Between the Devil and the Deep Sea: The Korean American War for Independence (1910-1945)

<p>From 1910 to 1945, while the Korean peninsula was a protectorate- and eventual colony- of the Empire of Japan, Koreans in the United States began an arduous process to maintain their sense of identity in a new land, and struggled to have a voice in a society that rejected their race. As a people in diasporic exile, Korean Americans engaged in a collective war for their independence by gathering resources to liberate Korea and committing extraordinary effort to deconstruct contrived stereotypes of Koreans. There are a number of forms of primary sources that corroborate the major arguments of the thesis, including early Korean American- and American- newspaper reporting, first-hand testimonials, propaganda editorials, military and government documents, statements, and letters.</p> <p>This thesis was written in the early months of 2020, a time when Asian culture and acknowledgement of Asian American contributions was at its height, only to have it come crashing down to one of its lowest points. At the start of February, the South Korean thriller <em>Parasite </em>became the first foreign film to receive the Academy Award for “Best Picture”, and, just over a week later, California had issued its first official apology for its role in the internment of the Japanese. Then, almost as quickly as the successes came, an explosion of anti-Asian sentiment swept the globe in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Known as the “Yellow Peril”, the latent feelings of anger and discrimination erased any sense of ambiguous racism, effectively overturning decades of meticulously crafted progress by countless people. But this struggle is merely another battle in an endless war, as Korean Americans cope with the generalized and misdirected racism that the older generations had faced. However, as racism engenders hardships and a new need to validate themselves and their fidelity to American values, Korean Americans will demonstrate once again perseverance and sacrifice to bring a better future, just as they did during their war for independence.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

War and Society

Year

2020

Author dc:creator

• Chae, Andrew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stephanie Takaragawa
• Michael Wood
• Rei Magosaki

• Korean American
• World War II
• Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
• South Korea
• the Korean War
• Japanese Americans
• Internment Camps
• Executive Order 9066
• Manzanar
• Los Angeles
• Riverside
• Hawaii
• Orange County
• Ahn Chang Ho
• Kim Young Oak
• Susan Ahn Cuddy
• Philip Ahn
• Fred Ohr
• Syngman Rhee
• William Jennings Bryan
• Korean National Association
• Koreatown
• COVID-19
• Parasite
• Hollywood
• Asian Americans
• The Yellow Peril
• Xenophobia
• Dr. Seuss
• Hannah Nixon
• Whittier
• Hemet Valley Incident
• Pearl Harbor
• Tiger Brigade
• Red Cross
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Theodore Teddy Roosevelt
• John DeWitt
• Asian History
• Cultural History
• Diplomatic History
• History of the Pacific Islands
• United States History

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/war_and_society_theses/12

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:war_and_society_theses-1012