Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Post-Confucianism and colonialism

There has been quite a lot of discussion about post-colonialism (though I'm still not quite sure what that is), but it seems that Korean post-Confucianism is taking on elements of colonialism, as more and more Koreans adopt Western feminism, and reject the values of confucian society that stressed the importance of family and blood ties.

donga.com[English donga]:
Heo La-geum, professor of women’s studies at Ewha, says she often sees students who do not use their surnames in her classes. “In certain cases, people used the surnames of both parents to protest the patriarchal family system, but some criticized that using the surname itself is jus sanguinis,” she said.

“Since Korean culture has been heavily influenced by the Confucian practice of stressing blood ties, some are trying not to use their surnames as part of a cultural campaign.”


Some Asian societies, however, have not yet adopted surnames, as we have seen in some Sri Lankan cricketers, who simply have one name.

2 comments:

Richard Fairhead said...

I used to think of colonial and post-colonial like you used here. A Nigerian friend said he thought the definitions were wrong and should be colonial, anti-colonial and finally post-colonial. What I think you are seeing here is not post-confusionism but anti-confusionism which is a stepping stone towards, but not yest reached, post-confusionism.

Steve Hayes said...

And I still haven't managed to get hold of a copy of Said's Orientalism. which I'm told will reveal all.