이론과 문화연구 - 양자의 갈등과 한국영문학의 좌표

Theory and Cultural Studies: Their Conflicts and the Coordinates of English Studies in Korea

&nbsp;&nbsp;Cultural studies have often been pit against the literary study for the last decade, and argued as an alternative or exit to save the humanities now struggling in crisis. In this article, however, I bring in a new dichotomy between theory and cultural studies, and aim to prove that, seen from the formation of English studies in Korean since the Korean war, this opposition may be effective to make Korean English studies more rigorous practices.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;For this purpose, I review the environmental situations from which what is called &quot;Theory&quot; was imported into Korea around the mid-eighties of the last century, and also look for causes that helped it expand toward &quot;theorea,&quot; that is, the theoretical excess in Korean English studies. My conclusion is: theorea is almost inevitably and structurally embedded in our historical and morpho-spatial conditions; in this conditions, cultural studies, initially springing from the impulse to call up the marginalized voices back to the heart of academy, may be a valuable anecdote to adjust theorea. It not only helps us obtain more balanced perspectives; also, it redirects our attention towards things and their relationships as they are.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Nevertheless, the history of Anglo-American cultural studies, especially subculture studies, shows frustrating as well as encouraging signals for its potential possibilities. As studies by Janice Radway and Paul Willis evidence, they practise ethnographic methodologies towards their study objects, just when they refused to accept the prevalent theoretical premises such as Althusserian ideological state apparatuses and the patriarchical marriage. But their research ends up in re-absorbing the poststructuralist theories back to their frame, thereby almost cancelling their initial potentials ethnography opened for them.