Katharine Moon provides a comprehensive version of her research on anti-Americanism in South Korea in Protesting America. Spanning several years of field research, Protesting America analyzes the rather diverse nature of anti-American movements in Korean society. Moon's research specifically focuses on the Kiji undong (bases movement), a social movement that criticizes and challenges the presence and politics of U.S. military bases in the country.
Where existing literature focuses primarily on nationalism and the generational gap within South Korean society as the primary reasons for anti-American activism, Moon criticizes the explanatory value of both concepts. She describes nationalism as “underspecified” and “overused” (p. 19) and argues that Korean identity continuously transforms within a changing international context of globalization. Similarly, Moon argues that the “age-gap” approach overlooks the changing attitude of the Korean youth by understating the recent trend of young Koreans becoming more cosmopolitan and pragmatic, rather than more aggressive...
