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283470

The Making of the Docile Female Body in Korean American Young Adult Literature: A Feminist Foucauldian Reading of An Na’s The Fold (2008)

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

اللغويات

Abstract

Using both feminist and Foucauldian critical lenses, this paper seeks to analyze some aspects of young adult (YA) literature in The Fold (2008), written by South Korean-born American novelist An Na (1972- ), demonstrating how the young docile female body is produced through certain disciplinary practices. Michel Foucault's concept of ‘the Docile Body' is drawn upon insofar as it can illuminate the role of centerless and invisible power/patriarchy in regulating the action of young women and constructing docile bodies and blurred identities among young women belonging to the Korean minority in America. In Foucauldian terms, the Western standards of beauty are considered disciplinary practices through which the docile female body is constructed. The paper argues that the female body becomes docile through self-surveillance and the internalization of the standards of beauty and body image prevalent in mainstream American culture. The paper shows that Korean female characters in the novel seek to define their body image and identity based on the notions of the dominant American culture. Their search for new ‘Westernized' features leads them to internalize the Western standards of beauty, thus objectifying themselves and blur their Korean identities. The paper argues that these standards can also be considered modern patriarchal techniques that eventually produce docile, self-controlled, and self-objectified female bodies.

DOI

10.21608/jfafu.2023.189028.1859

Keywords

Korean American Young Adult Literature, An Na’s The Fold, feminism, Foucault, docile body

Authors

First Name

أشرف

Last Name

قوطة

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

قسم اللغة الانجليزية، كلية الآداب، جامعة دمياط، دمياط، مصر

Email

ashrafkouta@du.edu.eg

City

دمياط

Orcid

0000-0001-5780-7372

Volume

15

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

29957

Issue Date

2023-01-01

Receive Date

2023-01-22

Publish Date

2023-01-01

Page Start

997

Page End

1,036

Print ISSN

2357-0709

Online ISSN

2735-3281

Link

https://jfafu.journals.ekb.eg/article_283470.html

Detail API

https://jfafu.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=283470

Order

26

Type

المقالة الأصلية

Type Code

970

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

مجلة کلية الآداب جامعة الفيوم

Publication Link

https://jfafu.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

The Making of the Docile Female Body in Korean American Young Adult Literature: A Feminist Foucauldian Reading of An Na’s The Fold (2008)

Details

Type

Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024