[KS] Korea's Confucian Tradition

[Frank Hoffmann]

>... would it be
>a non-starter to begin our investigation into Korea's Confucian tradition
>with the statement that it is an invented tradition?

"Invented tradition" in Eric Hobsbawm's sense (guess there is no 
other understanding of this term) would mean a tradition that was 
indeed INVENTED by a political or social group (e.g. a government, 
colonial regime, a club, or a fraternity) with the obvious purpose to 
manifest, reinstate and/or legitimate that group's power or claim to 
power. Hobsbawm's May Day example shows how invented traditions like 
May Day were actually reinvented each time a new regime learned to 
use and abuse it for their own purposes. Now, if we would talk about 
"Confucian tradition(s)" as invented tradition, then I'd like to know 
how to define the difference between "tradition" and "invented 
tradition"? Are you suggesting that all traditions are invented 
traditions? i don't think this is what Hobsbawm and Ranger mean to 
say, nor do I see how this could be the case.

Hobsbawm deals mostly with modern Europe, the 19th and 20th century 
-- invented traditions in the modernization process. If we look at 
Confucian tradition(s) as invented tradition(s), then where do we 
begin, historically? And what would be an example of an invented 
Confucian tradition? I can give you countless examples from 19th and 
20th century Europe .... but how about invented Confucian traditions 
in Korea -- nothing comes to mind, unless, maybe, if we talk about 
the application of what is considered Confucian values to, say, 
employees' work and life in Korean conglomerates like Samsung, 
Daewoo, etc.  E.g., is the group morning exercise an invented 
Confucian tradition, or is it just the translation of Confucian 
family values to an industrialized Asian society?  In other words, we 
do have to consider that indeed there are Confucian traditions and 
value systems that have formed Korea.

Frank


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Frank Hoffmann
http://KoreaWeb.ws  *  Fax: (415) 727-4792