Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The case of wrongly-accused nuclear code physicist Wen Ho Lee, pronounced to be one of the most damaging spies in national history by the U.S. government, is both shocking and informative in a number of respects illustrating the operation of the U.S National Security State and the continued change and anxiety in ethnic composition of the U.S. population. The manufacture of the case itself, and the speed and hysteria with which it caught on, are indicative of significant forces (in terms of bureaucratic and political inertia) and of nationalistic and xenophobic attitudes prevalent in U.S. society. While the history and national narrative of the United States is centered around immigration and migration, and in terms of current policy the U.S remains a major country of immigration, there is nonetheless a strong isolationist and eurocentric contingent in U.S. political and cultural life which hearkens to the Aryan dream of a white fortress America. Hence the controversy and the blunders surrounding Wen Ho Lee are not only about the institutionalized paranoia and the bureaucratic operation of the U.S. national security organizations, they are also centrally about the ethnic self-image of the country, and about the de facto status of the U.S. population versus the representational and ideological narrative of Americanness, which only partially and poorly pays heed to this de facto situation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In 1905, Ivy Lee issued a notice to a number of city editors an explanation of his new agency’s method of operation. Dubbed the “Declaration of Principles” by journalist Sherman Morse, Lee’s handout has been called the “starting point of modern public relations.” But what did Lee’s remarks mean in the context of his time? This study examines newspaper and magazine discussion of publicity and press agentry in relation to business and industry. An analysis of 159 articles published from 1865 to 1904, identified through database keyword searches, finds that “corporate publicity” had a very different connotation from “press agentry.” It was linked to President Theodore Roosevelt’s call for “publicity” as part of his trust-busting initiatives, and it referred to the release of financial information in the public interest. The paper confirms Robert E. Brown’s contention that our understanding of public relations history is flawed, and that such misunderstanding has misinformed public relations theory, and it shows that government action was an important factor in the rise of corporate public relations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Spike Lee’s (1992) film Malcolm Lee’s film presented Malcolm X’s life story using the narrative framework of the American Dream myth. Working from Gramsci’s notion of “commonsense” in the process of hegemony, I explain how Lee’s use of this myth appealed to American popular culture. This analysis suggests that commonsense framings of controversial figures may be an avenue toward challenging dominant hegemony within popular culture.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines life and work of Lee Tai-Young, the first woman lawyer in South Korea. In 1954, the presidential veto of Lee’ application for judgeship was explained by a simple note: “It is not yet time for a woman to be on the bench.” This rejection was the impetus behind her decision to further examine the problems afflicting women in a society still dominated by a Confucian ideology in the post-Korean War period. This paper discusses her work in forming the Legal Aid Center for Family Relations (1956), her lifelong involvement in the Family Law Reform movement, and her role in the establishment of the Family Court in Korea (1963). Special attention will be paid to the ways in which Lee problematized gender inequality in Korea: the creation of a public space where women’s suffering could be heard; producing the public discourse on gender inequality in family law; and instituting a judicial space in which gender inequality is adjudicated. Thus, Lee fostered the rise to prominence of female jurists by heightening feminist consciousness in contemporary Korean society.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Following filmmaker Spike Lee’s assertion of his concerted effort to improve his female characters, we conduct a feminist textual analysis of "Bamboozled." As a satirical social commentary, "Bamboozled"’s racially-charged narrative not only privileges dominant constructions of Black masculinity—violent, controlling, and sexist—but also reinforces 20th century patriarchal ideas about females. The film’s only main female character is victimized by patriarchy in both the workplace and in her personal life through her relationships with males in passive, sexualized, and subordinate ways.