[KS] Varieties and taxonomy of evolving Korean (post-)nationalisms

[will pore]

Dear Aiden,

Although it's been around for some time and there may be other
statements on what post-nationalism is, Carter Eckert's "Exorcizing
Hegel's Ghosts: Toward a Post-nationalist Historiography of Korea" in
Colonial Modernity in Korea (1999) was perhaps one of, if not the,
introductory statement on what it is.

Will Pore

On 9/4/07, Afostercarter at aol.com <Afostercarter at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear friends and colleagues,
>
> I append a recent article from the Chosun Ilbo,
> at once fascinating and frustrating.
>
> The themes are of great interest and importance;
> yet the treatment is so cursory as to be all but useless.
> (What, substantively, is a 'post-nationalist'?)
>
> Could anyone kindly point me to sources where these
> matters are discussed at greater length and in more depth?
>
>
> Autumn greetings to one and all,
>
> Aidan FC
>
>
>
> AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER
>
> Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds
> University
>
> Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK
>
> tel: +44(0)  1274  588586         (alt) +44(0) 1264 737634          mobile:
> +44(0)  7970  741307
>
> fax: +44(0)  1274  773663         ISDN:   +44(0)   1274 589280
>
> Email: afostercarter at aol.com     (alt) afostercarter at yahoo.com      website:
> www.aidanfc.net
>
> [Please use @aol; but if any problems, please try @yahoo too – and let me
> know, so I can chide AOL]
>
> _________________________________
>
>
>
> New Trends in Korean Nationalism
>
>
>
> http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200709/200709030021.html
>
>
>
> Updated Sep.3,2007 11:06 KST
>
>
>
> South Koreans' attitude toward the U.S., as seen in the latest hostage
> crisis in Afghanistan, was markedly different from the anti-American
> sentiment vented during the kidnapping and beheading of Kim Sun-il in Iraq
> in June 2004. Despite some minor protests, the ratification of the
> Korea-U.S. free trade agreement is proceeding apace, with anti-American,
> pro-North Korean voices much quieter than they have been.
>
>
>
> Several academics say the 20-year-long marriage between the Left and
> nationalists born in the democratic struggle against authoritarian
> governments in the 1970s and 1980s is coming to an end. That means farewell
> to the defensive, registance nationalism produced by Korea's history in the
> 20th century. Foreign experts, by contrast, worry that Korean nationalism is
> becoming more aggressive.
>
>
>
> Prof. Kang Won-taek of Soongsil University defines this trend as a
> transition from Korean nationalism to South Korean or "Republic-of-Korea"
> nationalism. But Kang says it would be missing the point if we regard it
> only as a trend of nationalists turning to the Right. According to Kang,
> this new South Korean nationalism owes something to the advent of a
> "post-386" generation who are IT- savvy and aware of globalization, and to a
> change in South Koreans' perception of North Korea and a more realistic
> understanding of the situation the Korean Peninsula finds itself in.
>
>
>
> Prof. Kim Ho-ki, a center-left academic at Yonsei University, says the
> spectrum is more complex. The Right, he says, is divided into nationalists
> and post-nationalist or pro-market forces, and so is the Left, while in
> between there are centrist nationalists and post-nationalists.
>
>
>
> The conventional nationalists on the Right stress a patriotic view of
> history. Rightwing post-nationalists, led by the novelist Bok Geo-il, are
> backed by businesses that emphasize globalization. The conventional
> nationalists of the Left are pro-North Korea; leading figures are Baek
> Nak-cheong, a professor emeritus of Seoul National University, and Kang
> Man-gil, a former Korea University professor. Over the past 20-odd years,
> this group has exercised the most powerful influence on intellectuals, their
> ideology a major influence on the Kim Dae-jung administration.
>
>
>
> Leftwing post-nationalists include Prof. Jin Jung-kwon of Chung-Ang
> University, Prof. Sohn Ho-chul of Sogang University, and Russian-born
> scholar Park No-ja.
>
>
>
> "As far as large social currents are concerned, it's clear that both
> intellectuals and the general public are now moving from leftwing
> nationalism to rightwing post-nationalism," Kim Ho-ki said. "But we'll need
> more observation and research to see what the new nationalism will look
> like."
>
>
>
> Prof. Jun Sang-In of Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public
> Administration says leftwing nationalism is conspicuously losing its
> influence among the populace, "decisively because people are disappointed by
> the leftwing governments of the past decade." Shin Ji-ho, the president of
> the "new Right" organization Liberty Union, said, "In my view, the Chun
> Doo-hwan regime played a role in integrating the Left and nationalists into
> a formidable force. And the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments have
> played the central role in producing a new force based on a combination of
> post-nationalism and the Right."
>
>
>
> So what will it mean if the leading ideology is moving from leftwing
> nationalism to rightwing post-nationalism? Where will the 386 generation of
> former student democracy activists, who became the main proponents of
> leftwing nationalism in politics, turn now? And will the new South Korean
> nationalism -- the product of a combination of the Right and
> post-nationalists -- be a sort of patriotic globalism, or will it remain
> mired in ultra-nationalism and a chauvinism based on the ideas of "pure
> blood" the UN has recently criticized? The struggle for the intellectual
> soul of South Korea is on.
>
>
>
> (englishnews at chosun.com )
>
>


-- 
William F. Pore, Ph.D.
Department of History
Temple University