Preface

PREFACE The journal Trans-Humanities is a location for interdisciplinary humanities in this era of trans-boundary cultural shifts. We live in a world of change, where cultural boundaries are rapidly deconstructed and reconstructed. Active interactions of languages and cultures grow as numerous people cross national boundaries. The development of various mediums based on digital technology enables us to transcend the limitations of space and time, and to share, not only a new language of expression, but also a liberating sense of creativity. We are witnessing the gradual transformation of those previously relegated to the margins now becoming agents of change. These trans-boundary cultural shifts have become an indispensable condition that influences our daily lives, and they need to be studied in the humanities through interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary research. Trans-Humanities is a journal published by the Ewha Institute for the Humanities, which is supported by the Humanities Korea (HK) grant of the National Research Foundation. A critical examination of the traditional methods of humanities has revealed limitations in addressing contemporary socio-cultural changes. The institute thus proposes trans-humanities as a research methodology for a new kind of humanities. It sets as its major research concerns Glocality, Gender, and Multimedia in an attempt to address contemporary cultural changes and to make more specific its vision for the future. It hopes that Trans-Humanities will be able to open a new horizon for the field of humanities, enabling this specific area of study to faithfully meet the challenges of the contemporary period. 6 Trans-Humanities is a space for scholars, who strive to create a new horizon in humanities studies through the production of knowledge in the field of trans-boundary humanities. The space is for those who aspire to overcome the limitations of preceding humanities studies and to expand its academic boundaries, crossing over individual disciplines in humanities and examining human experiences in a trans-boundary cultural context; and who attempt to model methodologies to connect humanities with other disciplines and everyday life, appreciating the humanistic value of the interdependence of people, societies, and the world through communication, coexistence, and collaboration. I hope Trans-Humanities will play an important role in creating worldrenowned new humanistic discourses and communicating them as an international mediator. Jung-Hwa Oh Editor in Chief 7 Preface ...