# Cho (Han) Hae-joang

Cho Hae-joang is known as Cho Han Hae-joang, with “Han” representing her mother’s name. Cho (Han) Hae-joang (Korean: 조(한)혜정; Hanja: 趙(韓)惠貞; Korean pronunciation:; born October 25, 1948) is a South Korean anthropology scholar, critic, feminist, and author. As an author on gender, culture, education, and post-colonialism, she has analyzed myths in Korean society and has helped cross the boundary between academia and non-academia. Through a movement to use family names of both parents, she contributed to social actions to abolish the patriarchal family registry system known as Hojuje (Korean: 호주제; Hanja: 戶主制).
Cho has conducted empirical research on Korean social changes of feminism, youth culture, and family structure. In particular, she studied the family system and gender issues in Korean society and has analyzed changes in the traditional family structure and inequality issues in Korean modern society. Based on her academic research, she suggested ways for youth to participate more independently in society and supported the growth and independence of youth, emphasizing practical support for their growth and independence over purely theoretical approaches.
She is also recognized for presenting on methodologies about alternative education that can interpret Asian local problems, from global perspectives, and has developed alternative educational research for the youth of South Korea. Furthermore, Cho’s research on women and youth issues has been published in multinational academic journals. Her publications have inspired further research globally on family, gender, and youth issues in contemporary society.

## Life

Cho (Han) was born in Busan, South Korea on October 25th, 1948. She grew up in the Republic of Korea and graduated with a BA in History from Yonsei University in 1971. She received her MA from University of Missouri–Columbia in 1974 and her PhD in Anthropology from UCLA in 1979. While studying in the United States, she married Kilnam Chon, a South Korean computer scientist who became a professor of computer science at KAIST. In March 1979, she began lecturing in the Department of Anthropology at Seoul National University. She then moved to the Department of Sociology at Yonsei University in September 1979. In 2008, she moved to the newly established Department of Cultural Anthropology at Yonsei University. She retired from the faculty and became a professor emeritus of Yonsei University in 2014.

## Achievements

Cho (Han) is known for progressing cultural studies and feminism, and alternative education projects on previous Korean societal statement; notably, she was the first professor at the Department of Anthropology at Yonsei University.
Her works have been featured in international journals and conferences for her academic contributions and social activities. Her research on gender conflict and changes in family structure that emerged amid rapid economic development in modern Korean society has been widely discussed in contemporary academic and public discourse. She is best known for her work, the trilogy of Reading Texts, Reading Lives in the Postcolonial Era (탈식민지 시대 지식인의 글 읽기와 삶 읽기, 1995). Like other works which acutely examine gender roles and societal changes in modern Korean society, the trilogy analyzes daily experiences of her students, their interactions with global capitalism, and conflicts with their internalized cultural identities. Regarding the quotidian conflicts amid rapid modernization, globalization, and cultural identities, Cho examines needs of changes itself, while discussing the concept of the “Risk Society” asserted by Ulrich Beck, which highlights the systemic societal risks generated in modern industrial societies. On the concept of the risk society, Beck asserts that industrial modernization deteriorates the vulnerability of social individuals under social challenges. Cho also analyzes Judith Butler’s theory on mourning and violence, which underscores political dimensions of grief under circumstances of systemic inequality and social fragmentation. Those conceptual analysis serve as tools for Cho’s further analysis of modern Korean pedagogy.
Cho’s analysis on the concepts of Ulrich Beck and Judith Butler in the Korean context reinterprets the educational challenges during the Korean social global modernization. By integrating the “Risk Society” concept, Cho points out that structural modernization in Korean society introduced concerned educational policies that resulted in deteriorated cultural anxieties. While analyzing Butler’s perspectives on mourning and violence, Cho points out that Korean modern educational reformations failed to cope with the empirical educational experiences of marginalized groups, exacerbating vicious circles of social alienation of educated individuals. Those studies have bridged the social movements based on activists of the 1980s with the contemporary discourse of the 1990s. By foregrounding those theoretical perspectives, Cho’s work connects socio-political theories with localized educational practices, generating further examinations of the interplay between pedagogy and societal change.
Furthermore, Cho has contributed to research and studies of the Korean Wave (Korean: 한류; Hanja: 韓流). She asserted the role of the wave is to reshape cultural identities in non-Western societies. That is, the wave, a shift away from Western cultural standards, enables alternative forms of subjectivity through shared Asian popular cultures world-widely. She analyzed the Korean Wave as a connection between globalization and local cultural practices socio-economically. Her studies on both western and Korean cultures sparked further scholars to combine educational theories between the 1980s and the 1990s, even those of the 2000s.
Cho has also contributed to alternative education projects for youth. She has sought practical changes since 1999, by establishing the Haja Center (the Seoul Youth Factory for Alternative Culture) in Seoul to help teenagers achieve independence and creative growth in 1999. As the founding director of the Haja Center (Korean: 하자 센터), i.e. the Seoul Youth Job and Work Experience Center, she implemented educational models empirically. This center has promoted alternative learning experiences for teenagers, educational models of Korean administrations that have been distinguished hitherto and aims to foster youth’s critical and creative engagements in the society. The Haja project has promoted a social action to solve problems of youth from perspectives of feminism, cultural studies, and ecological studies in globalizing East Asian context.

## Career

* 1987. 8 - 1988. 8 Visiting Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.
* 1994. 7 - 1995. 7 Visiting Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Stanford University.
* 1997. 5 - 1998. 5 Advisory Committee Member of the Cultural Vision 2000 Committee, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Korean: 문화관광부; Hanja: 文化觀光部) (문화관광부 [문화비전 2000 위원회] 자문위원).
* 1998. 6 - 2002. 7 Advisory Committee Member of the Youth Policy Committee, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (문화관광부 청소년 정책 자문위원회).
* 1998. 9 - 1999. 2 Visiting Professor at the Department of Humanities, Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japanese: 東京都立大学).
* 1999. 3 - 2001. 2 Project Director of the Yonsei Institute of Gender Studies (연세대학교 여성연구소 소장).
* 1999. 3 - 2003. 2 Principal of the Institute for Youth and Culture at Yonsei University (연세대학교 청년문화원 원장).
* 1999. 7 - 2011. 3 Chief of the Haja Center, Seoul Youth Job&Work Experience Center, and its establishment (서울시청소년직업체험센터 (하자) 설립, 센터장).
* 2003. 7 - 2005. 7 Member of the Youth Nurture Committees, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Korean: 문화관광부; Hanja: 文化觀光部) (문화관광부 청소년육성위원회 위원).
* 2003. 7 - 2005. 7 Advisory Committee Member of the Policy Committee, the Ministry of Gender Equality (Korean: 여성부; Hanja: 女性部) (여성부 정책자문위원회자문위원).
* 2005. 1 - 2006. 12 Chief Organizer/Planner of “to create democratic family culture that pursues a care society” hosted by Another Culture (Inc.) in cooperation with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (Korean: 여성가족부; Hanja: 女性家族部), as the Project Manager (여성가족부 공동협력사업, 또 하나의 문화 주최 [돌봄사회를 지향하는 민주적 가족문화 만들기] 책임기획자).
* 2005. 9 - 2005. 11 Visiting Scholar at the Center for Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz.
* 2005. 11 - 2006. 2 Visiting Scholar at the Center for Clinical Research on School. Development, the Graduate School of Education at University of Tokyo.
* 2007. 4 - 2008. 3 Co-representative of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (Korean: 환경운동연합; Hanja: 環境運動聯合; Abbreviation: KFEM) (환경운동연합 공동대표).
* 2011. 6 - 2013. 6 Advisory Committee Member of the Committee for the Preservation and Transmission of Jeju Haenyeo (Korean: 해녀; lit. sea women) Culture (제주특별자치도 해녀 문화보존 및 전승 위원회 회의 자문).
* 2016. 4 - 2020. 4 Vice-President of the Jeju Gender Equality Council (제주도 양성 평등 위원회 부위원장).
* 2019. 1 - 2019. 11 Chief of Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (Korean: 여성가족부; Hanja: 女性家族部) (여성가족부 자문위원장).

## Works

* Reading Texts, Reading Lives in the Postcolonial Era 1: Right Here in the Classroom ((탈식민지 시대 지식인의) 글 읽기와 삶 읽기 1: 바로 여기 교실에서, 1995)
* Reading Texts, Reading Lives in the Postcolonial Era 2: From Where Each of Us Stands ((탈식민지 시대 지식인의) 글 읽기와 삶 읽기 2: 각자 선 자리에서, 1995)
* Reading Texts, Reading Lives in the Postcolonial Era 3: from Hanoi to Shin-chon ((탈식민지 시대 지식인의) 글 읽기와 삶 읽기 3: 하노이에서 신촌까지, 1995)
* Women and Men in South Korea (한국의 여성과 남성, 1988)
* Children Refusing School, Society Refusing Children: The Political Economy of Korean Entrance Examination Culture (학교를 거부하는 아이 아이를 거부하는 사회: 입시문화의 정치 경제학, 1996)
* Reflexive Modernity and Feminism (한국의 여성과 남성 2, 성찰적 근대성과 페미니즘, 1998)
* Children Searching School, Society Searching Children (학교를 찾는 아이 아이를 찾는 사회: 21세기 학교 만들기, 2000)
* Korean Society and the Gender (韓国社会とジェンダー, 2002)
* Can the Words Reach? (ことばは届くか, 2004, coauthored with Ueno Chizuko (Japanese: 上野千鶴子))
* Talking at the Edge: Letters between Japanese and Korean Feminists (경계에서 말한다, 2004, coauthored with Ueno Chizuko (Japanese: 上野千鶴子))
* It’s Life-Learning Village Again (다시 마을이다: 위험 사회에서 살아남기: 조한혜정 칼럼집, 2007)
* Back to the Classroom: Reading Text and Reading Everyday Lives in Neo-liberal Era (교실이 돌아왔다: 신자유주의 시대 대학생의 글 읽기와 삶 읽기, 2009)
* The Betrayal of Efforts: No Country for Youth, No Youth for the Country ((노오력의) 배신: 청년을 거부하는 국가 사회를 거부하는 청년, 2016, coauthored with Kiho Uhm)
* A Country of Demise? A Country of Admiration?: What Kind of Time Are You Living in Right Now? (선망국의 시간: 당신은 지금 어떤 시간을 살아가고 있나요? 2018)

### Translated Works

* Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies by Margaret Mead (세 부족 사회에서의 성과 기질, 1988)

## Awards

* 2013, Cho (Han) wins Aquamarine Stripes, Order of Service Merit, the Republic of Korea (대한민국 근정 훈장 옥조; Hanja: 勤政勳章玉條).
* 2014, Ilmin Art Award (일민문화상).
* 2018, the 18th Yeonmun Award from Yonsei University (연세대학교 연문인상).
* 2021, Hugwang Academic Award from Chonnam National University (전남대학교 후광학술상; Hanja: 後廣).
* 2023, Women’s Leadership Award from Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Awards (삼성행복대상 여성선도상).