‘Discourse of the Nation and the Modern’ Reflected in Korean History Textbooks
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2002, Vol 3, Issue 1
Abstract
What influences the formation of students’ understanding of history is not the complicated truths or events that are described in History Textbooks, but the main historical contours that are created by the diverse interpretations of basic codes.1 The meeting held in Japan to make a new History Textbook,2 in order to cope with complaints from the Japanese public, opted for a strategy3 of “conceding to provide a more objective description of history, while maintaining the basic framework of historical concepts”. This action can be seen as being nothing more than a cunning measure indicating that these individuals had a clear understanding of what historical education should be focused on. The new History Textbook recently released to the public (Tokyo: Hoososha, 2001) includes the following historical positions: ᇫ The position in which rather than recognizing the crimes and mistakes committed in the past, emphasis is placed, through a distortion of history, on the nation’s innocence and divinity. ᇫ The position in which Japan’s problems are blamed on the internal contradictions within Japanese society caused by the negative influence of other countries (especially Chosŏn, the U.S.A and Russia) or by communism.
Authors and Affiliations
Su-gol Ji
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26270
- DOI -
- Views 376
- Downloads 17
The Establishment of National Rites and Royal Authority during Early Chosŏn
Confucian rites and ceremonies can be regarded as the symbolized expressions of a conceptual and abstractive political and social ideology that was based on a perception of Confucian classics (kyŏnghak) which was give...
Relations between the Southern Dynasties (Nanchao) and the Xiyu
Previous studies have reported that China had frequent correspondence and exchanges with western countries through the Three Kingdoms period and the Disunity period from the Han Dynasty period. Thus, it is thought that t...
The Current State of Studies on the Japanese Colonial Era and Related Issues : With a special focus on the studies produced in the 21st century
The study of modern Korean history, which includes the Japanese colonial era, began to come into its own at the beginning of the 1980s. Since then, enthusiasm for the study of modern Korean history has continued unaba...
Economic Features of Colonial Modernity in Modern Korea
The fundamental features of 'colonial modernity' had to be overcome during and after the colonial period can be classified as follows. Creation of a nation-state, eliminating the system of outflow or loss of resources in...
Hans-Alexander, Globetrotter, Abenteurer, Goldgräber. Auf deutschen Spuren im alten Korea. Mit einem Abriss zur Geschichte der Yi-Dynastie und der deutschkoreanischen Beziehungen bis 1910
The present book is a major contribution to the history of the German community in Korea during the last years of the Chosŏn (Joseon) Dynasty. Its title translates into English as Globetrotters, Adventurers, Gold Digg...