Christianity, the Sovereign Subject, and Ethnic Nationalism in Colonial Korea

136 Pages·2022·7.646 MB·English

by  Hannah Amaris Roh

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