DISSERTATION PROJECT

Transformation and Construction of Social Discourse on Unmarried Mothers in South Korea

There has been a pervasive social discourse of stigmatising unmarried mothers in South Korea (Korea, hereafter). Sexual immorality is a prominent stigma that unmarried mothers are accused of and they have had to put great effort to erase the stigma. However, the personal experience of unmarried mothers in South Korea is not merely their individual stories, but the reflected history of colonial, post-colonial, nationalistic and patriarchal society.

The term Mihonmo (unmarried mother, 未婚母) first appeared in print media in the late 60s and early 70s. Since then, the media has consolidated its way of describing unmarried mothers using repetitive language and symbols. Likewise, Korean novels after the Korean War occasionally depicted unmarried mothers; they were sometimes portrayed as poor war widows, indiscriminately sexually active figures, such as yanggongju (western princess), or mentally unstable, or disabled women. Various legislative measures from the 1950s also contained many discriminative elements against unmarried mothers and served as a means to restrain their bodies, sexuality, and motherhood.

This study examines articulations on unmarried mothers in the media and literary texts, and legal measures that influenced unwed mothers’ legal status from the 60s to understand the development of social discourse on unwed mothers in Korea. Therefore, the interplay of fields of politics, media and literature which forms a dynamic triangular relationship is mainly explored. Moreover, unmarried mothers’ projection for the future is analysed in relationship to their societal experience and pursuit of their agency.

This research project proposes that the field of literature tends to generate more liberating and challenging discourse on gendered norms, compared to the media. Furthermore, by delving into unwed mother’s hopes, desires, and aspirations for the future, this study ensures that the voices of unmarried mothers are not silenced but, instead, can be empowered by the literature.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

Presentations

• “The Articulations of Unmarried Mothers in Korean Novels since the 1960s”. International Conference “Marginality, inclusion, and gender in Korea: past and present”, East Asian Studies Area, University of Málaga, Spain, Mar 12–13, 2024.
• Presentation on research topic. Proposal Workshop, Research Training Group GRK 2833 “East Asian Futures”, Duisburg, Germany, Jun 13–15, 2024. [Poster]
• “Contesting Family Ideology in the South Korean Novels from the 2000s: Projecting new images of families through female characters”. Workshop “Representation of Minoritized Groups in Korean Popular Culture” organized by Assoc. Prof. Barbara WALL and Dr. Younghan CHO, University of Kopenhagen, Denmark, Jun 21–22, 2024.
• “Representation of Unmarried Mothers in Korean Literary Works”. Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference AAS2025 (Panel “Mothers Imagined: Representation of Maternity and Gendered Roles from Pre-modern to Contemporary Literature in Korea and Japan” organized by Youlim KIM and Shiho TAKAI), Columbus (OH), USA, Mar 14–16, 2025.
• “Framing Shifts in Abortion Discourse in South Korea”. International Conference of the Young Scholars‘ Group of the German Association for Asian Studies (DGA) “Thinking Futures in Asia”, Leipzig University, Germany, May 9–11, 2025.
• “Projection and Inspiration of the Future Families and Unmarried Mothers: Representations of unmarried mothers in journalism and literature”. 24th International Conference of the CEESOK – AKS “Scholarly Utilization of Archival Collections”, National Archives of Hungary, Budapest, Jun 25–27, 2025.
• “Framing Unmarried Mothers on Screen Through the Lens of Newspapers”. The 12th Korean Screen Culture Conference (KSCC) “New Configurations of Sociality in Korean Screen Culture”, Leiden University, the Netherlands, Jun 30 – Jul 1, 2025.
• “Framing unmarried mothers in Korea: Development of Social discourse through field transgressions across media and literature”. The 18th Kyujanggak International Symposium on Korean Studies, Seoul National University, South Korea, Nov 6–8, 2025.
• “Framing Shifts in Abortion Discourse: Newspaper coverage of the South Korean Government’s abortion and demographic projection”. Workshop “East Asian Futures at the DIJ Tokyo”, German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, Japan, Nov 13, 2025.
• “Literary Representations and Discursive Resonance of Unmarried Mothers in South Korea, 1960-2010s”. Workshop “Portrayals of mothers in Korean and Japanese literature: From premodern to contemporary” organized by Barbara WALL, Shiho TAKAI and Youlim KIM, University of Kopenhagen, Denmark, Feb 25–26, 2026.

Media Appearances

• Newspaper interview, published as part of Anna RUHLAND: “Männer? Nee, lass mal!”, in: fluter. (online), Apr 28, 2025.