Contradictions in Korean Colonial Education
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2010, Vol 15, Issue 1
Abstract
The primary purpose of this paper is to examine both the ideological and sociological function of Japanese colonial education in Korea, and its implications in identity formation in the colony and to some extent in the metropole. That is, through education, the Japanese attempted to create docile bodies and docile minds in a colony considered to be simultaneously separate from and integral to “the interior.” A survey of the textbooks the Japanese Government General commissioned for use in schools in colonial Korea illuminates a basic contradiction in Japanese colonial policy. On the one hand, the texts exhibit a progressive assimilationist impulse to incorporate Koreans into the Japanese empire, and to inculcate modern ways and sensibilities for administrative efficiency. On the other hand, textbook lessons exhibit a more subtle theme of differentiation, of implicit subordination of Korean subjects to Westernized Japanese overlords. Through colonial education, Japanese officials tried to construct an image of the metropole as modern, civilized, and enlightened; in other words, everything Korea was not. But even with Japan’s partial success in developing Korea and the similarities between the two countries, they argued that due to historical circumstances and the innate nature of the people, Korea would remain a step behind its colonizer. Being an imperial subject in Korea denoted an entirely new meaning - a meaning filled with tension and contradiction.
Authors and Affiliations
Leighanne Yuh
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26352
- DOI -
- Views 322
- Downloads 13
Mobilized Spontaneity: The Park Chunghee Regime’s Conversion of College Student Volunteer Activities for Rural Communities as Observed Through the Taehan News
This article aims to examine the Park Chunghee regime’s mobilization of college students, who were participating in the volunteer activities for the rural community, by erasing their original goal and characteristics usi...
The Portrayal of Korea: A Critical Analysis of Korean History in American Secondary Schools
This paper attempts to review Korean history as depicted in world history textbooks for American secondary schools. Since Korean history presented within these textbooks will have a great influence on how students percei...
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...
Further Investigation into the June 8, 1948 Bombing of Tokto Island
No Abstract
Review of Ancient History as Described in High School History Textbooks
many topics which are barely mentioned or omitted altogether. For example, while the textbook deals with the Three Kingdoms, the historical materials selected either only addresses Kogury? or Silla. There are few histori...