Vietnamese Reception Of Soft Masculinities In Korean Television Dramas: Desires, Identifications, And Gender

<p><b>This doctoral thesis explores Vietnamese audience reception of soft masculinities, defined by the aestheticisation and romantic idealisation of male characters, in South Korean television dramas (K-dramas). Based on interview data collected in 2019, the thesis focuses on patterns of gendered desire, identification, and negotiation in viewers in their 20s and 30s. It highlights the popularity of K-dramas in Vietnam, which have established an enduring presence there since the late 1990s, overlapping with ongoing changes in gender relations following the introduction of the 1986 Đổi Mới (reform) policy, marked by Vietnam’s transition to a market economy and gradual integration into global trade. The thesis demonstrates how the spread of this “Korean Wave” is correlated with a changing local mediascape, the rise of a consumer culture, and a growing interest in exploring the self.</b></p> <p> In this thesis, I adopt the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) method, which draws on the solicitation of free talk and storytelling and psychosocial attention to case studies in order to connect interview participants’ biographical details with their viewing experiences. The study is influenced by Judith Butler’s theoretical work on gender and performativity, as well as related material by scholars such as Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. I highlight how a nuanced understanding of the viewing experience treats it as a complex process linked to an individual’s biographical details and explore how this process intertwines with larger sociocultural contexts, including local norms, Confucian values, feminism, Western gender images, notions of modernity, and globalised aesthetic ideals. The study reveals that although gendered desires and identifications are shaped by norms, they can also subvert them, and thus provides empirical evidence for Butler’s theories from a Vietnamese context. It also shows that desires and identifications that result from engagement with fantasy on screen may follow viewers’ personalised logics and open up multiple avenues for interpretations. Prominent themes of viewing experiences in relation to soft masculinities analysed in this thesis include escapism, parasocial interactions with characters, romantic imaginations, melancholic identification with romantic relationships on screen, desires for upward mobility, queer pleasures, ambivalence, and disidentification. The thesis thus contributes to contemporary Vietnamese studies, gender studies, psychosocial studies, media audience studies, and research on the Korean Wave.</p>

Vietnamese Reception Of Soft Masculinities In Korean Television Dramas: Desires, Identifications, And Gender

<p><b>This doctoral thesis explores Vietnamese audience reception of soft masculinities, defined by the aestheticisation and romantic idealisation of male characters, in South Korean television dramas (K-dramas). Based on interview data collected in 2019, the thesis focuses on patterns of gendered desire, identification, and negotiation in viewers in their 20s and 30s. It highlights the popularity of K-dramas in Vietnam, which have established an enduring presence there since the late 1990s, overlapping with ongoing changes in gender relations following the introduction of the 1986 Đổi Mới (reform) policy, marked by Vietnam’s transition to a market economy and gradual integration into global trade. The thesis demonstrates how the spread of this “Korean Wave” is correlated with a changing local mediascape, the rise of a consumer culture, and a growing interest in exploring the self.</b></p> <p> In this thesis, I adopt the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) method, which draws on the solicitation of free talk and storytelling and psychosocial attention to case studies in order to connect interview participants’ biographical details with their viewing experiences. The study is influenced by Judith Butler’s theoretical work on gender and performativity, as well as related material by scholars such as Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. I highlight how a nuanced understanding of the viewing experience treats it as a complex process linked to an individual’s biographical details and explore how this process intertwines with larger sociocultural contexts, including local norms, Confucian values, feminism, Western gender images, notions of modernity, and globalised aesthetic ideals. The study reveals that although gendered desires and identifications are shaped by norms, they can also subvert them, and thus provides empirical evidence for Butler’s theories from a Vietnamese context. It also shows that desires and identifications that result from engagement with fantasy on screen may follow viewers’ personalised logics and open up multiple avenues for interpretations. Prominent themes of viewing experiences in relation to soft masculinities analysed in this thesis include escapism, parasocial interactions with characters, romantic imaginations, melancholic identification with romantic relationships on screen, desires for upward mobility, queer pleasures, ambivalence, and disidentification. The thesis thus contributes to contemporary Vietnamese studies, gender studies, psychosocial studies, media audience studies, and research on the Korean Wave.</p>

Gender Sphere of Concepts in the Postmodern Periodicals for Women and Men in Ukraine

The use of gender in print media is poorly understood both at the level of the post-Soviet (postcolonial in nature) journalism studies and in the general context of social research. A similar situation is observed with regard to the study of the gender sphere of concepts, and at the postmodern stage of development of periodicals. Postmodern convergence of methodology and research objects of the humanities will make it necessary to study social and mass media phenomena from the point of view of linguistics, sociology and journalism. This makes it relevant to study media issues of gender through links with language (cognitive linguistics). The purpose of the work is to clarify the gender sphere of concepts in the study of Ukrainian periodicals for women and men. The article implements a combination of concrete-historical, structural-typological, system-functional methods. Descriptive and comparative methods, typology, modeling methods are used at different stages of work. The study used the method of content analysis to study the gender content of modern gender-labeled magazines. The article proves that the gender sphere of concepts is based on the basic gender macroconcepts “woman” and “man”. They are used in the periodicals under study in various proportions, depending on what roles are played by a woman or a man in society. It is from the balance, thoughtfulness, responsible selection of gender characteristics that are presented in gender-labeled periodicals that modern and future gender images are formed, the idea of ideal women and men, their needs, opportunities, responsibilities in the family, at work, and in general in all spheres of life.

Anti-Immigration Propaganda in the Northern League and the Freedom Party of Austria

Over the past two decades, populist-radical parties of Western Europe arguably re- vised their propaganda towards the rejection of Muslim migrants with gender-sen- sitive arguments. Among these parties, the Northern League (LN) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) achieved their electoral breakthrough thanks to their anti-mi- gration campaigns, which, inter alia, aligned peculiar gender perspectives with long- term attitudes towards ethnicity, welfare and Islam. Drawing on the LN’s and FPÖ’s election programmes, visuals and leader statements from the early 2000s, the present article discusses the common assumptions regarding the populist radical right’s dis- cursive changes towards anti-Islamism. The paper argues that the two parties in the mentioned period forged their propaganda against the rejection of Muslim migrants in religious and gender-sensitive terms, but their ethnic and class-oriented exclusions equally remained. The documents in question also revealed that these parties recent- ly softened their attitudes towards migrant caregivers to preserve traditional gender images in Austria and Italy. The LN’s and FPÖ’s long-term preoccupations with Ital- ian and Austrian women’s roles in worklife, family and reproduction are likely to bring about changes in the conceptions of female migrants in the care sector. The question still remains whether the parties began to tolerate Muslim female workers, since their propaganda, in contrast to the literature, did not suggest the acknowledgement of Muslims in any of the labour fields.

REPRESENTATION OF GENDER CULTURAL IMAGES OF THE XX CENTURY: ON THE EXAMPLE OF SHYMKENT CITY

At present, the study of "gender" is a young direction for Kazakhstani science. Today, the role of men and women in the concept of gender in society, their role and associated social trends are becoming more and more important. The article summarizes the cultural monuments of Shymkent, in particular sculptures, monuments, installations, exhibits and performances of the Turkestan Regional Museum of Local Lore, photographs of the Central State Archive of Turkestan, a general image of gender images in the film. Attempts have been made to demonstrate the scientific potential of these cultural monuments. The history of women in the region, their role in society, and social activity were also described. The role of family values for city residents, the level of preservation of traditions are indicated. The issues of urban agglomeration and urbanization were also considered. Trends in the development of Shymkent today. Trends in the development of culture in a modern city, new institutions and buildings that reflect the values of culture. Historical tone and harmony of ideas and inspirations that motivate the work of decorating cities with modernity. The connection between the image and the image of a Shymkent woman with the present day, the evolution of development and her place in the memory of society are revealed.

How Are ‘Included’ Excluded and Vice-Versa: Negotiated Participation of Women in School Governance in Nepal

Women representation in public institutions has been a key policy shift in Nepal in the recent decade. Despite such policy intervention as affirmative action measures to encourage women participation in public institutions and likewise increased presence of women in politics and public institutions, women’s participation at local level school decision-making processes remains limited. Through a lens of representation and theory of participation and an examination of women’s experiences, this study critically examines the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the School Management Committee. Drawing on original ethnographic research in a secondary school in rural Kaski, Gandaki Province, Nepal, this study draws that predominant female gender images were reproduced in the initial stage of women participation which made them feel ‘othered’ and ‘excluded’; however, gradually, with the passage of time and learning, such images receded and they felt more ‘included’ and were thereby likely to demonstrate more substantive participation.

Gender concepts in modern Ukrainian media

The urgency of the topic of the scientific article is determined by the processes of finding new concepts and applying new approaches to the study of the gender concept of the modern periodicals for women and men in Ukraine. The study of the gender concept is relevant because it reveals new trends and features of modern gender images. The purpose of the article is due to the processes of finding new concepts and the application of new approaches to the study of gender concepts in modern Ukrainian media. The study of the topic is relevant because it allows to identify new trends and features of modern gender images. The macroconcept «woman» can be conventionally divided into the main, that is, the most frequently used microconcepts in the magazines studied, such as: loved one, mistress, mother, girlfriend, mother-in-law, rival. As it turned out, in the studied editions, the macro concept of «man» is reflected in the most frequently used microconcepts: beloved, father, stranger, boss, son, friend. At the core of the gender conceptual sphere there is basic gender macro concepts «woman» and «man» that is used in the investigated periodical in different proportions, depending on the role of women and men in society. Especially because of the sensitivity, thoughtfulness, responsible selection of gender characteristics, which is presented in a gender-labeled periodical, modern and future is formed gender images.

War and Gender

The chapter offers a broad overview of the history of warfare in the Age of the World Wars. It first discusses the concept of total war and its usefulness for a gendered history of war. Then it examines some general trends in the development of warfare during the first half of the twentieth century to provide the historical context for the subsequent more detailed analysis of the Age of the World Wars from a gender perspective. In this section the chapter explores the research on some of the major themes of a gender history of military of war of this period, including gender images, war propaganda, and postwar memory; gendered war support, and war experience at the home front; economic warfare, gendered experience of occupation, and forced labor; war service, gender, and citizenship; and finally gender, genocide, and sexual violence.

Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China

While scholars and activists often advocate using the term ‘sex worker’ in preference to prostitute, in my research I found that female prostitutes in the Pearl River Delta area, south China, do not like to be addressed as such, and prefer the title xiaojie in Chinese. ‘Sex worker’ generalises the heterogeneity of meanings these women identify and attribute to what they do; it does not capture the complex cultural meanings involved in the term xiaojie. It is stigmatising in that what is exchanged within the transaction is less defined by sexual acts and more by a diversified range of activities. The women employ what is useful to them and infuse new meanings in it to construct gender images and identities to resist the sex worker stigma and to express their desires as rural-to-urban migrants. Using xiaojie becomes a destigmatising and gender tactic. I also found that the women discard the idea of finding alternative jobs partly because of the practical difficulty, and partly because they do not want to work (gongzuo) any more in the future. This study highlights the importance of exploring desire and agency to understand the lived experiences of this particular group of women.