‘사이’, 접촉과 변용의 젠더공간 - 재미한인 여성수필을 중심으로 = ‘In-betweenness’, Gender Space of Contact and Transformation - Focusing on Korean American women’s essays

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examined the ‘in-betweenness’ as a cultural contact zone and boundary zone in the Korean American women's essays from the perspective of gender geography. In-betweenness is a space that contains the contact of heterogeneous cultures and the possibility of transformation created by it, and "garden," "workplace," and "event," where previously unrelated things meet to create a new meaning, form the topography of a representative women's space as in-betweenness geographic and psychological. Garden is a space where public and private boundaries that belong to the house and are open to the outside intersect. It shows the possibility of creating new landscapes, spreading culture and transplanting as memories and life, the past and the present intersect. Meanwhile, 'workplace' is a kind of ‘cultural border zone’ where immigrant women come into contact with and interact with various cultures, including race, nation, class, and gender. Women experience cultural shocks and conflicts in the workplace, but they build a new identity by flexibly transforming the boundaries of the public space of the workplace based on their unique affinity and empathy. An ‘event’, where previously unrelated heterogeneous others meet and come into contact, also has meaning as an 'in-betweenness'. In particular, this shows the characteristics of emotional and psychological space. Women show themselves as active negotiators who independently cross borderlands through chance encounters and relationships, and as cultural translators who strive to convey their own language and culture to others in their own language. Here, women create new cultural meanings that are different from before, while newly interpreting and constructing the space occupied by themselves and others.