The white hanbok as a floating symbol of Korean identity through crisis and conflict

What is it about?

White traditional Korean clothing, the white hanbok, has held vastly different meanings over the past century. For centuries, Koreans wore white clothing as part of everyday life without conscious thought. This changed during Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945), when colonial authorities attempted to prohibit the white hanbok as part of assimilation policies. The suppression transformed it into a contested symbol: for some, a symbol of resistance and national identity; for others, a source of shame shaped by colonial rhetoric. The article traces how the white hanbok's meanings continued to shift through Korea's division, the Korean War, post-war poverty, and authoritarian rule. Even after disappearing from everyday life, it remained powerful in public imagination, serving as an ambiguous symbol representing loss, nostalgia, pride, resistance, and democracy. By examining this transformation, the article reveals how material objects become sites where power, memory, and national identity intersect during periods of crisis and change.

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Photo by zero take on Unsplash

Photo by zero take on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Understanding how national identity is formed and transformed through material culture has never been more relevant. This understanding is particularly timely as South Korea transitions from an ethnically homogeneous society to a multicultural one, raising urgent questions about how national symbols may evolve to become more inclusive. The article also offers a critical framework for examining how colonial powers use material culture to control colonised populations, and how the colonised resist through everyday practices. For any society grappling with contested symbols, nationalist movements, or the legacies of colonialism, material objects are not mere backdrop but active participants in shaping collective identities during periods of upheaval.