners are sensitive to dialectal cues in target and masking speech when targets are presented in background babble of varying intensities. The present study examined the listening comprehension skills of 24 Korean-English bilingual listeners who were presented with sentence stimuli in two-talker babble. Stimuli and babble were comprised of two dialects, General American English (GAE) and Southern American English (SAE), which were systematically varied throughout testing at three signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). In a previous study by Fox, Jacewicz, and Hardjono (2014), the nonnative (Indonesian-English bilingual) pattern of responses was highly similar to that of native GAE listeners in the +3 and -3 dB SNR conditions, but differed at the 0 dB condition. The present study aimed to determine whether or not these results are replicable in a comparable group of non-native bilinguals with a different L1 (Korean). Results revealed that the pattern of responses matched that of Fox et al. (2014) in all conditions; like both Indonesian listeners and monolingual GAE listeners, Korean listeners performed best when target sentences were in SAE at the +3 dB and -3 dB SNR conditions. However, like Indonesian listeners, the Korean listeners demonstrated no benefit from the acoustic features of SAE targets at the 0 dB SNR condition. These findings suggest that bilinguals are consistent in their comprehension of target sentences in masking speech irrespective of their L1 background; unlike at +3 dB and -3 dB conditions, at 0 dB SNR, nonnative listeners exhibit a decreased ability to attend to phonetic details of regional dialects.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Musicology

Ever since South Korea's popular entertainment industry began to produce musical talents that appeared less than organic and self-made, questions about the legitimacy of those musicians have plagued the products, as they were, of the industry. Those questions concern less the mechanics of what constitutes a musician—a person who engages in music-making—and more the moral judgment that underlies music production, performance, and consumption, regarding what one should expect from a worthwhile musical act. The increasing exposure and popularity of a growing subset of Korean popular music branded as “K-pop” in the West invite the question: what drives so many musicians from South Korea to have constructed a musical tradition that so closely mirrors its Western counterpart yet seems different enough from the latter to attract curious foreign listeners? Questions like this are worth asking because the structure of the post-1990s popular entertainment industry of South Korea, conglomeratized and micromanaged, effectively ensures that it produces nothing without first vetting and strategically crafting it. The outward-looking, arguably passive mode of reception and standard-setting, I theorize, largely stems from the country's modern history of having foreign powers determine its political position and fate as a nation: first the Japanese during the colonial occupation that lasted from 1905 to 1945, then the American with their postwar military and cultural influx. This political and cultural climate forms a backdrop to the construction of Korean modernity as well as a Korean sonic national identity that musicians I discuss in this project construct. In this project, I present ways in which different historical and stylistic moments in Korean popular music—the love song (turotu), rock of the 1970s onward, folk, and turn-of-the-century idol pop—exhibited what I call the foreign vogue, as well as how the television as the preferred medium for musical consumption reinforc (open full item for complete abstract)

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2018, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

The Blue Bird was inspired by a Korean traditional folk song called Saeya Saeya, Parang Saeya, literally "Bird, Bird, Blue Bird." The song is easily recognizable, with its plaintive melody consisting of three pitches (D, G, and A). The origin of this song is unclear, but the dominant view is that it refers to the Korean general Bong-Joon Juhn, who led a peasant revolution in the late 19th century. General Juhn, known by his nickname the "Green Bean General", rose up against the corrupt ruling class, and his army of farmers swept through large parts of the Korean peninsula before those in power called on Japanese troops to intervene. General Juhn was captured and beheaded in 1895. My piece consists of four dramatic movements with poetic narrator of General Juhn. I borrowed the melody from Saeya Saeya Parang Saeya. Its intervallic structure, featuring the major second, perfect fourth and fifth intervals plays an important role in each movement, with several melodic subjects including other intervals derived from transforming that collection.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, History

My project examines the formation, activation, and first forty-six months of life of the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA/the Agency), designed to render civilian-sector aid to South Korea during and after the Korean War. The offspring of American priorities, interests, and majority funding, UNKRA was inextricably implicated in the Cold War. Although initially conceived as a possible template for future United Nations aid to other countries, the late 1950 retreat of anti-Communist forces in the Korean War stunted the Agency's potential, and created for it a most difficult organizational life. Employing a combination of archives left by UNKRA and its top three major backer states (the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada), as well as the papers of persons with a connection to the Agency, I seize upon two themes to argue that UNKRA was less thoroughly co-opted by the United States than suggested by the Agency's context, and by the background of its two sequential leaders: Agents General J. Donald Kingsley (former Truman Administration employee and head of the International Refugee Organization [IRO]), and John B. Coulter (former U.S. Army Lieutenant-General). Specifically, and in part building on threads within existing scholarship, I argue that 1) the willfulness of UNKRA's leaders, and 2) their respective positive attitudes towards the U.N. system, contributed to the Agency's limited but notable resistance against United States direction — at least below the level of major policy. By the standards of more structurally independent parts of the United Nations system, UNKRA's resistance to United States suggestion was not impressive. However, the context of UNKRA's incredibly United States-centric existence creates a different standard for judging the Agency. That UNKRA's first leader (Kingsley) sought to transform the Agency into something grand, expansive, and probably permanent may not have been appropriate to UNKRA's stunted situation, (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1994, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1977, Graduate School

MINTD, University of Cincinnati, 2017, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Interior Design

Since the ceasefire between the two Koreas in 1953, there have been various provocative actions in North Korea and South Korea. After North and South Korea were separated, their social systems were developed based on how the two countries have been constructed, North Korea with a socialist ideology and South Korea with a national capitalist ideology. Currently, there is a village, Daesong-dong `freedom' village, in the Southern part of the Demilitarized Zone, which is located along the Border line and was first established on August, 1953 based on the “Agreement About Civilian's Entrance Into DMZ”. Daesong-dong Village is the one of two villages that exist in each side of the DMZ. The other village is Kijong-Dong, a village of `Peace' in North Korea, which is located only 1.11mile straight away from the Daesong-dong village. They were once neighboring villages with lot's of interaction, however, the 60 years of extreme isolation has resulted in a huge disconnection and limitation on cooperation. The goal of this project is to create a place for reunification without any consideration of the border line or military force in the location of the Joint Security Area, the only place in the middle of the border that can facilitate coexistence between the two Koreas. It will be a new identity and a new geography – a creation of one organization of a united mindset and dissolution of the border – that will dissolve the contrasting powers and ideologies. By providing a place on the border line, there will be an opportunity to create moments that were possible in past, in the present. This is best exemplified by the room for the tea ceremony, a traditional ceremony from Korea's past, present in the building of Borderless.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2016, History

M*A*S*H is an iconic, eleven season (1972-1983), American television series that was produced on the tail end of the Vietnam War during a period of upheaval for the American public. Set in Korea during the Korean War, M*A*S*H was a satire on the war in Vietnam. As a result, M*A*S*H presents numerous Asian (Korean) characters throughout the series, but often in limited, stereotypical roles. Despite producing America's most watched final season episode; "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen," and being granted several Emmy nominations and awards, M*A*S*H has all but evaded lengthy academic study. This thesis primarily uses newspapers, both local and national, to understand how Asian stereotypes are presented in M*A*S*H with relationship to American society. Through the analysis of seven Asian-centered character roles, including; farmer/villager, houseboy/housekeeper, prostitute, war bride, peddler/hustler, orphan, and enemy, I explore the foundations of these stereotypes as well as how they were being utilized to reassure Americans of their own communal, Cold War, beliefs in a time of distress. I explore how these roles change and adapt over the course of the series and what may be motivating these changes, such as the Asian-American, Civil Rights and women's rights movements, and changing Cold War ideologies and objectives.

PHD, Kent State University, 2015, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of South Korean immigrant parents who have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants in this study were interviewed utilizing the phenomenological qualitative research method. The participants were asked to answer semi-structure open-ended questions throughout two to three interviews. The participants in this study were six South Korean immigrant parents, ages 36-48, of children who have been diagnosed with ASD. The results of this study suggest five major themes supported by the data provided by each participant. The themes were: a) Familial support during adjustment, b) Religion and spirituality, c) Guilt and shame over diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, d) Bitterness, and e) Cultural differences during adjustment. More details were covered under each sub-theme of the major themes. Further research should be completed in order to study more South Korean immigrant parents from different parts of the country. The research can also extend to other Asian and minority populations, such as Chinese and Japanese immigrants, who share the same views of shame, guilt, and embarrassment toward individuals with special needs.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Womens Studies

The Korean War (1950-1953) produced tremendous geopolitical effects, which shaped Cold War politics worldwide. The war also sparked the rise of transnational adoptions and positioned Korea as the primary leader of these global exchanges. Since the war’s end, more than 200,000 Korean children have been sent to the West. Two-thirds of these children entered the United States – the world’s largest receiving country of foreign adoptions. The majority of these Korean adoptees grew up in white families, making these kinship units not only transnational but also transracial. Utilizing South Korea as a case study, my dissertation investigates four implications of these transnational and transracial adoptions: (1) the growth of what I characterize as the transnational adoption industrial complex – a neo-colonial, multi-million dollar industry that commodifies children’s bodies; (2) Korean adoptees’ greater access to American citizenship and naturalization due to their membership in the white, heteronormative family compared to other Asian immigrants; (3) the adoptive families’ disruption of traditional white and Asian American families, which are largely conceptualized as a same-race, genetically related units; and (4) recognition of adoptees as adults, who are experts in their own experiences, rather than perpetual children continually spoken for by adoptive parents and adoption practitioners. Cumulatively, this research underscores how transnational, transracial adoption changes the American and Korean landscape. Drawing from archival sources, interviews, and adult adoptee print and online writings, I challenge the portrayal of international adoption as solely an act of humanitarianism and child rescue. Instead, I contend that adoption is linked to American Cold War ambitions, including the desire to promote democracy abroad. In other words, transnational adoption allowed everyday Americans to join in the fight again (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2013, Population and Social Gerontology

Filial piety is a Confucian concept that structures traditional East Asian cultures and one's role in the family and society. Family dynamics are evolving as a result of globalization and shift in care for elders as well as children-rearing by East Asian families should be at the forefront of research. This pilot study of Korean families living in Thailand uses qualitative ethnographic research method. Data collection techniques combine snowball sampling of 5 informants, in-depth interviews and participant observations. Data collection took place in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. This study analyzes the definition of filial piety, definition of dutiful child/son/daughter, practices by Koreans living in Thailand, and aspects of the Korean community in Thailand. Results of this comparative content analysis show differing definitions of filial piety and dutiful child/son/daughter, adapted practices, varying emphasis on celebration of traditional holidays, and surprising aspects of the Korean community living in Thailand.

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Arts and Sciences: Anthropology

This study explores the attitudes of immigrant Korean caregivers and their experiences of caring for an elderly relative in the context of adaptive processes in the United States. Focusing on how living in a host country affects the attitudes and values of these caregivers, this study employs a descriptive, case study approach aimed at documenting and better understanding Korean caregivers' attitudes towards elderly care and decision making in end-of-life care. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with four Korean participants residing in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio in 2010. Five aspects of elderly care were addressed: (1) Experiences of caregivers with the Elderly; (2) Caregivers' attitudes towards aging and death; (3) Caregivers' experiences with caregiving; (4) Use and knowledge of health care services among caregivers, and (5) Caregivers' attitudes towards end-of-life care and decision making. Analysis of transcripts suggests that first-generation immigrants retain a strong sense of filial piety and duty toward parents, but separated from the wider family network, they often struggle to provide for their parents in the traditional manner. Not all of the caregivers were familiar with advanced directives, but all expressed concerns with Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders which can conflict with traditional Korean end-of-life values wherein family members make decisions on behalf of their elderly relative. Many Koreans are misinformed about important subjects such as advance directives, hospice care and Life Sustaining Technology (LST). Health care professionals can benefit from reading this study by identifying caregivers and educating them on these subjects in a culturally sensitive manner.

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2002, College-Conservatory of Music : Piano

Even though Korea has had contact with Western music for only about one hundred years, Western music has become the mainstream music in South Korea. With the reconsideration of the dominance of Western musical culture, self-criticism of the musical situation began in the 1960s, dealing with two main subjects: understanding the problems of contemporary Korean music in its social context, and the search for ideal music for Korea. Following the theoretical development, various musical experiments have been attempted to address the notion of a new contemporary Korean music which uniquely expresses Korean cultural and national identity and which, at the same time, is universal in appeal to the world. The purpose of this thesis is to provide insights into the musical changes which have taken place in South Korea since the introduction of Western music and to bring to light how Korean composers have attempted to make a new Korean musical language. This thesis is organized into two chapters. Chapter I provides the historical perspectives of Korean music in order to comprehend how the new musical Korean tradition has been formed in contemporary music. It is divided into two sections. The first part traces the introduction of Western music in Korea, and describes phenomena that have appeared in the musical society of Korea after the introduction of Western music. Specifically, dynamic relationships between the two musical cultures, Western and traditional Korean music, are examined in terms of historical, political, and cultural changes in Korea since the late nineteenth century. This discussion also emphasizes how contemporary Korean composers made attempts to develop Korean music with a national identity with the changes of the times. The second part deals with Korean traditional music which is a source of inspiration and materials in contemporary compositions. Chapter II analyzes four selected solo piano works: Korean Dance Suite (1966) by Hoe-Kap Chung, Drei Bagatellen (1 (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Music

This study contributes to understanding diaspora and its music cultures by examining the Korean genre of p'ungmul as a particular site of continuous and dynamic cultural socio-political exchange between the homeland and the host society. As practiced in Los Angeles and New York City, this genre of percussion music and dance is shaped by Korean cultural politics, intellectual ideologies and institutions as p'ungmul practitioners in the United States seek performance aesthetics that fit into new performance contexts. This project first describes these contexts by tracing the history of Korean emigration to the United States and identifying the characteristics of immigrant communities in Los Angeles and New York City. While the p'ungmul troupes developed by Korean political refugees, who arrived during the 1980s, show the influence of the minjung cultural movement in Korea, cultural politics of the Korean government also played an important role in stimulating Korean American performers to learn traditional Korean performing arts by sending troupes to the United States. The dissertation then analyzes the various methods by which p'ungmul is transmitted in the United States, including the different methods of teaching and learning p'ungmul—writing verbalizations of instrumental sounds on paper, score, CD/DVD, and audio/video files found on the internet—and the cognitive consequences of those methods. The ways in which immigrants teach and learn p'ungmul have brought standardization to performance practices and enabled Korean American p'ungmul practitioners to learn performance styles currently popular in Korea. This project shows the culture of p'ungmul in the United States to be highly flexible, as Korean American performers utilize different performance instrumentation, repertoire, and aesthetics depending on different audiences, performance venues, aims, and performance contexts. Depending on where they are performing or for whom, they alternate between highly virtuo (open full item for complete abstract)