Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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 Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:10 pm Post subject: The Gates of the Minjok |
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Not sure if any of you care to read Korea-related blogs, but there's an interesting post over on Scribblings of the Metropolitician which looks at the roots of Korea's attitude toward ���Ϲ���, the pure race. Gets into some of the things we brought up in the "Does �ܱ� bother you?" thread.
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Usually, when I make comparisons to Korean notions of the "danil minjok" and the racial dogma of the Nazis, people always say that I am "going too far" and that I "don't really understand" how the Korean case is different. Ironically, it is people who make this defense who do not truly understand the identifiable, specific links that notions of racial purity have to now-discredited Western concepts that include Social Darwinism, eugenics, anti-Semitism, and fascism. It is not just my American notions twisting around "good" concepts of national unity in Korea; take a deeper look at the conceptual origins of some of Korea's most foundational thinkers, Shin Chae Ho and Yi Pomsok. Here, you will find all the evidence one needs.
I do not think it coincidence that such important founders of a modern Korean identity have almost universally never been directly read by Koreans. It is doubly ironic that the sources that one could easily find in most academic bookstores in America – namely people such as Andre Schmid, Michael Robinson, or Bruce Cumings – are all Western scholars who have read all the pertinent primary sources. What's the reason behind this? I think that if most Koreans today actually directly read what some of the founders of their modern identity had to say about other nations, cultures, and races, they would be shocked.
On top of that, if more Korean historians would do honest research about the painful formation period of the Korean state - rather than quibble over meaningless, politically-loaded questions of who was a "traitor" and who was a "patriot" – perhaps there would be more Koreans who would like to break off ties with the scientific racism and nationalist fascism of the early 20th century and build a newer, more positive notion of Korean identity. As it is, watching nationalist displays of Korean "pride" and listening to incessant stories of Korean superiority and purity no longer even irritates me; I am simply embarrassed for Korea's sake. Is it really still so stuck in late 19th century thinking?
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http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/2006/04/the_gates_of_th.html |
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