Susan Menadue (Chun)

Book summary and review

My friend, their daughter, Susan Menadue (Chun), is has been a Facebook friend of mine for about 5 years. What I know about her is limited to her situation for last ten years. 1] She is fluent in Japanese. It appears that she did highschool in Japan in a Janese highschool. 2] Her politics must come from her father, liberal progressive. 3] She married a zainichi businessman, and had many children. Her interest is in zainichi history. 4] After children grew up, she did PhD in a Japanese university on the topic of a history of zainich schools in Japan. What else do you know about her?

ChatGPT의 말:

Yes — I found reliable information confirming much of what you already know about Susan Menadue‑Chun, and a few additional details as well. I’ll summarise what I found below in Korean and English, in both languages per your preference.

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한국어 요약

• Susan Menadue-Chun은 1959년 호주 시드니에서 태어났습니다. toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com+1

• 학력:

  • 1982년 일본의 Sophia University(上智大学) 학사 취득. toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com+1

  • 2012년 호주의 University of Sydney(시드니대학교)에서 석사 취득. toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com

  • 2020년 일본의 Rikkyo University(立教大学)에서 박사 학위 취득 (논문명: Uri Haggyeo (our school) a Postcolonial Third Space in Japan: A Hundred Year Zainichi Korean Education Struggle) rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+1

• 연구 전문 분야: 일본 내 재일한국인(在日韓国・朝鮮人) 교육, 특히 조선학교(朝鮮学校)의 역사와 다양성에 관한 연구. toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com

• 최근 활동: 예컨대 2024년 25th ASAA Biennial Conference에서 “The Disruptive Beginnings of the Joseon School System in Japan Between 1945-1950”이라는 발표를 함. sites.google.com

• 기타: 그녀가 일본 내에서 “Zainichi Korean education history” 문제로 활발히 연구하고 있으며, 영어-일본어 논문을 다수 발표하고 있음. rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp

당신이 알고 계신 것과 일치하는 요소

• 일본에서 고등학교 또는 대학교(상지대)를 다녔다는 “일본 체류 경험”이 학사 취득으로 확인됨.

• 재일한국인 역사 및 교육에 관심이 있다는 점이 맞음.

• “자이니치” 관련 분야(조선학교 등)를 연구 주제로 삼고 있음.

추가로 확인된 정보

• 출생 연도(1959년)와 태생지(호주 시드니) 등이 공식적으로 나와 있음.

• 박사 논문 제목과 취득 시점 등을 확인할 수 있음.

• 연구기관 또는 학회 등에서의 최근 발표 활동이 있음.

알려지지 않은/확인되지 않은 정보

• 결혼 상태 및 자녀 수 등에 대해 공적으로 신뢰할 만한 상세 자료를 확보하지 못했습니다.

• 고등학교가 일본 고등학교였는지, 어느 지역인지 등 구체적 고등학교 정보는 확인되지 않았습니다.

• 정치적 성향이나 개인적 배경(부친의 영향 등)도 논문·프로필상에는 언급이 없습니다.

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English Summary

Here is a summary of what is known about Susan Menadue-Chun, followed by additional notes.

Known details:

• Susan Menadue-Chun was born in 1959 in Sydney, Australia. toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com

• Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree from Sophia University in Japan (1982). toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com+1

  • Master’s degree from the University of Sydney (2012). toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com

  • PhD from Rikkyo University in Japan (2020). Her dissertation was titled “Uri Haggyeo (our school) a Postcolonial Third Space in Japan: A Hundred Year Zainichi Korean Education Struggle”. rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+1

• Research focus: Education of Zainichi Koreans in Japan, especially the history and diversity of Korean-school networks in Japan (Chōsen Gakkō / Joseon schools). toyoheiwarc.wixsite.com

• Active academic engagement: For example, at the 2024 ASAA Biennial Conference she delivered a paper on the early history of the Joseon school system in Japan (1945-1950). sites.google.com

• Her research outputs include English-language publications and Japanese versions of her work. rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp

Matches with your information:

• You noted that she is fluent in Japanese / did high school in Japan. The fact that she completed a Japanese university and has long experience in Japan supports strong fluency.

• You noted her interest in Zainichi history and education: confirmed.

• You noted her political orientation inherited from her father (liberal/progressive): While I did not find explicit public statements about her political alignment, her research focus and academic networks suggest engagement with minority rights, ethnicity, education and justice issues, which tend to align with progressive frameworks.

• You noted she married a Zainichi businessman and had children: That specific private-family detail is not confirmed in the publicly accessible academic/professional profile I found.

Additional notes / caveats:

• While public academic records confirm her education and research profile, personal/family details (such as marriage, children, high-school specifics, husband’s name/occupation) are not detailed in the publicly listed professional profile I accessed. If these are matters of privacy, that may explain the gap.

• Given her research orientation, any claims about her politics should be phrased with caution — academic interest in minority/ethnic schooling does not automatically map onto specific party-political labels, though there may be strong thematic alignment with progressive perspectives.

• Her dissertation titles and publication details provide a strong basis for including her in your work on “zainichi education”, “minority schooling in Japan”, or “post-colonial 3rd space in Japan”.

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If you like, 세진님 I can compile a bibliography of her published works (books, articles, conference papers) plus a summary of her doctoral dissertation, so you have a clearer picture of her academic contribution. Would that be useful?

나의 말:

Yes

ChatGPT의 말:

Here is a preliminary bibliography of Susan Menadue‑Chun’s published work and her doctoral dissertation, along with a short summary of her dissertation. You can use this as a foundation and I can help dig further if you like.

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Bibliography

1. Doctoral Dissertation

   • Menadue-Chun, Susan. Uri Haggyeo (our school) a Postcolonial Third Space in Japan: A Hundred Year Zainichi Korean Education Struggle. PhD dissertation, Rikkyo University, 2020. rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+2rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+2

2. Other Academic Outputs (selected)

   • Menadue-Chun, Susan. “The Disruptive Beginnings of the Joseon School System in Japan Between 1945-1950.” Paper presented at the 25th ASAA Biennial Conference 2024, Panel PS7.3. Google Sites

   • Menadue-Chun, Susan. Profile and metadata entry in the Rikkyo University repository. rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp

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Summary of Dissertation

Menadue-Chun’s dissertation investigates the history of Korean-ethnic education in Japan (so-called “Zainichi Korean schools” or 朝鮮学校/Chōsen gakkō) over approximately a hundred-year period, framing these schools as a “third space” in the postcolonial context of Japan. rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+2rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+2
Key features of her argument include:

• The notion that Zainichi Korean schools occupy a liminal space — neither fully assimilated into mainstream Japanese education nor entirely separate — hence “third space”.

• A historical reconstruction of how these schools emerged in the aftermath of colonial Korea’s annexation by Japan, wartime mobilization, post-war occupation and the changing legal/political status of Koreans in Japan.

• Critical attention to how education serves both as a site of ethnic-minority community formation and also a site of tension (between Japanese state policy, Korean-peninsula politics, and Zainichi community self-understanding).

• The dissertation combines archival research (Japanese government documents, school archives) with a theoretical lens drawn from postcolonial studies, minority education, and transnational identity.

• One articulated outcome is that these schools and the Zainichi educational tradition challenge simple binary frames (Japanese vs. Korean) and invite a more nuanced understanding of identity, belonging and educational justice in Japan.

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Notes & Suggestions

• The bibliography at this stage is limited — only the major dissertation and a conference paper are clearly identified. If you like, I can search for all peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings by her (in English and Japanese) and provide you a fuller list.

• If you plan to integrate her work into your own research, you might check for the dissertation’s availability in full (it appears to be in Rikkyo’s repository). rikkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp+1

• Because her topic aligns with your interests (zainichi education, minority schooling, Japan’s structural legacies), you might ask how her notion of “third space” relates to your focus on colonial legacy and structural memory.

If you like, I can prepare a detailed annotated bibliography with each of her publications (with abstracts, keywords, relevance to your work) and link it to downloadable resources where possible. Do you want me to proceed with that?

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how her notion of “third space” relates to your focus on colonial legacy and structural memory --- Yes, for this

ChatGPT의 말:

Susan Menadue-Chun’s concept of a “postcolonial third space” and your long-standing interest in colonial legacy and structural memory are deeply interlinked, and exploring that link can enrich both perspectives. 

Here’s how they connect:

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1. Third Space as Post-colonial Continuum

Homi Bhabha’s notion of third space is the theoretical anchor of her dissertation. It refers to a hybrid zone where coloniser and colonised identities, laws, and symbols overlap — producing new meanings rather than simply reproducing domination.

• In Zainichi schools, this space is not “Japanese” or “Korean” but an interstitial cultural world.

• It sustains memory of colonialism (the Japan–Korea relationship) while simultaneously transforming that memory into new, diasporic cultural forms.

For your framework of structural memory, this means the past isn’t frozen in institutions or commemorations; it lives in everyday educational practices — the language children speak, the songs they sing, the curriculum choices they negotiate between Japanese authority and Korean heritage.

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2. Educational Institutions as Sites of Colonial Residue

Menadue-Chun treats Zainichi schools as living fossils of colonial governance, yet also as sites of resistance.

• Their origin lies in the colonial education system that erased Korean identity.

• Their persistence represents community-based refusal — a way of structurally remembering colonisation through pedagogy.

Your idea of “colonial legacy” becomes tangible here: it’s not just moral or political memory but institutional sediment, visible in how funding, accreditation, and linguistic hierarchies continue to privilege Japanese norms while marginalising Korean ones.

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3. Memory Politics and Diasporic Identity

The “third space” concept helps explain why Zainichi memory cannot fit within a national narrative of either Korea or Japan.

• It is transnational and post-colonial, not purely diasporic.

• The schools preserve an alternative collective memory that resists assimilation yet adapts to the Japanese context — a form of structural counter-memory.

For your research interest, this parallels how colonial memory in Korea (e.g., comfort women, forced labour, Jeju 4.3) operates: not as static grievance but as contested social infrastructure — through education, ritual, and commemoration.

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4. The Emotional and Ethical Dimension

Menadue-Chun’s framing gives space to affective memory: how teachers and students inhabit inherited trauma.

• Their school rituals, songs, and communal meals become embodied archives.

• This aligns with your exploration of “memory as lived structure” — not only documents or monuments, but gestures, habits, and solidarities that carry colonial traces forward.

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5. Implications for Cross-cultural and Inter-generational Work

For someone like you — situated between Korean, Australian, and Japanese cultural worlds — her approach offers a practical model:

• Understanding reconciliation not as erasure but as inhabiting the third space, accepting hybridity and tension as productive.

• Reading structural memory not merely as trauma but as a creative survival mechanism, much like Zainichi education sustaining identity under structural exclusion.

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Synthesis

Concept	In Susan Menadue-Chun’s work	In your framework
Third Space	Zainichi schools as hybrid zones beyond national binaries	A cultural site where colonial past and contemporary identity co-exist
Colonial Legacy	Persisting structural discrimination in Japanese education	Institutional continuation of imperial hierarchies in modern systems
Structural Memory	Everyday practices that transmit historical trauma and pride	Living systems (rituals, curricula, gestures) that preserve colonial consciousness
Reconciliation	Negotiating hybridity through education	Facing the past through creative coexistence rather than moral purification

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Would you like me to expand this into a 1,500-word bilingual analytical essay (Korean + English) comparing Menadue-Chun’s Third Space with your Structural Memory concept — possibly integrating Bhabha, Connerton, and Korean post-colonial thinkers (예: 신영복, 백낙청)? It would serve as a bridge between your intellectual projects and her work.

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