Discussion
On May 31st, 2022, No.266 Japan Specialist Seminar was hosted via webinar. With 20 participants, Sunhee Koo, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology from University of Auckland gave a lecture titled: “The Identity of Zainichi Korean & the Formation and the Significance of Transnational Culture via the Zainichi Performance Culture”. The below is the summary.
Dr.Koo first introduced the culture, arts and history of Zainichi. Traditional Korean arts functioned as an important tool for education of diasporic Korean ethinic identity and its formation. The arts also contributed as a cultural agency via transnational cultures for 2-4th generation Zainichi to embody globalization by overcoming the walls of ethnicity, state and cultural borders. .
The presenter mainly introduced the cases of Zainichi artists Yongsoo Ha, Youngchi Min and Gookjeon Kim who play percussion mostly. She shed a light on how these artists performed across Korea, Japan and other nations; how their performances contributed to the complexity of Zainichi cultural identity and transnational Korean cultural formation.
A Q/A followed after the presentation. There was a question regarding the Zainichi responses to South Korean researchers who categorize Zainichi as diaspora or a group with the 3rd identity. Dr.Koo answered with the case of Min, who recognized, and was taken advantage of, a gap between the sef-recognized identity and the social identity. She agreed that caution is needed to not simplify their complex identity.
Additional questions such as Korean governmental support to Zainichi cultural groups ; transnational music; Zainichi identity formation through arts but not languages; the formation and influence of unique Zainichi identity were made.
