Building the Groundwork for Studies of Colonial Korean Intellectual History (Part 1): Racial Reform, Self-strengthening, Self-government

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12214
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 01040:History of thought-related
• Research Institution: Fukuoka University
• Principal Investigator: RYU CHUNG-HEE 福岡大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (90758202)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 朝鮮知識人 / 尹致昊 / 崔南善 / 李光洙 / ナショナリズム / 朝鮮的なもの / 戦争協力 / 植民地支配

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project examined the activities and philosophies of Yun Ch’i-ho, Ch’oe Nam-son and Yi Gwang-su, major Korean intellectuals of the colonial period who were deemed conservative nationalists at the time. By tracing aspects like how they thought about the notion of“Koreanness”and how they collaborated with the wartime Japanese empire, this project outlined the major aspects of their activities and philosophies. Moreover, this project worked to create a foundation for future comparative studies of Japan and Korea by producing Japanese translation of major texts of colonial Korean intellectual history such as Yi Kwang-su’s articles and Ch’oe Nam-son’s writings. As the first part in a series of four parts total, this project produced results to create foundations of intellectual history with questioning about Japanese and Korean intellectuals’ perspectives on governing colonial Korea, and exchanging of Academic Knowledge between to the Empire of Japan and colonial Korea.

Free Research Field

東アジア比較思想史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は植民地期朝鮮の思想史を俯瞰する長期計画（全4回予定）の第1期であり、帝国／植民地における学知の交流と植民地統治への日韓知識人の認識に関する日韓比較思想史の土台を構築したと評価できる。また、帝国日本／植民地朝鮮の状況における朝鮮知識人の活動と思想から、二重のナショナリズムの問題すなわち当時の朝鮮人が帝国日本の臣民であり植民地朝鮮の朝鮮民族の一員であったことを明らかした。当時から現在にかけて日韓間ひいては世界中に存在し続けているナショナリズムによる現象を今日の問題として確認した。とくに自分たち以外を他者化して排除するナショナリズムの認識論的暴力性を意識することの必要性を示したと評価できる。