Nation, State, and People: Colonialism and the Formation of Divided Nation-States in Korea.
dc.contributor.author | Kang, Jin-Yeon | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2011-09-15T17:16:06Z | |
dc.date.available | NO_RESTRICTION | en_US |
dc.date.available | 2011-09-15T17:16:06Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2011 | en_US |
dc.date.submitted | en_US | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/86456 | |
dc.description.abstract | This dissertation examines the influence of colonialism upon postcolonial societal trajectories. Focusing on the years leading up to Korea’s liberation and then partition into North and South, it examines the nature of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 through 1945, its relationship to the brief but decisive period of American military occupation from the fall of 1945 to 1948, and the impact of both on postcolonial conflict and South Korea’s separate nation-state formation. The study advances three central arguments. First, building on earlier work that critiques standard dichotomized models, which treat the colonizers and colonized in isolation from each other, it demonstrates that we need to attend more closely to the interactions and evolving dynamics that shape their encounter. This perspective highlights what I believe is the key to understanding the Japanese colonial rule: the ways in which their imperial governance sowed the seeds of internal differentiation among the Korean people, which undermined a sense of national identity and sparked continued internal conflicts. Second, this work analyzes how the continuity from colonial to postcolonial was realized only through the historical process of liberation and the American occupation periods in South Korea. The important argument of this process-centered approach is that while the historical experience of colonialism exerts a profound influence upon emergent postcolonial societies, colonial legacies are not passed on in precisely the same way; rather, they are contingent on particular historical processes. Third, this study highlights the social consequences of colonial experience by examining how internal conflicts that were created and rearticulated through Japanese colonial rule and then American military occupation played a pivotal role in formulating the historically shifting meaning of membership in the national community, thus providing the historical and social basis for separate nation-state formation in South Korea. It demonstrates one of the most important consequences of the colonial regime: its capacity to produce and reshape sources of internal conflict, whether religious, ethnic, or class-based, among the colonized, and how such conflict in turn plays a pivotal role in shaping a particular state form and political trajectory for postcolonial societies. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.subject | Japanese Colonialism, U.S. Occupation, Postcolonial State Formation, Korea | en_US |
dc.title | Nation, State, and People: Colonialism and the Formation of Divided Nation-States in Korea. | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreename | PhD | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreediscipline | Sociology | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreegrantor | University of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Kimeldorf, Howard A. | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Em, Henry H. | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Pincus, Leslie B. | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Somers, Margaret R. | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Steinmetz, George P. | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Sociology | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Social Sciences | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86456/1/jinyeon_1.pdf | |
dc.owningcollname | Dissertations and Theses (Ph.D. and Master's) |
Files in this item
Remediation of Harmful Language
The University of Michigan Library aims to describe library materials in a way that respects the people and communities who create, use, and are represented in our collections. Report harmful or offensive language in catalog records, finding aids, or elsewhere in our collections anonymously through our metadata feedback form. More information at Remediation of Harmful Language.
Accessibility
If you are unable to use this file in its current format, please select the Contact Us link and we can modify it to make it more accessible to you.