Fictions of Liberation: A Paradoxical “Palimpsest of Colonial Identity” of Chŏng (Jeong)

Abstract

Within Asian/American feminist theology, this article addresses specifically Korean/American feminist theological discourse of chŏng. I argue that by employing racialized signifiers such as han and chŏng, we are marginalizing ourselves. Such discursive identity markers of Korean/American feminist theologians have been constructed by utilizing colonialist historiography and methods that the Japanese first used in their efforts to justify colonial rule of Korea (1910–1945), thereby reproducing and reinforcing the racialized discourses of the colonial era. This author implores Asian/American pastoral theologians to engage in a more critical, complex analysis of power during the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945). I argue for the importance of historiographical analysis as being central to understanding how Korean/American theological identity came to embrace the cultural signifiers it does. Our task, then, as critical feminist liberation theologians is to engage in ongoing critiques and analyses of patri-kyriarchal power in colonialism(s) and imperialism(s) in order to dismantle its structures and influences.