Transcolonial nationhood: Global interplay in Irish and Korean national theatre

This dissertation shows how colonial Irish and colonial Korean dramatists interweaved foreign modes and methods of staging nationhood into their narratives. I examine how theatre becomes a site in which the colonized subjects stage plays that represent their own nationhood. This research compares two specific instances of national theatre establishment in Colonial Korea and Colonial Ireland, and the transnational and intercultural influences that worked on both national theatres. I examine the parallels between the two cases, in which the dramatists try to develop and establish a national theatre by referencing drama and theatre across one or more cultures. This allows the dramatists to locate their own theatre tradition in the global context, as well as to relate to other communities and nations to address their domestic concerns. The examples of the Korean and Irish national theatres established in the late stages of their respective colonial eras will demonstrate how the national theatre was established as a means to resist colonial oppression by representing their own people on stage, while at the same time serving as a means to establish their presence as a national theatre tradition in the context of world literature. I focus on the initial stages of the national theatre in Korea and Ireland, which began in the later stages of colonial rule, comparing how the plays were structured, types of literary movements that the works belonged to, and most importantly, the emphasis on national identity. This research points out the limitations of postcolonial theories which rely on the West vs. Non-West model of colonialism, as well as common misuse of theories of Orientalism and Westernization when discussing modern national traditions. By introducing these two theatre traditions to the discussions of colonial and postcolonial theatre, I promote comparative studies of colonial narratives from empires and regions that are left out of postcolonial research, which is concerned with European empires and its colonies, and question existing ideas of global postcolonialisms and nationalisms.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Comparative Literature

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Hwang, Ji Hyea

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tierney, Robert
• Hassan, Waïl S
• Mahaffey, Vicki
• Markley, Robert
• Kwon, Nayoung A

• Colonial Theatre
• National Theatre
• Transcolonialism
• Irish Drama
• Korean Drama

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Ji Hyea Hwang

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115911

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115911