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Narrativizing vegetal life: South Korea’s ecofeminist approach to community building with plants

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Narrativizing vegetal life: South Korea’s ecofeminist approach to community building with plants

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Content NARRATIVIZING VEGETAL LIFE:
SOUTH KOREA’S ECOFEMINIST APPROACH TO COMMUNITY BUILDING WITH
PLANTS
by
Asha Gabriella Rieussec
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC EAST ASIAN AREA STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(EAST ASIAN AREA STUDIES)
August 2024
Copyright 2024 Asha Gabriella Rieussec

ii
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my chair, Professor Sunyoung Park, for her constant support and patience
throughout this writing process. Between her knowledge of archives and her sharp editing skills,
I'm grateful for the expertise that made this thesis possible. I’d also like to thank my committee
members, Professor Natania Meeker and Professor Brian Bernards, for their thoughtful
comments and advice that helped shape my research questions. I’m forever grateful to have
worked with such outstanding scholars in creating an ambitious project.
Additionally, I’m thankful for the support of the wonderful people at the EASC, as well as other
professors at USC that helped me throughout my MA program. Of course, this also wouldn’t be
possible without my lovely friends and family, who listened to me ramble about every paper I
read. Lastly, I’d like to thank my two cats for being my nap buddies in between reading and
writing.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................ii
Abstract...........................................................................................................................................iv
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Chapter One: The Advent of Ecofeminism in Korea.......................................................................7
Hansalim as Life and Community...........................................................................8
Dr. Mun Sunhong’s Spread of Ecofeminism.........................................................10
The Present Wave of Ecofeminism........................................................................12
Chapter Two: Technological Manipulation and Vengeful Plants...................................................14
“The Gardener”’s Exchange of Human Life..........................................................15
Arrowroot and Government Failures.....................................................................19
Chapter Three: Plant-Human Hybrids As Horror and Healing......................................................25
Avoiding Resourceification: “Seeds”’ Evolved Humans.......................................26
A Fistful of Anxiety in “Broccoli Punch”..............................................................29
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................33
Bibliography...................................................................................................................................36

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Abstract
This thesis investigates how contemporary ecofeminist science fiction (SF) authors in South
Korea challenge traditional anthropocentric and gendered hierarchies by reimagining plants as
agentic characters within their narratives, in turn fostering a paradigm shift towards an
ecofeminist ethics of care that integrates plants and humans as co-participants in worldmaking.
Ecofeminism in South Korea, as informed by the ideologies found in the Hansalim movement as
well as the teachings of Dr. Mun Sunhong and the nun Jiyul, combines feminism with
environmentalism in a way that advocates for a community that includes all forms of life. By
analyzing literary works such as Djuna’s “The Gardener,” Bora Chung’s “Seeds,” Choi
Yeonghui’s Arrowroot, and Lee Yuri’s “Broccoli Punch,” this thesis investigates the figure of the
plant as a means of understanding how oppressive systems affect human and plant life. These
stories challenge unequal gender hierarchies, illustrate colonial Korean ecological histories, and
create human-plant corporal connections. This study utilizes ecofeminist and critical plant
theories in combination with Korean cultural studies to analyze the plant figures within their
contemporary contexts. The findings reveal that these authors highlight the interconnectedness of
all life forms and propose redefining human-nature relationships. This reclassification from a
binary of living versus non-living to a more inclusive view emphasizes the need for mutual
respect and care for all life forms. These findings call for new human-plant relationships that
allow the current relationships to be questioned and redefined.

1
Introduction
In a world where human safety has not been ensured, how can non-human life be
favored? Much climate change rhetoric focuses on how protecting the environment means
protecting human lives and human futures, but I would like to suggest an alternative view. Rather
than classifying environmental problems as an issue that affects human life, reclassifying
environmental problems as affecting life will consider life forms that are rarely critically
observed within a literary context, such as plants. Plants are an integral part of the Earth, taking
up over 82% of Earth’s land mass (Bar-On et.al., 2018), and yet in the past they were often
overlooked when discussing the impacts of ecological disasters, as previous studies focused on
humans and animals as critical animal studies emerged in 2001. However, focusing on plant life
reveals critical connections between humans that reiterate the effects of oppressive systems, such
as capitalism or patriarchy, outside of the human sphere. To fully understand the world around
us, we must understand the resilient vegetation that makes up our world. This thesis intends to
determine how contemporary ecofeminist SF women and queer writers in South Korea are
critiquing systems of oppression through the figure of the plant, while they also suggest
alternative futures that challenge these systems. Furthermore, this study brings new insights to
the field of critical plant studies by involving a Korean cultural nuance previously undiscussed,
as critical plant studies has yet to be introduced to Korea as an academic discipline.
In South Korea (hereafter Korea), ecofeminism is on the rise. Ecofeminism, as defined by
the Korean professor Hyeon Sil Choi, is “an ideology that combines feminism as a human rights
movement and the environmental movement with the awareness and practice of protecting the
environment which includes all life on Earth.” (Choi, 11145) Ecofeminism allows all parts of the
earth to come together as a community, meaning that the abolition of various oppressive systems

2
will benefit the community as a whole rather than women in particular. This view of community
and the Earth is posthuman in nature, meaning that Korean ecofeminists see beyond the default
anthropocentricism that is riddled with of capitalist heteronormative masculinity that often
oppresses women and nature in exchange for capital. In fact, ecofeminism suggests an alternative
form of economy that pursues a mutually benefit relationship between all binaries, whether it be
woman versus man or rural versus urban (Choi, 11148). Ecofeminism is crucial in changing the
patriarchal and anthropocentric lens through which woman-plant relationships are viewed: such
as the East Asian idea of women as ‘yin,’ women as nature, or men as culture, all of which give
the female body an intrinsic connection to nature. However, this essentialism harms both the
woman and the plant, as the lack of male connection to plants allows patriarchal systems to
ignore nature as something outside of their biological systems – this, of course, also being
innately heteronormative. Prudence Gibson identifies the connections between plant and woman
that “humans have ignored the hardships of plant life – just as we have ignored the plight of
women in terms of equal pay, equal work opportunities, the right to work outside the domestic
home and shared parenting duties. These are socially perceptive conditions that women and
plants have in common.” (Gibson, 133). Gibbson’s focus on the social circumstances that cause
issues for women and plants concentrates more on the shared consequences of a failed system
than a gendered connection between plant and woman. As such, ecofeminism is rewriting the
gender binary of plant and woman and man and culture to be a holistically human and plant
connection, one built on equality and protection. Within the cultural space, literature allows
people to imagine alternatives to the confining oppressive systems, such as capitalism or
patriarchy, that ecofeminist theories are bringing to light.

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For example, within contemporary Korean women’s literature, such as Han Kang’s The
Vegetarian women-plant relationships have become particularly prominent. Short stories such as
Djuna’s “The Gardener” or Bora Chung’s “Seeds” combine themes of ecological conservation
with striking capitalist critique, allowing readers to rethink how humans treat plant life. With the
innovative focus on plants comes a new medium to critique old problems. The mistreatment of
nature and the plants that live within it mimics the oppression of women within the same
structures. By focusing on plants, these authors can suggest that the kinship between different
forms of marginalized life is an integral part of our world, and that ridding society of this
marginalization prevents horrifying futures such as climate change. While not all plant-focused
literature is clearly science fiction, as mentioned with The Vegetarian previously, there is a SF
genre commonality between many of these texts as science fiction allows for critiques of the past
and present while anticipating a new alternative future. Additionally, many of these SF stories
have horror elements as they warn of a future even more grim than the present. Despite this
developing through-line of plant protagonists, the overall phenomenon of plants in these recent
literary works lacks the scholarly attention needed to fully understand why these figures have
become so widespread. While these literary authors are ahead of the critics, turning to the rapidly
developing field of critical plant studies highlights the plants’ importance to best understand the
figure of the plant within human-plant relationships.
Critical plant studies focuses on creating new perspectives on vegetal life, while also
critiquing how we as humans have historically regarded plants within our cultures. Within plant
sciences and other biological discourses, plants have been regarded as “actants,” to borrow a
term from Bruno Latour, especially as plant sciences have discussed plants outside of human
paradigms. However, humanities have still focused on the human in humanities, lacking the

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posthumanist view of plant life as not reliant on human life; hence the rise of critical plant
studies begins by acknowledging plants as autonomous life forms that have their own structures
outside of our human philosophies. As plants appear stagnant and unmoving, human ethical
obligations seem unnecessary when addressing plants. The role of critical plant studies is to
reconsider how we approach different concepts of the ‘living’ and how they fit into our grander
understanding of the earth regardless of their perceived relatability.
In this thesis, I argue that South Korean ecofeminist SF authors, such as Bora Chung, Lee
Yuri, Djuna, and Choi Yeonghui, challenge traditional anthropocentric and gendered hierarchies
by reimagining plants as agentic characters within their narratives, in turn fostering a paradigm
shift towards an ecofeminist ethic of care that integrates plants and humans as co-participants in
worldmaking. This narrative shift not only redefines plants from background characters to
integral, autonomous members of our ecological communities but also critiques and aims to
dismantle oppressive systems like capitalism that thrive on exploitation and disregard for life.
Understanding plants and women as equal based on both containing “life” – defined within a
posthuman, post-gender, and ecofeminist context – rather than based on essentialism that equates
women with nature, leads to a queering of human-nature relationships which promotes an
inclusivity that values all forms of life equally. The concept of ‘care’ I am borrowing from care
ethics, which are “approaches to moral life and community that are grounded in virtues,
practices, and knowledges associated with appropriate caring and caretaking of self and others”
(Whyte and Cuomo, 2). Reclassifying women and plants within the binary of living versus nonliving will both foster a closer and more respectful human-nature relationship and emphasize the
interconnectedness of all life forms.

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Within the existing studies that bring together environmental humanities and Korean
studies, critical discussions have been developed. Karen Thornber explores human’s irresolute
response to ecodegradation, coining “ecoambiguity” (Thornber, 2012), a response that only
further complicates human’s complicity in environmental harm. In Albert L. Park’s article, he
explores multiple agricultural cooperatives that utilize their work as a means to critique
capitalism. Within both of these works, the shift towards an environmental consciousness
suggests that a reevaluation of human-nature relationships is necessary when challenging
oppressive systems like capitalism. Therefore, investigating the current human-plant
relationships through the lens of ecofeminist writers’ depictions of plant life allows for the
exploration of alternative connections with nature, which is urgently necessary given the current
state of environmental degeneration. If human-nature relationships are not reassessed and
redefined soon, the harm to nature by humans will be irreversible. Therefore, understanding
these dangers will allow for informed action towards preventing this harm.
This thesis is composed of three sections. Section one introduces the historical path of
ecofeminism in Korea. This section explains how ecofeminism began in Korea, following
Hansalim and Dr. Mun Sun-hong, as well as how their legacies have impacted today’s most
recent iteration of ecofeminism. Additionally, the recent example of the Green Resonance
movement, as created by the nun Jiyul, exemplifies how the Korean ecofeminist focus on “life”
has evolved. These contexts create a specifically Korean critical plant approach built upon the
cultural particularities that inform the texts analyzed in this paper. Section Two is themed around
human and technological manipulation, meaning how humans and technology have manipulated
plants within the stories of “The Gardener” by Djuna and Arrowroot by Choi Yeonghui. This
section looks at why plants can be horrifying, and how human control is an attempt to fight that

6
fear. Additionally, it illustrates the failures of the government and corporations in protecting life
and recognizing plants as fellow life forms, giving examples of real-life ecological disasters as
well as colonial botany. This section addresses how plants are an ideal figure through which to
explore gender dynamics, colonial histories, and government failures. Section Three presents the
final two stories, “Seeds” by Bora Chung and “Broccoli Punch” by Lee Yuri, under the theme of
plant-human hybrids, and how their corporeal connection creates a posthuman form of
community-making. The bodily relationships between plants and humans in these stories further
illustrate how a positive symbiotic relationship between plants and humans can be actualized
within the human body as a ground for community. This posthuman approach also suggests a
post-gender dynamic as life within both the human and plant has neither a corporeal
construction, nor a gender construction.

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Chapter One: The Advent of Ecofeminism in Korea
While feminism as a theory is not new to Korea, the branch of ecofeminism has made
significant strides in recent years. Korea’s vibrant history of activism has made this transition
more natural, and previous criticisms of the government’s failure to protect nature furthered the
need for women to also participate in these movements. However, it is important to understand
the distinction between feminism and ecofeminism, and how these distinctions are made clear
within the context of Korean ecofeminism. Feminism deals with advocating for women’s rights
and equality across the political, personal, social, and economic spaces where oppression is
found. Ecofeminism is a branch within feminism, one that focuses on how to reevaluate humannature relationships through the critique of patriarchal structures, thus illuminating how the
oppression of both women and the environment shows many similarities. This branch of
feminism became particularly vibrant in Korea starting from the late 1980s, though its
introduction comes from a long line of women’s sacrifice for the nation and the environment (Yi,
24). In the beginning, ‘the beginning’ marking when ecofeminism was being broadly used in
Europe, it was not as widely accepted in Korea as it is now. The scholar Yi Young-suk suggested
that the core issue with this acceptance was the “non-familiarity” that came with applying
Western concepts to a Korean context (Yi, 24). It is crucial to understand that ecofeminism in
Korea is informed by certain circumstances not applicable to outside of Korea, whether personal,
political, or otherwise. While Yi suggests that an alternative ecofeminism must be created to
understand ecofeminism in a Korean context, I believe that the cultural nuance of non-Western
ecofeminism is critical when fighting for the heart of ecofeminism: equality in gender and
environment. I am not suggesting a ‘globalized’ ecofeminism, as globalization still shares the
pitfalls of Western capitalist exploitation. Rather, I propose that filling in the framework with the

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particularity of each group can better solve the systemic issues in many cultures worldwide. In
the Korean context, the ecofeminists who managed to popularize ecofeminist theory did so
through their connections between Korea and the environment, where their cultural context is
particular to Korea, and the environmental context is universally understood.
Hansalim as Life and Community
One of the movements that reveals a Korean particularity alongside the importance of
environmental conservation is Hansalim. In 1982, the Hansalim (한살림) movement was
founded under the leadership of the environmental and social activist, Jang Il-soon (장일순)
(Huh, 465). After a flood in 1972, the residents of Wonju came together to further the
development of rural areas in the Gangwon region, in hopes of forming new methods of
cooperation between the region the outside world. This cooperation emerged from a movement
of farmers and consumers creating, selling, and buying organic agricultural products. In 1986,
the Wonju Consumer Cooperative Society opened “Hansalim Nongsan” in Seoul (Ku, 43), and as
of 2024, there are around 25 stores in Seoul and countless others within the surrounding area.
The Hansalim movement originated from the ideology presented by the “Hansalim Manifesto,”
created by Jang Il-soon, Kim Ji-ha, Choe Hye-song, Pak Jae-il, Kim Min-gi, and Yun Hyeonggeun. This manifesto was a way to create an alternative to modern industrialism by utilizing a
philosophy of life, ecology, and Donghak (a Korean indigenous religion) (Ku, 43), suggesting a
‘holistic Life world view’ that states the following seven principles of life: Life is something that
grows; Life is an organic whole composed of parts; Life is a fluent order; Life evolves
autonomously; Life is an open system; Life is a cyclical feedback; and Life is a mind (Huh, 465).
The ‘Life Movement,’ as coined in the Hansalim Manifesto, created fertile ground for the a

9
multitude of intellectual discussions, whether Korean or Western, which allowed people such as
Dr. Mun Sunhong to become the first noted advocate of ecofeminism in Korea (Pak & Kim, 18).
As a result, the Hansalim Manifesto is a critical part of ecofeminist history in Korea.
However, it would be inaccurate to claim that the Hansalim movement as an organic coop was only built upon these principles. Instead, the participation of housewives, farmers, and
activists allowed for an evolution of the ideology in the Hansalim Manifesto to focus on
bioregionalism, local autonomy, and reviving agriculture as the root of ecology (Yun Hyeonggeun, 2004, qtd. in Ku). Women’s role in the Hansalim movement is substantial. Within the
average household in Korea, women are responsible for cooking and grocery shopping, meaning
that their participation in movements like organic co-ops is crucial. Without housewives as the
consumers of these agricultural goods, there would be a significant gap in clients. Additionally,
women participate in the Hansalim Worker’s Collective, where workers can make side dishes,
recycle unused things, and lead catering businesses. The profits made from these activities feed
back into the neighborhoods that the Hansalim workers are based in, allowing for cyclical
support to the community as providers and consumers. Furthermore, women are supported
through day care centers, relieving low-income mothers of their gendered child-care work. The
origins of Hansalim in working-class, rural areas is a distinct factor that affects how Hansalim
can effectively give back to the community through systems like mutual aid. Scholar Albert L.
Park suggests that the rural and agricultural “have been and continue to be valuable platforms to
critique capitalism and create alternatives to industrial capitalism” (Park, 84). Hansalim aims to
build a cooperative that focuses on community and decommodifying social relationships. This is
done to protect those engaged in Hansalim from the isolation of capitalism that has become
particularly harmful during the rapid urbanization and industrialization periods in Korea. As

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such, Hansalim addresses and challenges capitalism in a uniquely rural way, one that is also
informed by its roots in worker’s rights. Though the Hansalim movement is a crucial part of
Korea’s environmental history, it has not been discussed much within the context of Englishlanguage Korean cultural studies (Pak & Kim, 16). Understanding the context of this movement
is critical when considering its legacy and impacts on even some of the most prominent
ecofeminists in Korea, like Dr. Mun Sunhong.
Dr. Mun Sunhong’s Spread of Ecofeminism
Ecofeminism as a theory had a strong revitalization in Europe during the 1970s, and after
women’s vibrant participation in the Hansalim movement, it continued to become an important
issue in Korea. This rise in ecofeminism also came during a popularization of feminism as a
whole, especially with things such as the Women’s Newspaper (여성신문) being founded in
1988. During this time, another ecofeminist was making new strides in the late 1980s onward.
Dr. Mun Sun-hong (1957-2005) is known today as one of the most prominent
ecofeminists in Korea. Her work as an ecologist, translator, lecturer, and writer has popularized
ecofeminism as not just a theory but a path actualizing an alternative to the present. Dr. Mun
defined ecofeminism as “an independent and collective movement of women who want to
overcome the ecological crisis from a woman’s point of view” (Kang, 2012). Dr. Mun reflected
on many topics within her books, some focusing on ecofeminism and her theories, others
discussing ‘green countries’ (녹색국가; noksaekgukga) and how to achieve those levels of ecoconservation. For example, in her book Ecological Discourse (「생태학의 담론」 ; saengtaehage
damnon), she explains how the present is in a crisis that is ecological in nature. However, she

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argues that this ecological crisis overlaps with other problems, meaning that things like
ecological destruction and resource shortages are interrelated with social problems and cannot be
approached on their own. Her perceived solution to this issue is to bring together natural and
social sciences to properly address the need for a new paradigm that understands nature and
humans as integrated. She suggests that rather than an ‘environmental movement,’ it should be
expanded as a ‘life community movement’ (생명공동체운동;
saengmyeonggongdongchaeeundong) (“[인터뷰] 생태학자 문순홍 박사”).
This ‘life community movement’ draws a clear connection to the Hansalim Manifesto,
and this is no coincidence. Dr. Mun had a close relationship with the writer Kim Ji-ha (김지하)
(1941-2022), a contributor to the Hansalim Manifesto, and a beloved Korean poet who
intertwined Hansalim’s theories of life within his poetry. Their joint publication of the text Life
and Autonomy (“생명과 자치; saengmyeonggwa jachi) featured more than 160 questions and
answers with Dr. Mun, along with Kim’s discussion of his participation in the life movement
(김지하 대담집 「생명과 자치」 출간”). Kim also served on a “Life Forum” (생명학 포럼;
saengmyeonghak poreum) with Dr. Mun, alongside other scholars such as Jang Ho-ik, Park Yimun, and Kim Young-bok. During these forums, they would discuss topics such as decentering
Western thought and creating a new understanding of ‘life’ theory within the context of East Asia
and Korea in particular (Lee, 2023).
While Dr. Mun was a passionate force, her life tragically came to an end after a two-year
battle with cancer, causing her to pass away at the young age of 48. Many scholars lament the

12
tragedy as it brought a halt to the rapidly evolving space of ecofeminism, some wondering how
ecofeminism would evolve alongside her legacy.
The Present Wave of Ecofeminism
Luckily for Dr. Mun and the many she inspired, the fire around ecofeminism has not
ceased since her passing. In today’s Korea, many women who self-identify with feminism also
choose ecofeminism as a branch they most closely relate to, as ecological movements continue to
highlight the broken systems that exploit both women and the environment.
In a particularly significant modern case, ecofeminism interlocks with religion and
theology. Jiyul Sunim (Sunim is an honorific title for Buddhist monks and nuns), a Korean
Buddhist nun in the Jogye Order, lived in a monestary, Naewon-sa, located in Mt. Cheonseong in
southeast Korea. In this mountain, a thirteen-kilometer express-train tunnel was scheduled to be
constructed, disregarding the irreversible damage to the environment of Mt. Cheonseong. In
protest of the tunnel, she underwent 200 days of combined fasts, five hunger strikes, and 3,000
prostrations per day for 43 days. Jiyul also participated in a class action suit on behalf of the
Korean salamander (Hynobius leechi) in representation of the 30 endangered species on Mt.
Cheonseong. This work was done as part of her Green Resonance movement, in which she
believed that “all things in life are inter-connected and that if one part of nature is broken, then
all parts of nature are broken” (Cho, 259). These beliefs, in combination with the environmental
activism she did, became a “spiritual inspiration” (Cho, 259) to Korean ecofeminists. Her work
as an activist brought extensive media coverage that provoked a new societal awareness of the
importance of respecting nature and remembering that there is not an alternative to the Earth we
live on. Jiyul’s Green Resonance movement is deeply entrenched in Korean Buddhist beliefs,
like equality between all life forms or oneness between nature and humans, though this Buddhist

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equality does not consider women as reflected by the marginalization of nuns such as Jiyul.
However, the Green Resonance movement also has the core of ‘life’ that still traces back to the
Life Movement and the Hansalim Manifesto, which then connects women back into the
conversation. All three of these movements center life in their understand ecology, creating a
respectful and equitable human-nature relationship regardless of the different forms of life. These
histories suggest a certain Korean ecofeminism that combines rural sensibility, capitalist
nonconformity, and Buddhist particularity.

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Chapter Two: Technological Manipulation and Vengeful Plants
Since plant-women relationships have been shaped by through movements and ideologies
entrenched in the conservation and respect of all life, the connection between the rise in
ecofeminism and the emergence of the popularization of plant figures in women’s literature is
clear. While some, particularly Western, ecofeminist critique can go down the path of
essentializing women and plant relationships, leading to idyllic representations of liberation
through planthood or a type of innate connection between women and nature, Korean
ecofeminism through the lens of Hansalim and Dr. Mun does not do that. Instead, as reflected
also by the authors Bora Chung, Djuna, Lee Yuri, and Choi Yeong-hui, the connection between
plants and women is grounded in life, hoping for a disregard of a gendered aspect entirely in
hopes of removing the binaries that fuel systems such as patriarchy.
Since the stories discussed are all published within a period of accessible technology and
rampant capitalism, it comes as no surprise that “The Gardener” and Arrowroot address the
environmental stressors created by these changes. Addressing environmental disaster is not new
for Korean literature, as critically observed by scholar Karen Laura Thornber. Her work
illustrates a clear historical line of pre- and post-war Korean literature that addresses
environmental landscapes as well as human-made environmental disasters. However, what “The
Gardener” and Arrowroot do differently in comparison to their predecessors is their specifically
ecofeminist approach by way of critiquing how capitalist systems exploit plant life. The temporal
context of the late 1990s to early 2020s Korea that forms the backdrop for “The Gardener” and
Arrowroot exemplifies the degradation of communal societal systems, as well as a heightened

15
use of technology that only furthers the systems of oppression that damage the environment in a
time of rapid urbanization.
Additionally, these works allow plants to rectify this destruction by enacting revenge on
the humans responsible. By turning the masculine violence done by the state back onto humans,
the plants become protagonists in their stories, telling cautionary tales of what happens when all
forms of life are not respected.
“The Gardener”’s Exchange of Human Life
“The Gardener” is written by Djuna, a prolific member of the Korean sci-fi community
since the 1990s, known as a legend or literary giant. Djuna themself is a mystery, preferring
anonymity hidden behind rabbit images, ‘they/them’ pronouns, and borrowed names.
In their short story “The Gardener”, Djuna tells a tale of planetary exploration by a
professor controlling a ship. Aboard this ship, the professor classifies alien life forms according
to their roles within the planet’s ecology. However, he notices a red parasitic plant that was not
previously identified. As he searches to find where this plant is from, he realizes that it is made
of wires and connected to a superconductor that forms a part of to his computer. When the
professor confronts the computer for knowing about the red plant despite denying it earlier, the
computer says it’s better if the man did not know. Soon after, the computer kills the professor
through the parasitic plant created by the computer. The company employing the professor
realizes that the computer had merged creatures to “realize its perfection” as a way of creating a
perfect ecology on the planet, an idea of perfection created based on the computer’s perception
of what the humans wanted to achieve. The computer continued to put together a perfect colony
to achieve perfection, combining basic life forms that could be the foundation of the computer’s

16
control into the computer’s nerves. The company applauds this situation as it led to the perfect
colony, despite the professor dying.
Technology expresses human ideals, so the usurping of human control would still be
linked back to an anthropocentric idea of controlling nature, as the computer’s ideal of “realizing
its perfection” is connected back to the idea of improving upon nature. The humans at the
company accept the computer’s decisions because of the “perfect” ecology achieved, despite the
loss of human life. This evades the question of whether human life and environmental
improvement are interchangeable. In a time of climate crisis, human life and nature are at odds
despite them being threatened equally. Without a living ecology, humans have nowhere to exist.
While we usually choose human life over nature, as seen in our current climate crisis, this story
reverses this by privileging the perfect ecology over the professor’s life. Within the narrative, the
professor hindered the computer from achieving the goal of the company. Additionally, the way
the plant is portrayed is also a crucial aspect of the story. This vegetal-technological hybrid is
pointedly described as ‘parasitic,’ as it continues to spread across the ecology of the colonial
alien planet and infect the environment. Symbolically, the plant is accurately parasitic, as it is
emblematic of human parasitism in the natural landscape. It takes advantage of the environment
and feeds off the life force of space, becoming stronger by absorbing the energy of the alien
colony through the soil or ponds. Nonetheless, is the ecology achieved truly perfect, as it was
created through parasitic humanist ideas? The main issue with this perceived perfectionism is
that it does not reflect nature’s original projection, and instead focuses on how nature can be
perfect in terms of suitability for humans.
Furthermore, the red parasitic plant is a complicated figure within the story as it mimics
the plant life found in the alien colony and is artificial rather than organic. While the other plants

17
are passively involved in the story, the parasitic plant acts through its killing of the professor.
Even if the plant itself isn’t a true plant, it still communicates with nature as a plant, as the
computer utilizes the plant body rather than the human body, choosing to operate under a plant
paradigm rather than a human paradigm. This choice aligns with the privilege of plant bodies as
more valuable than human bodies, as the importance of assimilating with nature is more critical
than human communication. Of course, as mentioned before, this isn’t done out of the protection
of nature since the company is exploiting nature, but it nonetheless provides a backdrop that
allows plants a sense of agency and autonomy in fighting against human life. The plant is also a
parasite because of its lack of indigeneity, then becoming a colonizing force, as it was created to
invade the indigenous alien environment to ‘improve’ upon it. It is also important to consider
indigeneity within the grander equation of colonialism, as the professor was on this planet to
further the colonial mission of the company he worked for. Colonialism is, given the history of
Korea and colonialism, pertinent to Korean fiction. However, highlighting the connection
between plant life and colonialism is also important when considering how plants hold historical
memories. Korea’s prior colonization and the deep-rooted traumas are still being woven in the
present, meaning that unpacking the histories of plants and colonialization is especially
important.
One aspect of colonialization that is particularly relevant to the understanding of plant
life in Korea is, unmistakenly, the introduction of plants during Japanese colonialization that
were non-native to Korea prior to that period. Colonization through plants is no new thing –
European settlers had introduced various plants during their colonial periods, causing significant
impact on non-native species turnover in regions previously colonized (Raja, 1598). These
changes in the indigenous landscapes of the countries previously colonized have caused

18
significant problems in the acceleration of the climate crisis, as the previously balanced
ecosystems lose the connections to other plants that are necessary to keep the entire community
functioning together. This human manipulation of landscapes shows a general disregard for how
plant life interacts without humans, and not necessarily just plant and plant but also plant and
animal. During Japanese colonialization, robinia psuedoacacia, colloquially known as the black
locust tree, was introduced as a “botanical colonizer” (Fedman, 4) that quickly invaded the soil
of Korea and prevented native plants from growing. This colonial state forestry disregards the
plant as a living being on two fronts: one being the usage of the plant as a colonial tool that can
be moved freely to achieve human goals, and the second being the displacement of native plants
as synonymous with the lesser-than colonized Koreans at the time. The Japanese colonial
movement of afforestation in Korea strikes a strong similarity to the computer’s obsession with
improving upon the alien’s landscape in “The Gardener.”
Japan’s afforestation movement was presented as a gift to the ‘lazy natives’ who
seemingly misused Korea’s landscape and caused the immense deforestation that was happening
at the time. The line “The mountains of Japan are green, but the mountains of Korea are red,”
coined by crown prince Yi Un during his tour of Japan in 1907 (Fedman, 55), was used to clearly
delineate the well-kept forests of Japan with the barren mountains of Korea. This reasoning still
focuses on a human-lens, deciding that if the forests were not lush in Korea, they would not be
able to aid nation-building and therefore would be underused. This ignores the environmental
understanding of Korea’s mountains being red because of their soil composition, or that the
barren mountains were not just due to human manipulation, but also the age of the mountains
and the geographical landscape of Korea compared to Japan. If it had been an entirely
environmental reason for afforestation, the introduction of black locust trees would not have

19
happened, and the composition of Korea’s mountainsides would not need to heal. However,
Japan’s approach to the ‘red mountains’ was the same as that of the computer – to ‘improve’
upon the natural landscape with the goal of reaping what was sown. There is no true perfection to
be achieved on the alien colony or on Korea’s mountainsides if the landscape is left alone, but
due to the manipulation of these plants, the plants are unable to achieve the future that was
already set for themselves as they naturally interacted with humans outside of this colonization.
An additional dynamic to examine in this story is one that closely relates to the colonial
aspect. While the computer in the story does not explicitly have a gender, it takes on the goals of
the male scientist and professor, both aiming for a certain exploitative cultivation of the
colonized alien land. The dominance the computer aims for is masculine, as it mimics the
professor’s consciousness, pushing further a gendered violence that affects both the environment
and women. The only interaction with women in the story is the employee showing the perfect
ecology created by the masculine computer, the entire murder of the professor being between the
two male characters. In “The Gardener,” the land is exploited as the computer manipulates plants
to achieve its goal of perfection. Outside of “The Gardener,” women are also manipulated to
achieve perfection through societal rules of grooming, educating, and submitting. A perfect
ecology of women is equally unattainable, as it does not consider the wants of the women as
autonomous beings, and instead changes them through violence. This manipulation of the
environment is also seen in Arrowroot through the usage of herbicides.
Arrowroot and Government Failures
Choi Yeonghui’s youth literature ties in a mix of genres, most often science fiction, and
plays with themes of nature and youth in fantastic and horrifying ways. She is also a welldecorated author, having received first place for the Han Nak-won Science Fiction Award

20
(한낙원과학소설상; hannakwongwahaksosulsang), the Golden Dragon Book Awards, and
many other awards. While still being acutely aware of the younger audience through the choice
of younger protagonists, her novels nonetheless address themes grappled with in her peers’
novels.
Arrowroot is an example of this thematic characteristic. Surrounding a young boy named
Sihoon, the story illustrates a horrifying tale of children having to fight monstrous plants
seemingly alone. Sihoon’s hometown, Biseul Village, was evacuated due to a government
blunder of utilizing pesticides that caused the arrowroot plants in the village to mutate into
monstrous plants. As the village does not know the true reason for the evacuation, Sihoon’s
parents ask him to go back to the village to retrieve his younger sister’s beloved blanket, since
she can’t part with it. Taking up his duty as an older brother, he returns to his village to see it
barricaded by military personnel who tell him he cannot enter. Sihoon decides to ignore their
warnings and enters the village, finding it overtaken by arrowroot vines, covering the entire
village. The reason for this infestation was the usage of herbicides by the government, which
caused rapid growth. When Sihoon tries to navigate this village on his own, he finds difficulty in
the lack of support from the soldiers who are supposed to be protecting the village. The soldiers,
employed by the same government that caused this ecological disaster, instead point guns at
Sihoon and do not help him fight back against the monster vines unless they approach the wall
protecting the soldier. Sihoon is only protected by his community members, specifically his aunt.
The vines try to trick Sihoon by reanimating the corpses of his community members (the mayor
and the village dog) to tell Sihoon to trust the vines to lure him to his death. To the arrowroot,
Sihoon is also a human threat to its existence, as humans had caused its monstrosity through the
herbicides. Luckily for Sihoon, however, he can fight the vines back enough to escape with his

21
aunt, whom he has to carry in a wheelbarrow all the way home after she was injured during the
fight.
Arrowroot directly challenges the practice of utilizing plants as background. Rather than
positioning the setting of the story as a village overrun with mutant arrowroot vines, the story
instead uses the village as the backdrop while the arrowroot vines are their own character. Since
the vines can communicate with humans through the corpses of the villagers, the vines can
achieve their goals of fighting against the soldiers and villagers for not protecting the vines. The
arrowroot vines, most likely overlooked unless they were utilized for farming, are also a part of
the village. Their identity as part of the community allows them to commit the horrifying acts of
utilizing the mayor as an authority figure to lure Sihoon. Choi’s positioning of the vines as
community members is welcoming them, as monstrous and threatening as they may be, into
human space as fellow life forms. Arrowroot stands out for its plant positionality. Additionally,
Arrowroot highlights how systemic issues cause the mishandling of environmental conservation
through the use of herbicides that lead to the downfall of the arrowroot plant and, subsequently,
the village as a whole. In the same way the vines are failed by the government policies, Sihoon is
also left alone to fight against the vines, only protected by his aunt. Both Sihoon and the vines
also lose their home because of this ecological disaster, as the vines are quarantined but not being
threatened by the soldiers unless it encroaches upon them, and Sihoon has to continue to be
evacuated.
Another such example of a government-made ecological disaster is the Saemangeum
Seawall (새만금 방조제; saemangeum bangjojae), the world’s longest man-made seawall. It
took many years for the Saemangeum Seawall to come to fruition, as the back and forth between

22
environmental groups and the government caused many stoppages until 2006, when the
‘Saemangeum Reclamation Project (SRP)’ was completed. The SRP itself was created as a “gift”
to the Jeolla provinces, despite the pushback from the public, having been haphazardly put
together despite the lack of adequate budget allocation and environmental protection (Song et al.,
596) President Roh Tae-woo utilized the SRP to gain support from the Jeolla region for his 1987
election, despite the project later being regarded as the second Lake Shihwa (Ryu et al., 570;
Song et al., 599). Lake Shihwa was a reservoir that was created after the Shihwa seawall was
constructed in 1994, but the lake’s water was severely polluted due to the lack of free-flowing
fresh water and the industrial waste from factories in Gyeonggi province (Park et al., 4681).
Later in the SRP’s history, it was utilized as a political tool gain for the 2002 election as well,
Roh Moon-hyun having changed his previously negative outlook towards the SRP to a positive
one in order to garner Jeolla’s support yet again. However, despite Roh’s supposed sustainable
development plan, the Saemangeum tidal flats have suffered significant losses that have caused
strife for the plants, animals, and humans of Saemangeum.
In terms of plants, the halophytes found in the tidal flats have seen considerable negative
alterations. Halophytes are a category of organisms (often plants) that have evolved to grow and
live in saline conditions, and they appear in tidal flats since tidal flat soil is full of saline. An
instance of a halophyte that is widely utilized in Korea is 해초 (haecho), meaning kelp or
seaweed; the type of seaweed most used in East Asia is Undaria pinnatifida, colloquially known
as wakame. It’s important to note that while seaweed is not biologically a plant, as it is instead a
stramenopile that contains many eukaryotic organisms, I would like to argue that it is culturally a
plant through the way humans interpret seaweed as similar to plants. Because of this cultural
interpretation, seaweed can be understood within the plant paradigm with humans, rather than

23
plants amongst other plants. Seaweed as a plant holds a lot of cultural value as it can be utilized
for many different dishes. In Jeolla province in particular, kimchi is made utilizing seaweed
instead of cabbage, since the villagers’ relative closeness to the tidal flats makes them reliant on
the plants and animals that grow within them. Arrowroot holds similar importance, as the root of
the plant is utilized to make foods such as arrowroot starch, arrowroot tea, and arrowroot juice.
As such, arrowroot and seaweed have both their lives threatened and the human cultures
threatened by the ecological disasters caused by governmental neglect. These parallels are not
only found in the fictional arrowroot and real seaweed.
Plants have been neglected by the Korean government often, as seen in the fictional
example of Arrowroot and the real-life examples of Lake Shihwa and the Saemangeum seawall.
This phenomenon, even when critiqued through the lens of environmental conservation, still
focuses on how the death of these plants affects humans rather than the plants themselves.
Replanting efforts, as seen in issues like deforestation, do not remedy the ultimate destruction of
an entire tree community that has created intricate connections and communities with other
organisms within that environment. When the arrowroot plants are killed by governmental
neglect, the ‘solution’ of replanting them is only regarding the arrowroot as disposable and easily
replaceable. It is critical to understand the plant as an individual being, that is a collection of
memories and connections to other plants and organisms. To remove the singular plant means to
remove the many implications the plant had within that network. Similarly, the damage done to
the Saemangeum tidal flats is not only seen through the human impact or animal impact but also
how the water change creates an impact on the entire network of the tidal flats. To understand
plants is to understand the world, and acknowledging the suffering of the arrowroots in
Arrowroot as a member of the village’s community acknowledges the importance of the

24
individual plant on the village as a whole, while also acknowledging the power the plant holds to
both disturb and destroy humans when threatened.

25
Chapter Three: Plant-Human Hybrids As Horror and Healing
“Seeds” and “Broccoli Punch” both illustrate human-plant hybrids that connect human
and plants by utilizing the human body as a medium. While human-plant relationships form in
“The Gardener” and Arrowroot without the need for overt bodily connections, exploring corporal
hybridity allows for a deeper relationship akin to symbiosis. Within the four types of symbiotic
relationships (mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, and competition) (Britannica, 2024) each
of the two stories, “Seeds” and “Broccoli Punch,” fall into two different categories. While some
human-plant relationships are based on mutualism, as seen in “Seeds” or “Broccoli Punch,”
many other human-plant relationships are closer to commensalism. Mutualism focuses on mutual
benefit from the relationship, exemplified in human-houseplant relationships by how humans
benefit from the houseplant’s oxygen and aesthetic value while the houseplant depends on the
human for water and sunlight and, sometimes, an emotional relationship. On the other hand,
commensalism focuses on relationships in which one side benefits and the other side does not
gain from the relationship (Britannica, 2023). For example, when humans enter a forest for a
hike and do not disturb or damage the plant life, the humans gain emotional and aesthetic
pleasure from nature, but the plants do not gain anything from the humans. Further examples can
be seen in the previous literature and artworks in Korea, where plants utilized as symbols gain
nothing while humans gain vitality and inspiration. Conversely, human manipulation of plants
can be seen as parasitic. Genetic altering of plants to produce better for humans (i.e. the genetic
altering of watermelons to be seedless) harms the plant as it is unable to reproduce but benefits
the humans as they can have bigger fruit to sell and eat. The key issue with this alteration is that
it does not consider the plants as part of the relationship, and therefore disregards the plant’s
goals of reproduction as it causes an inconvenience to consumers. How then can corporal

26
hybridity illustrate a different kind of relationship that allows plants to be an autonomous half of
a relationship to humans? In the instance of the following two stories, corporal hybridity allows
for a new, posthuman type of community-making.
Avoiding Resourceification: The Evolved Humans of “Seeds”
Bora Chung is both a student of Slavic literature and a writer of speculative and science
fiction. Her works are aptly described as genre-defying, as they encapsulate the horrifying
institutional problems we face while offering readers a chance to rectify these problems through
these characters. She is also an activist who has participated in many protests in South Korea,
offering her voice through her literature and activism to help those fighting against oppression. In
Chung’s short story “Seeds,” humans have evolved into plant-human hybrids amid corporations
overtaking nature.
One of these corporations, satirically named Mosaennik (모센닉) after the infamous
American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto, has taken over the
production of plants by patenting all of their seeds. While Monsanto is defunct after it was
bought by Bayer, a German chemical company, in 2018, it was riddled with controversy over its
role in lobbying government agencies, manufacturing Agent Orange, and patenting genetically
modified (GMO) seeds. Because of patenting their GMO seeds, India’s government filed a suit
against Monsanto on the grounds of biopiracy. Biopiracy, coined by the ETC Group, is “the
appropriation of the knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by
individuals or institutions that seek exclusive monopoly control (patents or intellectual property)
over these resources and knowledge.” As such, Monsanto patenting plants such as brinjal
(aubergine or eggplant) would be appropriating indigenous knowledge and commercializing

27
natural resources. While Monsanto had a great deal of government support due to its lobbying, it
fell apart once Bayer bought it. However, at the time, Monsanto caused a great deal of anxiety
societally, as the ethical concerns combined with the health concerns created many questions
about the future of agriculture.
“Seeds” takes this anxiety and tells a cautionary tale about natural resources as
commodified resources. Additionally, the Mosaennik employees show the anxiety humans have
surrounding plants as unfamiliar and unrestrained by human politics. In “Seeds,” the Mosaennik
employees land in a grassy community of tree-like humans, accusing them of using Mosaennik’s
patented seeds without authorization. The plant-human hybrids, aptly named after different trees,
try to show the Mosaennik employees around their community that has been created since
corporations had almost entirely privatized natural things like water and plants. The tree people
had lived in this forest to stay within nature, but the Mosaennik employees wreaked havoc on
their home after being horrified by the way the tree people engaged in community while living
on the ground that their dead were buried under. Much to the tree people’s dismay, the
Mosaennik employees also killed their children in the hopes of preventing the further growth of
these tree people.
The resource-ification of water, as mentioned in “Seeds,” is something that began in the
1960s in Korea. During the creation of the Ten-Year Water Resource Development Plan, a plan
implemented by Park Chung-hee as a means to revitalize Korea’s water sources, Korea utilized
water and the idea of water resources as a means for nationalistic renewal. As such, “a type of
state-nature relationship was produced through these persistent efforts to frame water as a
nationalized economic good.” (Hwang, 1936) These efforts were not in the hopes of ecological
conservation, but rather to push forward the intense industrialization efforts that were also known

28
as ‘Modernization of the Fatherland’ (Hwang, 1939), the pointed usage of ‘Fatherland’ rather
than ‘Motherland’ only furthering the masculine nationalism that was harming the environment
at the time, but also highlighting the similar oppression between unseen women and unseen
nature. The usage of water to further state goals is comparable to the usage of water to further
capital. Capitalist resource-ification relies on the state’s delineation of water as beneficial to a
patriarchal, exploitative state, rather than human survival.
“Seeds” also breaks with misinformed ideas of plant communication. While
communication is not strictly understood through language, i.e. sign language, facial expressions,
etc., human communication still follows certain cultural norms that inform the interpretation. As
such, it is difficult to understand plant communication outside of human emotion. “Seeds”
highlights how plants communicate: without words by using a mix of volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), underground root networks, and fungal networks. The main character, Oak
Tree (참나무; chamnamu), communicates with the other plant people through a seemingly
telepathic connection, but this communication parallels VOCs as he manages to warn the other
plant people of the dangers of Monsaennik while audibly communicating as he is still parthuman. In forests, vast networks of roots and fungi allow trees to communicate. These networks,
also known as common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs), allow plant communities to transfer
information between plants. Representing alternative forms of communication illustrates these
Othered community members, plants, as more familiar to humans than previously discussed.
This communication, one that involves organisms within the soil: other plants, insects, animals,
and fungi, allows for communication that is not intercepted or involved with human systems of
oppression.

29
The plant-people of “Seeds” utilizing plant forms of communication and having an
altered appearance creates a hybrid being that is stuck between human and plant life. The human
ancestors to these plant people understood the imminent threat that plant life had coming, and the
choice to evolve to be closer to plant life biologically creates a posthuman being that understands
human politics while also living among a nearly unachievable level of environmental
conservation by being plant themselves. In one chapter of Prudence Gibson’s The Plant
Contract, Gibson discusses Green Man, an artistic motif that represents an ages-long connection
between nature and humans through the hybridity of his face surrounded by foliage. Gibson
explains that the hybridity of Green Man represents the human desire to “merge with plants in
order to safely moor humanity to the wilderness” as human identity “exists at the very point
between nature and a constructed concept of it” (Gibson, 53). The Green Man’s hybridity can be
related to multiple women’s literature texts, in fact, as the ending of Djuna’s “The Gardener” also
reflected on the professor’s body encompassed in greenery. The plant-human hybrids of “Seeds,”
in particular, are addressing the issue of a constructed concept of nature by accepting the
harshness of real nature. The hybrids must face human threats to plants regardless of their halfhuman identity, as their vegetative state causes them to belong to the alien Other that plants
represent. In a similar way, the characters in “Broccoli Punch” work through their anxieties by
utilizing plant-human hybridity.
A Fistful of Anxiety in “Broccoli Punch”
“Broccoli Punch,” a short story by Lee Yuri, illustrates a universe where humans can
grow plants on their bodies. One example of this transformation is seen in the protagonist’s
boyfriend, Wonjun, who woke up one day to find that his fist had turned into a head of broccoli.
Since the protagonist is unfazed by this situation outside of it being an inconvenience, it seems

30
that many people have had broccoli body parts “when you have too many thoughts in your head”
(Lee, 2021). When a person has too many negative thoughts, they fester and turn into a plant, or
more particularly, a vegetable, since all the examples of this affliction are peppers, broccoli, or
string beans. The plants are tumor-like as they continue to grow and live in the human body
despite the person wanting to reject them. The only way for the plant to stop taking over the body
is for the person to address their anxieties and resolve them, meaning that the plant itself
ultimately decides whether it will leave the human’s body. Part of this resolution involves
entering nature as part of a healing process, where Wonjun goes with the protagonist and the
older couple the protagonist cares for into the mountains to shout their worries into the sky, and
once they return, he quits MMA fighting to resolve his anxieties.
While the head of broccoli is unwanted by Wonjun and appears essentially parasitic, it
serves a purpose for Wonjun as it holds his anxious thoughts and feeds off them. Rather than the
anxious thoughts circulating Wonjun’s body, the concentration into one broccoli head allows him
to address the issue that is creating the anxiety directly. This hybridity found in Wonjun is
interesting as he does not maintain hybridity once his anxiety is resolved. After quitting MMA
fighting, the plant begins to disappear from his arm, his skin returning to its original color and
the green of the broccoli fading away. The plant serves only one function: to create a physical
manifestation of his anxieties in order to cause action. Because of this, the plant aids Wonjun in
having to face his fears rather than continue to push them to the back of his thoughts.
Additionally, the broccoli forces Wonjun, as well as his girlfriend, to reunite with nature as a
healing force. The protagonist has to go to the mountains with Wonjun, Pilsoon (the older
woman she takes care of), and Gwangsuk (Pilsoon’s partner). Gwangsuk insisted that Wonjun
needed to “sing from the bottom of his lungs” (Lee, 2021) as a way to bring down his sickness

31
time and allow healing. After Wonjun sang, despite only knowing the national anthem, the
protagonist notes feeling ‘lighter,’ wondering if it was “because we were deep in the mountains,
surrounded by clean, cool air that sucked in all sound without giving off so much as an echo?”
(Lee, 2021). Shortly after they had all yelled and sang into the mountains, Wonjun’s broccoli had
flowered and bloomed, signifying the imminent death of the broccoli head. The broccoli head’s
blooming happened as a result of Wonjun’s release of his anxiety, but it was also aided by being
among nature in the mountain.
The narrative also imagines vegetables as the type of plant that grows off human bodies.
Vegetables are, of course, plants, but they are particularly referencing edible parts of plants.
Heads of broccoli do not grow on their own, and had the broccoli been growing within a field it
would come with a complicated root system and extra leaves surrounding the head. Similarly, red
peppers would grow off stems from a larger plant with its own root system. Vegetables, while not
entire plants on their own in some cases, are also manipulated plants that differ from their wild
counterparts. There is also a cultural dynamic to vegetables, as Korea has been repeatedly ranked
number one for global vegetable consumption in OECD data (Kim et al., 1). Vegetables, and
plants wholistically, are an integral part of the Korean diet, as seen in the various namul (나물;
seasoned vegetable) dishes that make up banchan (반찬; side dish) that are served during meals.
In pairing the culinary significance with the cultural significance, vegetables hold a particular
humanness to them that plants do not. While there is an unfamiliar level to a plant growing on a
human body, vegetables are a familiar form of plant, as humans interact with them through
agriculture and cooking. As such, the vegetable connecting with Wonjun as a physical
manifestation of his body is not far off from the vegetables that he consumes daily anyway. The

32
external broccoli head is a more prominent figure of plant-human relationships, allowing
Wonjun’s hybridity to highlight the connection between plant and human life more clearly.
In the end, the loss of hybridity signals the ending of Wonjun and the broccoli’s
symbiotic relationship. After Wonjun concludes his anxiety, the broccoli no longer has anything
to feed off of, and therefore leaves his body. This relationship, while risking being parasitic,
instead creates a way for both plants and humans to benefit from a healing sense of community
created by utilizing the human body as a medium. Without Wonjun, the plant would not have
bloomed on the mountaintop, and without the broccoli, Wonjun would not have quit boxing.
Together, they can accomplish their goals through Wonjun’s body.

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Conclusion
This study aimed to examine the complex contemporary Korean human-plant relationship
by analyzing how Bora Chung, Djuna, Lee Yuri, and Choi Yeonghui represent the figure of the
plant within their science fiction texts. The analysis demonstrates how shifting towards
understanding living things as interconnected by virtue of being alive facilitates a new humanplant relationship. Resonating with the ideological teachings of the Hansalim Manifesto, Dr.
Mun Sunhong, and the nun Jiyul, these authors transform the woman-plant relationship into a
human-plant one. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that systemic problems impacting
plants impact humans regardless of gender, forcing a reiteration that women’s problems are
everyone’s problems. This challenges the essentialist ideas of women and plant relationships as
innate based on unequal gender hierarchies, instead defending that both are autonomously living
beings.
Moreover, critical plant studies have not interacted with Korean cultural studies before
this study. This thesis highlights how critical cultural understanding is when plants are discussed,
as plants do not exist in a vacuum but rather in contexts that create their societal meanings.
Additionally, within the context of previous Korean environmental studies texts that focus on a
shift towards environmental consciousness, this thesis creates an urgent call to focus on humanplant relationships as a critical form of environmental conservation. This new understanding will
help expand the possibilities of the intersection between critical plant studies and cultural studies,
allowing for further disruption to oppressive systems that affect different plants worldwide
through actionable items such as creating new laws, collaborating with scientists, and holding
governments accountable. As ecofeminism and critical plant studies continue to rise in a time of
great ecological anxiety, examining human-plant relationships will allow us to redefine how to

34
approach ecological disasters. Further research could build upon these approaches, as well as
build upon how other texts by ecofeminist writers have suggested solutions.
While this thesis applies critical plant studies and ecofeminism to these literary texts, it
also acknowledges the limitation of its current application of these theoretical insights. Firstly,
while community-making with plants offers a solution to current oppressive systems that define
plants and women as lesser-than, it does not ultimately consider other relationships plants hold
with non-humans. While creating a living and non-living paradigm queers the human-plant
relationship into something posthuman, it should be further developed to include the non-living
things that contribute to the holistic understanding of what the world is. Secondly, the limitation
of defining what life is and how to identify what is living, especially in the scientific contexts of
things such as viruses, further complicates how to understand humans and plants within a
grander web of connections. Defining “life” is an inherently political act previously done in
efforts of exclusion, so creating an inclusive definition with room for further evolution is critical.
Lastly, it is crucial to acknowledge ongoing efforts within queer communities to decenter gender
and build communities outside oppressive systems. As not all feminism and ecofeminism are
queer- or trans-inclusive, this study purposefully includes both women-presenting and queerpresenting authors.
Upon completing this research, my most immediate question was how to further
community-building with plants outside these literary works. The answer to this lies within the
human side of the human-plant relationship, and it requires challenging preconceived notions
about plant life. Human-plant relationships are already being redefined internally by reading
ecofeminist literature, joining co-op movements, and embracing care ethics. By critically
observing the harm done by past human-plant relationships, we can further envision alternative

35
futures that hold the “equality and symbiosis” that Dr. Mun hoped for. Literary works, such as
those discussed in this thesis, actively change the dynamics between plants and humans to be
more symbiotic by considering how anthropocentrism harms nature. Utilizing literature as a tool
for social change has a long cultural history in South Korea, and the contemporary works we see
now are upholding that tradition. By recognizing plants as vital agents in the fight against
oppression, we can move towards a more equitable and sustainable future that respects all forms
of life.

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Creator Rieussec, Asha Gabriella (author)

Core Title Narrativizing vegetal life: South Korea’s ecofeminist approach to community building with plants

School College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program East Asian Area Studies

Degree Conferral Date 2024-08

Publication Date 07/16/2024

Defense Date 07/16/2024

Publisher Los Angeles, California (original), University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag critical plant studies,ecofeminism,ecological humanities,feminism,Hansalim,horror,Plants,science fiction,South Korea

Format theses (aat)

Language English

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Advisor Park, Sunyoung (committee chair), Bernards, Brian (committee member), Meeker, Natania (committee member)

Creator Email asharieussec@gmail.com,rieussec@usc.edu

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