This paper examines ways in which colonial identities were articulated with racial signifiers in sporting culture during the period of Japanese colonization of Korea from 1910-1945. Racialization played a critical role in justifying Japan’s colonial dominance and forging its collective sense of imperialism. We explore ways in which sport was ideologically embedded with racial signifiers of colonized and imperial identities. Our analysis will be contextualized within the broader discursive transformation of colonial Koreanness from the exclusionary notion of racial Other to the rhetorical constructions of the same racial identity such as dōroson (the common origin of Japan and Korea), dōbun, dōshu (same culture, same race), and naisen ittai (Japan and Korea as one body). During the first decade of Japanese annexation of Korea, Japan tried to justify its colonial rule by orientalizing Koreans as an uncivilized and inferior race while promoting its identification with industrialized white Western powers. Along with the expansion of its imperial power, however, the Japanese empire gradually employed inclusionary ideological justifications for its colonial dominance over Korea and other Asian colonies. As the only non-white empire, Japan saw its imperial expansion as the manifest destiny to liberate Asia from the oppression of white Euro-American imperialism and protect Pan-Asian racial unity and cultural heritage. With this racially charged justification for its colonialism, Japan established imperialization policies and programs to Japanize Koreans on the cultural and spiritual levels while still excluded them on the legal and institutional levels. It was in this context that Japan included Korean athletes into its national teams that competed in the Olympic Games during the 1930s. This paper extends its focus on the contested cultural meanings of the Japan’s marathon gold medal won by a Korean athlete, Kee Chung Son (Son Ki-Jong), at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where racialized national identities were deeply implicated with imperial interests of colonizers.
In Korea, there has been an increasing visibility of foreign workers from different racial, ethnic backgrounds during the last decade. The influx of foreign workers is an inevitable consequence as Korea has become a regional core nation of global capitalism. Firstly, this paper analyzes the patterns and processes of international labor migration with a particular focus on foreign professional athletes. The migrant workers are divided into three distinctive racial groups including white white-color workers, darker-skin manual workers from South East Asian countries, and black professional athletes. The popular imagery of the migrant workers has clearly reflected a racialized hierarchy in the occupational selections and opportunities. Secondly, this paper focuses on dominant cultural meanings of black athletes in Korea. As a racial category in Korea, black has been represented by athletes, entertainers, and soldiers. Although black athletes and entertainers are idolized and respected, the cultural signifiers of black masculine physicality are often portrayed and conceived to be dangerous or ignorant. This paper aims to scrutinize the extent to which and ways in which the hegemonic cultural meanings about black athletes are constructed and reproduced.
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