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136 Pages·2022·7.646 MB·English
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C H R I S T I A N I T Y , T H E S O V E R E I G N S U B J Routledge Studies in Modern History E C T , A N D CHRISTIANITY, E T H N I C N THE SOVEREIGN SUBJECT, A T I O N A AND ETHNIC NATIONALISM L I S M I N IN COLONIAL KOREA C O L O N I A L SPECTERS OF WESTERN METAPHYSICS K O R E A Hannah Amaris Roh Christianity, the Sovereign Subject, and Ethnic Nationalism in Colonial Korea One of the first philosophical approaches to the study of Korea’s ethnic nationalism, Christianity, the Sovereign Subject, and Ethnic Nationalism in Colonial Korea traces the impact of Christianity in the formation of Korean national identity, outlining the metaphysical origins of the concept of the sovereign subject. This monograph takes a metahistorical approach and engages the moral questions of Korean historiography amid the fraught politics of narrating colonialism and the postcolonial period. Indebted to Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of deconstruction and his framework of “hauntology,” this analysis unpacks the ethical consequences of ethnic nationalism, exploring how Western metaphysics has haunted imaginations of freedom in colo- nial Korea. While most studies of modern Korean nationalism and (post) colonialism have taken a cultural, literary, or social scientific approach, this book draws on the thought of Jacques Derrida to offer an innovative intellectual history of Korea’s colonial period. By deconstructing the met- aphysical claims of turn of the century Protestant missionaries and early modern Korean intellectuals, the book showcases the relevance of Derrida’s philosophical method in the study of modern Korean history. This is a must read for scholars interested in Derrida, historiography, and Korean history. Hannah Amaris ROH is an independent scholar and cultural critic. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and Bitch Media. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the traditional and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Routledge Studies in Modern History Displaced Persons, Resettlement and the Legacies of War From War Zones to New Homes Jessica Stroja Citizens and Refugees Stories from Afghanistan and Syria to Germany Joachim C. Häberlen Anglo-Chinese Encounters Before the Opium War A Tale of Two Empires Over Two Centuries Xin Liu The History and Politics of Star Wars Death Stars and Democracy Chris Kempshall Christianity, the Sovereign Subject, and Ethnic Nationalism in Colonial Korea: Specters of Western Metaphysics Hannah Amaris Roh Missionaries and the Colonial State Radicalism and Governance in Rwanda and Burundi, 1900–1972 David Whitehouse Jewish Self-Defense in South America Facing Anti-Semitism with a Club in Hand Raanan Rein For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge. com/Routledge-Research-in-Modern-History/book-series/MODHIST Christianity, the Sovereign Subject, and Ethnic Nationalism in Colonial Korea Specters of Western Metaphysics Hannah Amaris Roh First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Hannah Amaris Roh The right of Hannah Amaris Roh to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-77548-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-77558-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-17188-1 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003171881 Typeset in Times New Roman by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. FOR MY PARENTS Contents Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 1 Colonial Modernity, Christianity, and the Case for Deconstruction 8 2 Protestant Missionary Discourse, Grammatology, and the Search for Korea’s Origins 36 3 Yun Ch’i-ho and the Enlightenment’s Hauntings 61 4 Paek Nam-un, Korean Marxism, and the Claim to History as Science 79 5 Hauntology and the Historical Imagination 98 Conclusion 116 Index 121 Acknowledgments The seeds for this monograph were planted during the many years I strug- gled to understand my own subject position in Korean history. The growing pains of that (ongoing) journey have been long and hard, but there were a number of people that supported and encouraged me along the way, espe- cially when my trepidation would get the better of me. This book would not have been possible without them. My advisor at the University of Chicago, Sarah Hammerschlag, not only offered her razor-sharp insights throughout the various stages of the manuscript, but also patiently guided me over the years to claim my voice on the page. It was a gift to work with Bruce Cumings for this project— Bruce’s writings on modern Korean history continue to be monumental and formative in my own thinking. Albert Park at Claremont McKenna College stepped in countless times to offer feedback and mentorship from afar, connecting me to the broader Korean Studies community, and helped me navigate the process of turning the dissertation into a book. I am also grateful to the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, the Martin Marty Center, and the Center for East Asian Studies for their financial support of this project. Over the course of writing this book, I had the privilege of connecting with a number of scholarly communities. I will not forget the warmth and generosity of the faculty mentors and friends I met at the Asian Theological Summer Institute in 2015. I also had the opportunity to participate in the Political Theology Network Dissertation Workshop in 2017 and the Korean Studies Dissertation Workshop with the Social Science Research Council in 2018. These workshops provided an intellectually stimulating and genu- inely collegial space for sharing my work and learning from other scholars. I am also indebted to the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin for hosting me as a Visiting Scholar during the final year of editing this manuscript. Robert Oppenheim and Youjeong Oh welcomed me to partake in the intellectual life of UT-Austin’s Korean Studies com- munity, and have generously read parts of the manuscript, offering their insightful feedback. Acknowledgments ix I finished this manuscript during the second year of COVID-19, and have often found myself uprooted by the many upheavals and uncertainties of the times and in my own life. This, of course, added a great deal of doubt and anxiety about actually finishing the book. My editor at Routledge Books, Max Novick, has been gracious in offering me the extra time and space that I needed. My appreciation is also owed to Robert Langham for contact- ing me about publishing the volume. I also want to express my gratitude to the anonymous peer reviewers; without their thoughtful and detailed com- ments, the manuscript would not be in its current shape. I am humbled by the support and wisdom of my beloved friends and family. RL Watson, Rachel Heath, JungMin Jessica Lee, Nayoung Kim, Bill Goettler, Maria LaSala, Natasha Moore, Zitsi Mirakhur, Lisa Landoe Hedrick, Bevin Blaber, Cherice Tearte Barr, and David Barr have all wit- nessed the various stages of this journey and filled it with happier memories. I also owe my thanks to the writing community I joined in Vancouver, with friends at the University of British Columbia—our Zoom writing sessions have been a game changer in getting this project over the finish line. I feel very fortunate that my father-in-law, Young Sik Yoo, is a dedicated scholar of Korean Studies who did not hesitate to share his resources with me. He and my mother-in-law, Shin Ho Kim, have celebrated my scholarly pursuits over the years. And to Philip Yoo, who became my fiancé and husband over the course of writing this book: thank you for championing me and believ- ing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. It is because of you that I have courage and resilience. I dedicate this book to my parents, Se Young Roh and Mal Deuk Roh. My parents advocated fiercely for me my whole life, to help make my dreams a reality; their abiding love and support have given me the strength to chart my own path. They paved the way long before me; I continue to be humbled and inspired by their stories. Vancouver, British Columbia on the traditional and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations December 2021

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