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September 14 – Cultural Memory: An Introduction

• Yael ZERUBAVEL, “The Dynamics of Collective Memory,” 3-12
• VoiceThread Recording
• Mal-Mo-E: The Secret Mission (dir. EOM Yu-na, 2019)

We’ll be having a fishbowl discussion in Tuesday’s class on the three assigned material. I will be selecting 2-3 participants randomly from among you, so be sure to read/view the materials and come ready to discuss.

The aim of this session and the following class is: (1) to start building your understanding of cultural memory, with a focus on nation narratives; and (2) to start building your understanding of the South Korean nation narrative. I’m assigning three materials for Tuesday, 8/31.

1. The opening chapter from historian Yael Zerubavel’s 1995 book Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition. Her book is about the formation of Jewish nationalism, and it’s a bit dated. But it provides a good, concise overview of collective memory, in the form of nation narratives that will be useful for understanding and analyzing the South Korean case. Read the Zerubavel piece with a eye toward understanding her main ideas, many of which she indicated with the use of italics, (for example, “countermemory” on p. 10).
2. A VoiceThread recording, which provides an introduction to the South Korean nation narrative. Feel free to use the comment function to make comments or raise questions. To access the VT recording, please click this link.
3. The 2019 South Korean film Mal-Mo-E, which focuses on a group of Korean intellectuals engaged in risky activities during the late Japanese colonial era (see more below).  It is set in a real historical context, but within this context, it contains numerous fictional elements. Mal-Mo-E has an age 12-plus rating. It has a comedic element (especially in the first half) and may be seen as a movie made for various age groups, but with an educational intent. Popular viewings of the film may be seen as everyday “acts of commemoration” aimed at educating Korean and international viewers about a relatively unknown episode that is from a key era in Korean national history–the era of Japanese colonial rule (1910-45); in this regard, the film has high “commemorative density.” As you watch the film, try to think about how it connects to some of the main points in Zerubavel’s essay.

The remainder of what appears below is additional information relevant to the film:

Mal-Mo-E is based loosely on the Korean Language Society (Joseon eohakhoe 조선어학회) and its founder, intellectual Yi Geungno (1893-1978, 이극로). Below are a series of historical facts that I want you to keep in mind as you watch and think about the film and its constructions of the colonial era, a key era with “commemorative density,” in South Korea’s “master commemorative narrative” (Zerubavel).

First, some information on the Korean Language Society (KLS). It was founded by Yi Geungno in 1929. At its peak, KLS membership numbered 108. The KLS built on the work of pioneering Korean linguist, Ju Sigyeong (1876-1914 주시경; Ju is mentioned several times early in the film). In the late 1800s, Ju was the first linguist to engage in academic research on the Korean language. In the process he began to systematize the language. This may seem to be late considering the long history of the Korean language, but he was actually working at essentially the same time as pioneering linguists of national languages. The latter part of the 19th century was the age in which modern nationalisms were taking root in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and other parts of the world. After Yi Geungno founded the KLS, they established a plan to make the spelling of Korean words uniform, which was a first step in making the first Korean dictionary. Between 1936 and 1939, the KLS determined the standardized forms of some 6,000 Korean words. Following standardization, from 1939-1946, the KLS focused its research efforts on compiling tens of thousands of words used in local and regional dialects. KLS believed that standardized Korean and dialects formed the totality of the Korean language, so it was essential to engage in this painstaking research (which is depicted in the film). In 1947, the successor of the KLS published the first volume of the Big Dictionary of the Korean Language. Over the next decade, volumes 2-6 were published. In 1957, the six-volume set containing 164,125 entries was completed.

Spoiler Alert: There is some information below that could detract one way or another from your viewing experience. If you prefer, skip ahead to the movie and read the paragraphs below later.

Second, it is important to provide more information on the founder, Yi Geungno. The film character Ryu Junghwan (류정환) was modeled on Yi. Yi completed his PhD in economics in Germany in the 1920s. Upon returning to Korea, he was offered the job of president of Boseong College (보성전문학교). After 1945, Boseong College was renamed into one of S Korea’s top universities, Korea University. Boseong College (and several other Korean colleges) were allowed to open — along with Korean publishing companies. Yi turned down this prestigious, well-paying job to devote himself to Korean language research. He was a moderate nationalist (neither communist nor right-wing) who was committed to the cause of preserving a core dimension of Korean culture–language. The KLS was founded in 1929 at a time when leftist and rightist nationalists were trying to cooperate with each other in a form of coalition nationalism. (This kind of coalition nationalism was common in colonial contexts beginning in the latter half of the 1920s. International communist leadership believed that a coalition of left-right anticolonial nationalists was the right path for colonized peoples to win independence. Socialism could then be achieved following independence).

Yi remained the head of KLS until his imprisonment in 1942. After liberation in 1945, Yi resumed his linguistic research. In 1948 he traveled to Pyongyang (the main administrative city in North Korea) for a conference of leftist and rightist nationalists who opposed the emerging anticommunist right-wing nationalist regime that was taking shape in South Korea under US/United Nations support. As a good nationalist, Yi firmly believed that the new, postcolonial Korea should be led by a coalition of nationalists, rather than the narrow coterie of leaders that was rising to power in the South. (Syngman Rhee 이승만 ended up becoming the president of that emerging right-wing regime in South Korea later in the same year). Significantly, Yi Geungno decided to stay in North Korea and lived out his life there, while continuing his research. Yi was highly critical of Syngman Rhee. In contrast, the film implies in the end that Ryu Junghwan stays in South Korea after liberation in 1945. Consider the significance of this deliberate choice, on the part of the filmmaker.

One more thing about Yi. His father was not the headmaster of a top colonial school but a man who led a humble life in a southeastern rural locale. He died in 1923.

Third, a bit more information on colonialist repression. In 1938, Korean language instruction was prohibited in Japanese schools. In 1940, the colonial government began forcing Koreans to adopt Japanese names. And in 1943, the use of any spoken Korean was also prohibited in schools. There were other measures taken, such as forced worship at official Shinto shrines. (Official Shinto was the state religion.) Tens of thousands of Korean workers were mobilized to forcibly labor in Japanese war industries. Later Koreans were conscripted to serve in the Japanese Imperial Army. The Naisen Ittai (“Japan and Korea are one” 내선일체) propaganda was part of this effort to mobilize Koreans for the imperialist cause. So too was the Korea-Japan Alliance (which appears in the film). In term of the KLS, a total of 33 members were arrested in a major crackdown in 1942. Many of these members experienced harsh torture while incarcerated. In 1943, two members, Yi Yunjae and Han Jing, died from injuries sustained from torture interrogations in prison. Like Ryu Junghwan, Kim Pansu and the other characters in the film are “inventions.” The manuscript of the dictionary was indeed found in 1946. However, it was a manuscript that colonial authorities had confiscated from the KLS. It was left in a storage room in the Keijo (Seoul) Station, the main railroad station in the capital city.