The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern KoreaIn The Great Enterprise, Henry H. Em examines how the project of national sovereignty shaped the work of Korean historians and their representations of Korea's past. The goal of Korea attaining validity and equal standing among sovereign nations, Em shows, was foundational to modern Korean politics in that it served a pedagogical function for Japanese and Western imperialisms, as well as for Korean nationalism. Sovereignty thus functioned as police power and political power in shaping Korea's modernity, including anticolonial and postcolonial movements toward a radically democratic politics. Surveying historical works written over the course of the twentieth century, Em elucidates the influence of Christian missionaries, as well as the role that Japan's colonial policy played in determining the narrative framework for defining Korea's national past. Em goes on to analyze postcolonial works in which South Korean historians promoted national narratives appropriate for South Korea's place in the U.S.-led Cold War system. Throughout, Em highlights equal sovereignty's creative and productive potential to generate oppositional subjectivities and vital political alternatives. |
Other editions - View all
The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea, Part 1 Henry Em Limited preview - 2013 |
The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea Henry Em No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
American argued Asia Asian became Buddhist capitalist Ch’ae-ho Ch’oe chaeinsik Chicago China Chindan hakhoe Chinese Chong Choson dynasty Choson Korea civilization colonial Korea colonial period colonialist historiography Confucian cultural discourse emperor Empire essay established ethnic nation fii first Haebang chonhusa ui Han’guk Heaven Hwanin Hwanung identified independence Inoue Kaoru insik intellectuals Japan Japanese colonial Kang Man-gil Kija King Kojong Koguryo Korean history Korean language Korean nationalist Korean War Kory6 Koryo language late liberation Manchuria Marxist Meiji Ming minjok minjung modern narrative nation-state nationalist historians nationalist historiography nineteenth century officials Okakura Paek Nam-un Paek’s Parhae people’s political postcolonial published Pyongyang Qing reform Rhee ritual sahoe scholars Seoul significance Silla sillok Sin’s social society Sokkuram Song South Korea sovereign sovereignty specific Taehan Tan’gun Three Kingdoms period tion Tokyo Tonga ilbo translation Treaty Unified University Press USAMGIK Western yangban yon’gu Yun Ch’i-ho