Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood
Hepatitis B was a stigmatizing disease because of its reputation as a problem of underdeveloped countries and marginalized people. Biomedicine, including vaccination and science-based sanitation, was regarded as the only effective measure against it. Hence, some scholars have assumed that bodies and...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/138101 |
| _version_ | 1826116793028050944 |
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| author | Park, Hyung Wook |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Park, Hyung Wook |
| author_sort | Park, Hyung Wook |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Hepatitis B was a stigmatizing disease because of its reputation as a problem of underdeveloped countries and marginalized people. Biomedicine, including vaccination and science-based sanitation, was regarded as the only effective measure against it. Hence, some scholars have assumed that bodies and the disease were merely objects of biomedical intervention essential for nation-building. Challenging this assumption, I argue that Korean bodies and hepatitis were instrumental in forming biomedical and nationalistic discourses and exercises in South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. In a developmental dictatorship situated within changing Cold War politics, hepatitis B and bodies, with their biological and cultural relations, contributed to shaping biomedical investigations, enterprises, and practices that were interpreted and appropriated with nationalistic metaphors. Therefore, hepatitis B, alongside those who carried it, came to evoke the contradictory imageries that symbolized both the progress and backwardness of the country. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:17:14Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/138101 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:17:14Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1381012020-08-27T01:51:01Z Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood Park, Hyung Wook School of Humanities Humanities::History Hepatitis B Nation Hepatitis B was a stigmatizing disease because of its reputation as a problem of underdeveloped countries and marginalized people. Biomedicine, including vaccination and science-based sanitation, was regarded as the only effective measure against it. Hence, some scholars have assumed that bodies and the disease were merely objects of biomedical intervention essential for nation-building. Challenging this assumption, I argue that Korean bodies and hepatitis were instrumental in forming biomedical and nationalistic discourses and exercises in South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. In a developmental dictatorship situated within changing Cold War politics, hepatitis B and bodies, with their biological and cultural relations, contributed to shaping biomedical investigations, enterprises, and practices that were interpreted and appropriated with nationalistic metaphors. Therefore, hepatitis B, alongside those who carried it, came to evoke the contradictory imageries that symbolized both the progress and backwardness of the country. Accepted version 2020-04-24T03:51:06Z 2020-04-24T03:51:06Z 2019 2019 Journal Article Park, H. W. (2019). Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea’s nationhood. Seoul Journal of Korean Studies, 32(1), 173-209. doi:10.1353/seo.2019.0007 1225-0201 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/138101 10.1353/seo.2019.0007 214794 1 32 173 209 214794 en Seoul Journal of Korean Studies Seoul Journal of Korean Studies © 2019 Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies. All rights reserved. This paper was published in Seoul Journal of Korean Studies and is made available with permission of Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::History Hepatitis B Nation Park, Hyung Wook Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood |
| title | Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood |
| title_full | Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood |
| title_fullStr | Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood |
| title_short | Bodies and viruses : biomedicalizing hepatitis B in shaping South Korea's nationhood |
| title_sort | bodies and viruses biomedicalizing hepatitis b in shaping south korea s nationhood |
| topic | Humanities::History Hepatitis B Nation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/138101 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT parkhyungwook bodiesandvirusesbiomedicalizinghepatitisbinshapingsouthkoreasnationhood |