North vs South: Nationalism and Culture in internal and external Korean relations. (original) (raw)
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The Cultural Anatomy of Korean Nationalism: from imperative to anachronism
InContext: Studies in Translation and Multiculturalism, 2021
Most foreign observers are struck by the highly palpable nature of Korean nationalist sentiment, especially during times of friction with Japan or during major international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the Asian Games, or the World Cup. However, if these observers spend any significant time in Korea they often become aware that South Korean society is a highly fractious landscape characterized by conflicting ideologies, regional antagonisms, segregation by class, and a number of other societal fault lines. The natural question is what role, if any, this very visible nationalism plays in uniting South Korean society in the absence of any external stimulus and, if it does not, what the reason is. This essay argues that constructing Korean nationalism based largely on a common blood lineage has rendered it ineffectual in ameliorating intra-Korean conflict. In fact, Kang Jeongin and Jeong Sunghyeon have proposed the concept of the "overdetermination of other theories by nationalism." This is the idea that minjokjuui, or ethnic nationalism, by virtue of its near religious status, is used to bestow authenticity, genuineness, or authority on disparate ideologies. The radical left and right attack each other from the position of being the bastion of "real" or " true" Korean-ness representing the minjok. This is also the method used by the governments of both Koreas to demonstrate their legitimacy as the rightful representative of the Korean people. This essay, after discussing the process of the formation of Korean nationalism, first problematizes the sacred and tribal characteristics of modern Korean ethnic nationalisms and posits that the unique process of its formation has resulted in a doctrinaire-like ideology that actually contributes to division, then it poses a number of questions as to nationalism's current function in society.
Cultural Anatomy of Korean Nationalism
INContext: Studies in Translation and Interculturalism
ABSTRACT: Most foreign observers are struck by the highly palpable nature of Korean nationalist sentiment, especially during times of friction with Japan or during major international sporting events such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup. However, if these observers spend any significant time in Korea, they often become aware that South Korean society is a highly fractious landscape characterized by conflicting ideologies, regional antagonisms, segregation by class, and a number of other societal fault lines. The natural question is what role, if any, this very visible nationalism plays in uniting South Korean society in the absence of any external stimulus and, if it does not, what the reason is. This essay argues that constructing Korean nationalism based largely on a common blood lineage has rendered it ineffectual in ameliorating intra-Korean conflict. In fact, Kang Jung In and Jung Seung Hyun have proposed the concept of the “overdetermination of other theories by national...
European Journal of Korean Studies, 2021
The heuristic starting point for this paper is a critical approach to the enterprise of modern historiography per se, based on the understanding of it as inherently bound by teleological epistemology. While "Korean nationalism" is the usual vantage point for the critique of modern Korean historiography, the current article attempts to reverse this analytical perspective and reassess a number of attempts to write on Korean history by US-based historians of Korea in the 1910s-1980s as reflections of inherently self-centric picture of the world. In this Eurocentric picture, traditional Korea was locked into a historical trajectory via which "modernity" was unachievable.
European Journal of Korean Studies, 2021
The heuristic starting point for this paper is a critical approach to the enterprise of modern historiography per se, based on the understanding of it as inherently bound by teleological epistemology. While “Korean nationalism” is the usual vantage point for the critique of modern Korean historiography, the current article attempts to reverse this analytical perspective and re-assess a number of attempts to write on Korean history by US-based historians of Korea in the 1910s–1980s as reflections of inherently self-centric picture of the world. In this Eurocentric picture, traditional Korea was locked into a historical trajectory via which “modernity” was unachievable.
Discourse on nationalism in colonial period of Korea
International Journal of Applied Research, 2021
Nationalism may be described as a frame of mind in which a person perceives that his fellow members owe his or her supreme loyalty to the nation-state. Resilient attachment to own country, indigenous culture, and the conventional local authority can be present in the long history of a nation, but nationalism in modern sense presumes the existence of a nation and a sheer will to modernize itself to protect the sovereignty of a particular nation. The colonial period of Korea lasted from August 1910 to August 1945. During the colonial period, the Korean nationalism became strongly anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. Its ultimate objective was to oust the Japanese imperialist forces from the Korean peninsula, and its immediate task was to preserve the racial and cultural heritage of the Korean people. The development of nationalist narratives in the subsequent colonial period also resulted in an ideological and political clash among the Korean nationalists. After the March First Movement, the governor-general of Korea allowed some relaxations for cultural activities. The nationalists utilized this opportunity to further develop the nationalist discourses. With the integration of international narratives such as socialism and liberalism, diverse forms of anti-colonial discourses developed in Korea which resulted in "ideological schisms" among the nationalists of Korea during the 1920s. Although, there was a commonality in the objective of ousting the Japanese imperial power from the Korean peninsula. There also developed the contentious relationship between competing groups such as reformists and leftists and rose to its peak in the early 1930s. In this research paper, I shall argue that that Korean nationalism discourse during the colonial period evolved more as anti-colonial in nature despite political and ideological indifference. Also, I shall look into the different phases of the Japanese rule and the Korean response to analyse the Korean nationalism discourse during the colonial period.
History and political science often co-mingle in studies of nationalism. While historians are more concerned with how the past events turned countries into nation-states, political scientists look at how the growth of a nation has affected their nationalism and how this influences their country and its citizens in the contemporary world. The ongoing conflict of divided Korea and the increasing economic disparity between the North and South made books on the topic of Korean nationalism much more important. It is through this complex and unusual creation of the two Korean states that has prompted such a need to understand their history and nationalism. Political history of Korea within this scope of Korean nationalism is the main idea of the authors presented within this review essay.