| Abstract | This article analyzes the many and changing faces of heroines in Korean folklore by interweaving the Korean cultural ethos of han and the action paradigm of resistance. Kim argues that feminist discourse often relegates alternative modes of resistance to the margins due to Western ethnocentrism and ideological politicization. She analyzes four types of heroines: archetypal, virtuous-but-not-virtuous, pioneering, and hanful resister. In doing so, Kim draws on Giddens’ knowledge and action theorem, which advances the simple equation between consciousness and resistance. Furthermore, Kim explores folklore’s validity as a legitimate commemorative medium. She introduces five memory units (storage/remembering, deletion/forgetting, retrieval, commemorative medium, and commemorative agency) and argues that the genre of folklore serves as a bridge between literature and collective memory scholarship. Since the field of memory studies validates lesser-known historical pasts, folklore deserves careful attention as a legitimate mnemonic medium. Korean folklore, a communal mnemonic result of production, retrieval, and transmission, shows diverse acts of resistance as women link presentism and traditionalism.
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