KJC Korea
Journal Central

The paper has examined how the health of the ethnic Korean residents in Japan had been preserved and maintained in Tsuruhashi in Osaka in the 1930s, based on the reports by the two papers: “大阪と半島人 (Osaka and Peninsula)” and “民衆時報 (The Bulletin of the People).” First of all, the ethnic Korean residents in Japan sailed over to Japan under the domination of imperialism. They settled individually and built the town of the Joseon people centering around the major cities. Tsuruhashi - being the most typical area of domiciliation - functioned as the town of the Joseon people along with the city of Igaino and these were the places where the health of the Koreans were maintained. Second, their health was the reflection of the people’s life in Japanese society. The health of the Korean residents in Japan was clearly linked with the health policy and care. I do believe that this issue should be discussed in earnest. However, the majority of the Korean people as the minority were exposed to diseases in the area. Third, based on the reports of the two papers - “Osaka and Peninsula” and “The Bulletin of the People” - there existed a variety of factors that guaranteed the health of the Koreans in the 1930s not from the viewpoint of ideologies but from that of the daily life. On top of that, the human quality of the Koreans at that time show us living in the present times the historical defining power. Fourth, the medical value of the Korean residents in Japan during the 1930s were favorable but the presence of the Koreans in Japan was embroiled in a controversy with regard to distortion and frustration. It was because the top priority concern for those Korean residents in Tsuruhashi was always their survival. Fifth, the period of the 1930s for the Koreans in Tsuruhashi was the point of realistic structure. The rule of the imperial Japan and the structure of Joseon were surely the multi-level factors. With that, the health condition of the Korean residents in Japan could have been sustained. In fact, Korean could have received the treatment of diseases by hospitals and drugstores. In this sense, the diseases of the Korean residents in Japan should be newly discussed and is required to find the cure. Actually, curing diseases is similar to the reform of the daily life. The paper confirmed the maintenance of health among the Koreans in Japan in their ordinary life. Friendship among the neighboring people, enjoying Korean food and traditional Korean wine, the active treatment of the illness, and the general cure of mental problems were all the reasons for their conditions. Recently, many of the diaspora and the migrated Koreans have been studied but most of them were static, drawing no public interests. Various regions and a variety of views are expected for the Korean residents in foreign countries.

In this paper, I focused on the visual genre of cartoon about the reproduction and the representation of the negative and discriminative images of the Joseon dynasty and Koreans in modern Japan. There are not many book publications that reproduce the images of Joseon and Koreans in modern Japan through comics. “Joseon manga”, published by Usuda Zanun and Torigoe Seiki, is a unique and special text. In addition, in 1927, Okamoto Ippei published a comic book series called “Joseon mangako”, which is an important text in that it offers lots of suggestions to the problem of image reproduction of Joseon and Koreans. In this paper, I have made a comparative analysis of these two texts and found that the images of Joseon and Koreans reproduced in the texts unfolded in a very contrastive way. In addition, this comparative analysis has pointed out the problem of the reproduction and the representation of the images of Joseon and Koreans in modern Japan. It also provided us with an opportunity to reconsider the limitations of both Japanese recognition of “the Others “and Japanese interpretation of Orientalism at the same time.

This paper is aimed at analyzing the perception of hygiene in Donghak (Eastern Learning) and Cheondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way) during the modern transition period of Korea. Westerners who first experienced Korean society after its opening in 1876 recognized it as one that was very far behind in terms of hygienic conditions. This perception was shared not only among the Westerners but also the Japanese immigrants to Joseon. After the port-opening of the nation, an enlightened figure who visited modern civilization such as Japan and the U.S. also felt that hygiene was a measure of a civilized country. Accordingly, he stressed that the government should make active efforts to prevent infectious diseases while insisting on implementing the sanitary law. A new perception of hygiene has also come into being both in the East and the West. Not only did Su-un Choe Je-u (水雲 崔濟愚), who founded Donghak, relieve mental illness, but also recognized the treatment of diseases, or hygiene, as important. Haewol Choe Si-hyeong (海月 崔時亨), who succeeded this, focused on making hygiene more viable. In other words, Choe Si-hyeong set the five rules of hygiene: “Do not mix old rice with new rice; cook old food; don’t spit saliva or blow your nose anywhere; after emptying the bowels, bury the feces under the ground; and don’t throw away dirty water anywhere.” These were the poplar ways of preventing contagious diseases at that time. By practicing this, Donghak was able to free itself from the epidemic of cholera, typhoid and other diseases that were popular at the time. Uiam Son Byong-hi (義庵 孫秉熙), who inherited Haewol Choe Si-hyeong’s hygiene rituals, deepened his awareness of modern hygiene through his exile in Japan. He enlightened his perception of hygiene through a Korean language newspaper ‘Mansebo (萬歲報)’ which dealt with such series of articles as “A General Introduction to Hygiene” and “Hygiene Law” as well as “Hygiology,” thus making it easier for not only the believers of Cheondogyo but also the general public to get access to hygiene through enlightenment. In addition to this, Son Byong-hi also issued a sanitary practice ordinance to the believers of Cheondogyo and let them put it into practice. But the essence of the hygiene of Donghak and Cheondogyo was to relieve mental illness rather than physical diseases. Therefore, from Choe Je-u to Son Byong-hi, the mind-body training based on incantations and hearings, as the core practice of Cheondogyo, was emphasized. It can be said that the perception leading to mental training based on hygiene in the daily life is a recognition of hygiene in Donghak and Cheondogyo.

The aim of the paper is to explore a new perspective on the elderly in a Korean comic book Nabillera, published in 2017, in the light of humanistic gerontology. We also examined the trends in gerontology studies in the West and raised the need for the development of a new methodology of aging studies that can reflect the dynamic changes in Korean society. After determining a brief history of aging studies of the modern West, we explained the recent definitions of humanistic gerontology, and then analyzed how Deok-chul, the main character of Nabillera, grows up to search for the self-identity through the “narratives of becoming”. The narratives of becoming, coined by Hanne Laceulle, is a term serving as a prelude to the idea of self-realization. According to her, human beings answer the question who they are by telling the stories about themselves. Stories are thus granted a constitutive function in personal identities. Researchers of humanistic gerontology regard the elderly as the co-equal members of society not as social refugees, criticizing that mainstream gerontology doesn’t ask the fundamental questions of human existence. They suggest that older age needs to be explored without losing sight of the individual persons concerned. Humanistic gerontology is in a process that is yet to be fully established as a theory. This study helps expand humanistic gerontology to be a comprehensive and accurate theory through the analysis of Nabillera, the struggle for affirmation in old age.

This paper is aimed at examining the situation of emphasis on writing in education in the higher educational system of Russia, which will shed light on its counterpart in South Korea. with much focus on coursework. Coursework is performed by students or trainees for the purpose of learning. Coursework may be specified and assigned by teachers, or by learning guides in self-taught courses. Coursework can encompass a wide range of activities, including practice, experimentation, research, and writing (e.g., dissertations, book reports, and essays). In the case of students at universities, high schools and middle schools, coursework is often graded and the scores are combined with those of separately assessed exams to determine overall course scores. In contrast to exams, students may be allotted several days or weeks to complete coursework, and are often allowed to use textbooks, notes, and the Internet for research. At universities, students are usually required to perform coursework to broaden knowledge, enhance research skills, and demonstrate that they can discuss, reason and construct practical outcomes from learned theoretical knowledge. Sometimes coursework is performed by a group so that students can learn both how to work in groups and from each other.

This research article explores the stylistic features and themes of the artworks of a world-renowned Russian artist Ernst Neizvestny, especially his small statues made between the 1950s and the 1960s and public sculptures produced in the period of the 1990s-2010s in connection with the tragic incidents of Russian society in the mid-20th century. The main objective of the research is not only to examine the process of reproducing social suffering, which was generated by the tragedies of the Russian society in the middle of the 20th century like WWII and Stalin’s political terrorism, which were represented in Neizvestny’s artworks, but also to study the process of representation of the reproduced social suffering, which was conveyed to the members of the society, and its effect on the changes of contemporary Russian society. Small statues, created by Ernst Neizvestny in the 1950s-60s, directly reflect the scars and agonies of the war, which the artist experienced in his early ages. Nonetheless, his artworks were not permitted to be exhibited in his homeland of Russia until the collapse of the reign of the USSR because they went too far against the principle of socialist realism not only in terms of their styles but also their themes. Neizvestny had to flew from the USSR and seek asylum in the United States because of oppression from the authoritarian Soviet regime and could start to work in Russia again only after 1990. He made drafts of the monuments of the victims of state violence under Stalin, but the projects for establishing these monuments were confronted with lots of difficulties not only because of economic problems but also political issues. Part of the projects could not be realized until the death of the artist. Not only formalist analysis and iconological analysis, but also cultural sociological concepts, like cultural trauma, collective agent, progressive narrative and tragic narrative were actively used for defining the cultural and social values of the artworks in this article. The study of the Russian artworks from the perspective of cultural sociology not only makes us rediscover their value and meaning in art history but also can help us grasp the outlines for analyzing the cultural structure of contemporary Russian society, which is reflected in the artworks.

Xenophobia, which is characterized by the exclusion and hatred of foreigners, has been regarded as a phenomenon that was mainly expressed in the 20th century. However, the otherizing process to consolidate the identity of the community has a long historical background. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of xenophobia from the historical perspective by analyzing the anti-Italian sentiment in France in the sixteenth century. The anti-Italian sentiment in France was first germinated among the intellectual circles and then spread to the socioeconomic dimension. The humanist Étienne Dolet (1509-1546), also an editor-cum-printer in Lyon, is a proper example from whose activities we can comprehensively examine the two dimensions of French xenophobia in the sixteenth century. Through the analysis of his writings and publications, it was considered that xenophobia functioned as an incentive for the early formation of nationalism in France in the sixteenth century.

This paper discusses the birth and development of the idea of Europe as a politico-religious space during the Middle Ages. The first part of this article begins by discussing how Christianity provided a new view and language to conceptualize Europe and its identity, reinterpreting it in terms of the biblical tradition. The concept of Europe thus born as synonymous with the Christian community was instrumentalized by the Carolingian rulers in the ninth century who, striving for the autonomy of power from the Byzantine Empire, claimed the title of empire. The idea of the mission of the Carolingian Empire as a political leader of the Christian community was elaborated, and its leaders were stylized and propagated as the father of Europe or the lighthouse of Europe. The second part of this essay discusses the revival of the concept of Europe as a politico-religious space in the fifteenth century by Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pope Pius II). The increasing threats from the Ottoman Empire alarmed Latin Christianity, wakening a sense of solidarity with the Byzantine Empire. Piccolomini elaborated the idea of the Christian community with two political heads in the West (the Holy Roman Empire) and the East (the Byzantine Empire) and revitalized the concept of Europe as a politico-religious space. While constructing a concept of Europe encompassing the pagan antiquity, he laid a foundation for a concept of Europe which stresses its historical evolution and a formation of common cultural and civilizational heritage. This essay ends by briefly illuminating a new concept of Europe as was articulated by Piccolomini by discussing Die Alexanderschlacht (Schlacht bei Issos; The Battle of Alexander at Issus) by Albrecht Altdorfer.

Dans les années 80, Michel Foucault replace la technique du pouvoir au point de croisement entre la problématique de la vérité et celle du sujet, en rajoutant l’axe du sujet à l’axe du savoir et à celui du pouvoir. La pensée du dernier Foucault n’a pas de rupture avec sa théorie du pouvoir. Au contraire, il essaie de rapprocher l’éthique et la politique de manière radicale, en introduisant les concepts de gouvernement et de souci de soi, conceptions plus vastes et englobantes, qui font l’objet à la fois de soi et de l’autre. Et ce faisant, il déplace son champ de travail vers l’époque gréco-romaine pour faire la généalogie de l’éthique. Certes, dans l’Antiquité en Occident, l’éthique et la politique n’étaient pas séparées, et elles étaient superposées à l’esthétique de l’existence. Plus concrètement, elles apparaissaient sous forme de parrêsia, à savoir le franc-parler qui assume le danger de cet acte de vérité. Michel Foucault étudie diverses formes de parrêsia, mais parmi elles, il se concentre surtout sur celle des cyniques qui y consacrent leur vie toute entière.

If we suppose that the fetus is a person, then it would be morally wrong to kill a person for no reason. But women have the right to determine the future of their body at their own will. This right for their own bodies is a strong reason that abortionists present in favor of abortion. The important element with regard to women’s self-determination and abortion is to reveal in what cases and how much self-determination is restricted by the life rights of the fetus. Here I have described in detail the strong volunteerism in having sex and the unfair violation of women’s body by the fetus. I have fully examined that women could allow the fetus to use their bodies only if they have sex based on strong volunteerism. After describing the difficulties of these claims grounded on strong volunteerism of voluntary sexual activity, I showed that women’s demands for abortion would still be valid, even in spite of its difficulties.

American political science represented by behavioralism was actively introduced to Korean political scientists in the late 1950s. Their attraction to behavioralism was premised on their observation that the idea would make it possible to diagnose, manage and adjust pathological ‘political activities’ by analyzing psychological and statistical resources related to the political behaviors that constitute politics and political systems. These political scientists emphasized the imbalance and instability of political systems in underdeveloped countries, as compared to those in the United States and Great Britain, and contended that political problems in the former nations could be gradually overcome through political education. But some Korean political scientists found it critical that behavioralism had shown a tendency to marginalize the question of ‘ideology’ and ‘value,’ and thus argued that behavioralism was not applicable to ‘underdeveloped societies’ since it focuses on the quantification of super-ficial political situations.