Redefining Diaspora through a Phenomenology of Postmemory

This article seeks to intervene in the debates about the definition of diaspora by attending to the way in which it is a phenomenon, rooted in a particular kind of experience and consciousness. This approach seeks to move beyond ontological definitions based on categorical criteria toward a more phenomenological definition that can help us better understand the lived experience of diasporic subjects and the formation of diasporic communities. While these groups do not exist as entities that have some common essence or nature, I insist that they do exist phenomonologically. Rather than an objective, prescriptive definition of diaspora, this essay explores the subjective, descriptive quality of diaspora when approached from the inside, as an experience. A phenomenological approach, therefore, can rescue the term diaspora from its overextensions and case-specific limitations. A key consideration will be the role of memory in creating the phenomenon of diaspora. Diaspora must be understood as a phenomenon that emerges when displaced subjects who experience the loss of an "origin" (whether literal or symbolic) perpetuate identifications associated with those places of origin in subsequent generations through the mechanisms of postmemory

Suji Kwock Kim's “Generation” and the Ethics of Diasporic Postmemory

Regarding her highly acclaimed first book of poetry, Notes from the Divided Country, second-generation Korean American poet Suji Kwock Kim has stated that she considers the representation of the traumatic experiences of the Korean War as “the responsibility that one has, in terms of using the imagination as a means of compassion, and understanding things one couldn't have experienced.” If Notes from the Divided Country is a work created from a sense of ethical responsibility, we could perhaps also see it more specifically as a project of ethical memory and ask, along with ethnic studies scholar Jodi Kim, “What does it mean to want to represent or ‘remember’ a war that has been ‘forgotten’ and erased in the U.S. popular imaginary, but has been transgenerationally seared into the memories of Koreans and Korean Americans, and experienced anew every day in a still-divided Korea?” Notes from the Divided Country in many ways grapples with this very question and can be seen as an effort to remember the “Forgotten War” through vivid, chilling, moving poems that depict the enduring trauma of wartime violence from the perspective of diasporic postmemory. Taking Hirsch's work on Holocaust photos as a point of departure, this article reads in the poem “Generation” the poetics of postmemory and the ethics of memory from the perspective of diasporic subjectivity

Korean Han and the Postcolonial Afterlives of "The Beauty of Sorrow"

In this article, I depart from the typical discussion of the Korean sociocultural concept of han as a collective feeling of unresolved resentment, pain, grief, and anger that runs in the blood of all Koreans. Scholars, artists, writers, and critics frequently characterize han as "the Korean ethos" and the soul of Korean art, literature, and film. It is said to be unique to Koreans and incomprehensible to Westerners. I argue, however, that its contemporary biologistic-oriented meaning emerged first during the Japanese colonial period as a colonial stereotype, and that tracing the afterlife of han gives us a postcolonial understanding of its deployment in culture. I examine how han originated under the contradictions of coloniality, how it evolved from a colonial construct to its adoption into Korean ethnonationalism, and how it travels into a completely new context through the Korean diaspora. Rather than dismissing han as nothing more than a social construct, I instead define han as an affect that encapsulates the grief of historical memory—the memory of past collective trauma—and that renders itself racialized/ethnicized and attached to nation

Examining Information Systems Infusion over the Routinization

Information systems (IS) infusion becomes important from the management perspective because organizations can leverage IS investment only at the IS infusion stage. The model for the stages of IS implementation explains that IS infusion can be achieved through IS routinization. This study examined how to achieve IS infusion through routinization based on application of the psychological empowerment theory and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), respectively. This study adds value to the IS literature by explaining how IS routinization leads to IS infusion and how their antecedents are different and related across the two stages. This study also provides guidance on how organizations can promote IS infusion beyond IS routinization, which then helps organizations leverage their IS investments

Elastography Can Effectively Decrease the Number of Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsies in Patients with Calcified Thyroid Nodules

AbstractWhen calcification, frequently found in both benign and malignant nodules, is present in thyroid nodules, non-invasive differentiation with ultrasound becomes challenging. The goal of this study was to evaluate the utility of elastography in differentiating calcified thyroid nodules. Consecutive patients (165 patients with 196 nodules) referred for fine-needle aspiration who had undergone both ultrasound elastography and B-mode examinations were analyzed retrospectively. Calcification was present in 45 benign and 20 malignant nodules. On 65 calcified nodules, elastography had 95% sensitivity, 51.1% specificity, 46.3% positive predictive value and 95.8% negative predictive value in detecting malignancy. Twenty-three of 45 benign calcified nodules were correctly diagnosed with elastography compared with 4 of 45 by B-mode ultrasound. Although it is difficult to differentiate benign and malignant calcified thyroid nodules solely with B-mode ultrasound, elastography has the potential to reduce the number of fine-needle aspiration biopsies performed on calcified nodules

A User Commitment Approach to Information Systems Infusion

Many organizations have huge investments on information systems (IS) but are unable to achieve the maximum benefits expected. The IS infusion stage refers to the state of using IS to its full potential. IS infusion is a form of organizational citizenship behavior because full utilization of IS requires extra-role behaviors (i.e., IS use beyond the mandated usage) beyond intra-role behaviors (i.e., mandated IS usage). As commitment is a key driver of organizational citizenship behavior, IS infusion requires the user’s commitment to IS usage. This study investigates the development of user commitment from the socio-technical system design perspective and the effect of user commitment on IS infusion. We identified five constructs from the socio-technical system design (job fit, task competence, technology competence, self-determination with technology, and self-determination with task). A survey of 236 enterprise system users showed that user commitment has a positive effect on IS infusion. User commitment, in turn, is influenced by job fit, technology competence, and self-determination with task. This study contributes to IS infusion research by introducing the development of user commitment from the socio-technical system design perspective. Managers can promote user commitment in order to reach the infusion stage of fully utilizing information systems

What motivates people to post comments online?

Cyberbullying, i.e., posting malicious comments online, has been identified as a critical social issue in the online and social media context. As a way to prevent cyberbullying, it is important to promote online prosocial behavior. This study examines what motivates people to post benevolent comments as online prosocial behavior in the online context. For this purpose, we first adopt an exploratory study to identify decision factors in terms of social exchange decision making. We then undertake a main study by developing a theoretical research model based on the identified decision factors. The testing results explain what and how those explored factors affect the posting of benevolent comments online in the social media context. The study has its theoretical contribution in demonstrating the decision factors leading to the posting of benevolent comments by extending the social exchange theory. It also has its practical implications by providing guidance for promoting online prosocial behavior

Calcium Uptake and Release through Sarcoplasmic Reticulum in the Inferior Oblique Muscles of Patients with Inferior Oblique Overaction

We characterized and compared the characteristics of Ca2+ movements through the sarcoplasmic reticulum of inferior oblique muscles in the various conditions including primary inferior oblique overaction (IOOA), secondary IOOA, and controls, so as to further understand the pathogenesis of primary IOOA. Of 15 specimens obtained through inferior oblique myectomy, six were from primary IOOA, 6 from secondary IOOA, and the remaining 3 were controls from enucleated eyes. Ryanodine binding assays were performed, and Ca2+ uptake rates, calsequestrins and SERCA levels were determined. Ryanodine bindings and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake rates were significantly decreased in primary IOOA (p<0.05). Western blot analysis conducted to quantify calsequestrins and SERCA, found no significant difference between primary IOOA, secondary IOOA, and the controls. Increased intracellular Ca2+ concentration due to reduced sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake may play a role in primary IOOA

Real-time visualization of Zn metal plating/stripping in aqueous batteries with high areal capacities

Zinc aqueous batteries have attracted great attention due to the earth abundance and the low redox potential of Zn metal. Utilizing Zn metal as an anode, however, causes low coulombic efficiency stemming from a dendritic Zn plating and formation of byproducts such as hydrogen gas, solid zinc hydroxide and salt-related compounds. One effective way of mitigating the issues is to modify the solvation structure of the electrolyte to increase the energy barrier of the water molecules for hydrolysis and electrolysis. Nevertheless, Zn aqueous batteries still indiscriminately utilize several types of electrolytes without elucidating the correlation between electrolyte composition and the electrochemistry of Zn metal. Here, we use operando optical microscopy to visualize the microstructural evolution of Zn metal, which strongly affects the electrochemical reversibility. In ZnSO4 electrolyte, large Zn platelets grow and form loose agglomerates vulnerable to unexpected delamination from the electrodes. In Zn(OTf)(2) electrolyte, Zn platelets nucleate more homogeneously and grow smaller, which forms denser agglomerates enabling more stable cycling. We further reveal that the formation of a stable solidelectrolyte interphase layer holds the key to the excellent performance of acetonitrile-hybrid water-in-salt electrolytes. Our results show the necessity of designing proper electrolytes to develop long-life Zn aqueous batteries.