[KS] French colonialism & interest in Korea

Frank Hoffmann hoffmann at koreanstudies.com
Wed Dec 3 10:24:14 EST 2014


Professor Li Jin Mieung, of course, is a gentleman, as I was just 
reminded of. Again my apologies. 

Brother Anthony noted earlier:
>> Frank mentions Maurice Courant but I see no link between him and Hong.

Yes, I have no proof of a direct link either -- although I think there 
must have been one from circumstantial evidence. But was referring to 
the larger picture here in any case. All three, Maurice Courant, Victor 
Collin de Plancy, and Henri Chevalier worked for the French government. 
All three were part of the French diplomatic venture and French 
colonialist efforts. 

The texts that Hong Chong-u worked with and translated, for example, 
were originally collected by de Plancy -- same as he art and handicraft 
objects that ended up, partially a least, at the Musée Guimet. And it 
were also mostly objects collected by de Plancy that were then 
constituting the KOREA exhibition at the 1900 Universal Exposition in 
Paris! So, these three scholar-diplomats are closely related, and Hong 
likely had relations to all three. Diplomats taking care of what was 
then considered ETHNOGRAPHIC collections (not art -- art was mostly 
something Western, although when it comes to Asia that is a more 
complicated issue) was an all-European thing. The largest ethnographic 
collections and museums, by the way, where not in France or Britain but 
in Germany, the inventor country of ethnographic studies. (We all know 
where the emphasis on ethnicities brought us to.) 

"Native" scholars like Hong Chong-u -- and he was probably the first 
one -- can only be understood when we look at the colonialist context 
here. They were part of the colonialist machine that folk-lorized and 
'ethnographized' and historicized the colonials and colonial 
candidates. Korea was such a candidate at the time of Hong's actvities. 
And Maurice Courant was colonialist per se. In 1904, at the beginning 
of the Russian-Japanese War, he published the book _Étude sur 
l'éducation et la colonisation_:
  http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54800324
The introduction is as entertaining as it is disgusting, if we read it 
today. While he does not state so directly, as for Korea -- seen by the 
date of publication alone -- Japan was seen as a competitor in 
colonizing Korea. I am not saying that the French government has an 
actual plan to do so, neither had Wilhelmine Germany, but it was sure a 
possible candidate if and when the circumstances would have allowed it. 
Single personalities such as Courant or in Germany Archabbot Norbert 
Weber (St. Ottilien), who was fro all we know also more of an ardent 
colonialist than a missionary, were certainly urging into this 
direction -- as they understood this to be their patriotic obligation, 
thus often committing themselves with more enthusiasm than their 
governments were interested in.

If we thus look at the cultural output from around 1900, this is all 
embedded into the general colonial scenery and the general interest in 
keeping and expanding the French (and British, and German) sphere of 
influence. That, of course, is a common sense statement. But it gets 
highly interesting when we look at the details -- for example of what 
kind of artistic and handicraft objects were collected, how and where 
and under what circumstances they were displayed, and what roles people 
like Hong had in that -- and what their own objectives where. So, what 
is the mathematical intersection between the interests of the French 
colonial apparatus and individuals like Courant or Henri Chevalier with 
Hong Chong-u? It could be as simple as two colonialists' competition 
over Korea. The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 was already won by 
the Japanese, and it was in 1894 that Hong assassinated the 
pro-Japanese Kim Ok-gyun. As Brother Anthony pointed out, he was still 
supported by the French AFTER that -- his book was published by the 
museum. The story may be more complicated than this, but this is 
certainly a context to be considered.


Best,
Frank



--------------------------------------
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreanstudies.com




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