서양 선교사가 주도한 근대 한국학의 발명과 국제화, 1870년대-1890년대

초록

The article aims to critically comprehend the origins, the processes, and the effects of modern Korean studies, which had been primarily managed and manipulated by Western missionaries during the second half the 19th century. Relying on Michel Foucault’s concept of discourse (=knowledge/power), the article claims that Western missionaries invented, accumulated, and internationalized Korean studies in the guise of objective and value-neutral knowledge in order to justify and legitimate the implantation of “Christian Civilization” on Korean soil and mind. In pursuit of this thesis the author tries to disclose the intimate and indispensable relationships between knowledge production and colonial matrix of power. The main body of the article consists of three parts. Part One keeps trace of French Catholic priests’ effort to lay the foundation of Korean studies for the purpose of converting uncivilized-superstitious Koreans into royal Christians. The works of Antoine Daveluy, Charles Dallet, and Felix Ridel are analysed. Part Two compares John Ross (History of Corea, 1879) with William Griffis (Corea the Hermit Nation, 1882) to examine how Protestant missionaries contributed to solidifying major framework of Korean studies. Part Three focuses on The Korean Repository, the first English monthly period, in which American Protestant missionaries refined, upgraded, maneuvered, and most of all internationalized the encyclopedic knowledges on Korean civilization. The author evaluates that The Korean Repository had completed the First Wave (Cycle) of Korean Studies and prepared/anticipated for the arrival of the Second Wave of Korean Studies, which was to be launched by Korean nationalist scholars during Japanese colonial rule. The author tentatively concludes the article by proposing a radical and “dangerous” hypothesis as followings: 1) the discourse on Korean civilization that emphasizes the negative & defective characteristics of Korean history and people was not a conspiracy of Japanese imperialism but a collaborated product of French Catholic and mostly American Protestant missionaries. 2) Judging from this perspective, the author is convinced that the challenging task for eradicating colonial heritages in the post-colonial era should begin, instead of repeatedly blaming Japanese imperialism for enforcing the colonial historiography, by shedding a new light on the hidden. unintended, and paradoxical legacy of Western missionary works accomplished under the excuse of promoting Christian Civilization in Korea. Needless to say, the author welcomes more comparative & transnational case studies written either to dispute or confirm his provocative argument.

키워드