Date of Graduation

Fall 12-30-2021

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies (MAPS)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Asia Pacific Studies

First Advisor

Genevieve Leung

Abstract

This Capstone Project explores the image and representation of Korea in early modern American newspaper visuals during the period when Korea and the U.S. first began to engage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The American newspaper visuals, which interact with headlines, captions, and texts, are represented with specific patterns and features in close links to the newspaper's geopolitical discourse production, specifically the “Far Eastern Question,” which was produced by western powers and Japan. The visuals were intended to show Korea as a dangerous and uncivilized place, “a storm center in the Far East.” Such geopolitical visuals in early American newspapers, which presented Korea by linking politics with geography, aided in justifying the power-competition environment of imperialist countries in the Far East and neutralize Korea's independence. The geographical images and representation of Korea in American newspaper visuals served American readers to visually understand the process of Japan's protectorate of Korea. This project, which navigates the image and representation of early modern Korea, implies the origin of today’s Korean geopolitical images in U.S. media.

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