What is it about?
A recent surge in North Korean autobiographical texts authored by young women aims to shed light on the various human rights transgressions taking place in that country. This essay focuses on the experience of school indoctrination as relived by North Korean girls in their memoirs.
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Why is it important?
At a time when international attention is directed at the Korean peninsula, this essay may be read side by side with other works from different fields - law, history, journalism, human rights activism... By adopting the eye-witness position, these autobiographical narratives represent powerful attempts at raising awareness of the ongoing dire situation of North Koreans and the underlying mechanisms that sustain the regime.
Perspectives
This essay reveals the vulnerable position of children in North Korean schools and reminds readers of the importance of how we define the term "education." By negating freedom, the system ensures a collective identity dominates over potential individualities. As seen in this essay, activists' use of autobiography to claim agency and denounce transgressions is a strategy that gains more emotional impact when the author writes from a child's point of view.
Dr Ana Belén Martínez García
Universidad de Navarra
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Unearthing the Past: Bringing Ideological Indoctrination to Light in North Korean Girls’ Memoirs, a/b Auto/Biography Studies, August 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/08989575.2017.1338004.
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