AbstractsHistory

This dissertation comprises a diachronic survey of popular Korean historiography from the earliest surviving supradynastic treatments through to a sample of current day South Korean popular history works; therein the focus is on the pre-Three Kingdoms period, dealing with questions of ethnogenesis and state formation. Part I delineates the premodern conceptualization of ancient Korea, terming it the Orthodox Narrative, the defining characteristic of which was the successful merger and coexistence of both nativist and Sinic elements, popularly symbolized in the Dangun-Gija symbiosis. Part II then focuses on premodern treatments of historical geography, a topic which has gone on to become a core area of modern, post-colonial concern, particularly regarding the location and territory of ancient Joseon and the Han Commanderies. Part III looks at the contemporary popular history writings of the Colonial Era, broadly terming this new perspective as 'Northern/Altaic' owing to its continental focus and utilization of the then accepted Altaic language hypothesis; seeking to distill and magnify the perceived nativist elements of the Orthodox Narrative, its defining revisionist feature was - and still is - explicit anti-Sinocentricism. Indeed, current day South Korean popular historiography, treated in Part IV is found to be still deeply influenced by the two key architects of the Northern/Altaic paradigm, Sin Chaeho and Choe Namseon, whose works can be seen as representing two starting points on the same conceptual spectrum under which most subsequent efforts can be classified: an 'Empire' variant imagining ancient Joseon as both a rival and source of classical Sinic civilization, and a 'Pan-Altaic' variant which utilizes long-range theories in the name of pan-Altaic solidarity. Despite a tradition of rationalist empiricism reaching back to premodern scholarship, the dominant trend in the most visible popular historiography has been towards historicization of mythology; this thesis suggests such a phenomenon can, at least in part, be understood as being both due to the embedding of the foundation myths within the Orthodox Narrative that ensured their survival, and the consequent and continued need for national mythology in the modern era where myth maintains its historical resonance. Väitöskirja luo diakronisen katsauksen Korean populaariin historiografiaan alkaen vanhimmista säilyneistä lähteistä ja päättyen valikoimaan nykypäivän eteläkorealaisia historiankuvauksia. Pääapaino on kysymyksillä, jotka liittyvät korealaisten etnogenesikseen ja Korean valtionmuodostukseen Kolmen Valtakunnan aikakaudella. Osa I hahmottelee yleiskuvan muinaisen Korean esimodernista käsitteellistämisestä, jota voidaan nimittää ortodoksiseksi narratiiviksi . Tämän narratiivin pääominaisuus on, että siinä yhdistyvät nativistiset ja kiinalaiset elementit, mitä symboloi Dangun ja Gija -myyttien symbioosi. Osa II keskittyy esimoderneihin historiallisen maantieteen esityksiin, jotka ovat olennaisella tavalla muokanneet nykyisiä…