Thu 10/13: Assimilation efforts in Korea

Preparation for class

• Read “Becoming Japanese” in Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910–1945 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), 111–122.
• As you read, please reflect on the following two questions:
  • What can you infer about the larger goals of the Japanese policies discussed in these passages? Based on these accounts, do you think the policies were successful? Why or why not?
  • Consider the terms assimilation, accommodation, collaboration, and resistance. Which of these do you see reflected in these accounts?

Front matter

• Accessing grades
• Select a note taker

Introduction to unit 2

• Up until this point, our discussion of empire has focused largely on the story of empire as seen from Japan: its internal political and social transformations as well as the way the nation responded to external threats, both real and perceived. In our next unit, we will instead consider empire as it was encountered by Japan’s subject peoples. Our readings (and viewings) draw on similar human geographies, including areas where Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese aboriginal languages were most commonly spoken. We will also employ a few new approaches. We will reflect on why ordinary, non-elite voices like those we encounter in Under the Black Umbrella are difficult to come by and what value and challenge they pose for historians. We will also put on our “historian hats” and think about the issue of collaboration from our present-day perspective. And finally, we will delve into the medium of film to see how the dynamic conflict of assimilation, collaboration, and resistance are resolved – or not resolved – in narrative form.

Charting key terms

• Define each term: assimilation, accommodation, collaboration, and resistance.
• Locate examples of each term.

Discussion

• Follow the information on the chart and consider questions that emerge from analyzing the information gathered, for example:
  • What are the similarities and differences between the ways different groups defined these terms?
  • How does reflecting on assimilation from the perspective of colonized peoples differ from a Japanese-centered or even textbook-centered approach?
• Continue the conversation by focusing on other aspects of the text and its potential use for historians:
  • Reference the first homework question: What can you infer about the larger goals of the Japanese policies discussed in these passages? Based on these accounts, do you think the policies were successful? Why or why not?
  • What do the gaps we have encountered here between the plans of the Japanese colonizers and actual implementation?
  • What can differences between personal experiences show us about the nature of colonization?
  • What are some of the challenges associated with utilizing non-elite oral history sources like this? How might you implement something like this into a history paper or project?

Today's class notes prepared by Charlie Arresty.