Public Lecture: Prof. Henry Em, Yonsei University UIC

How might we go about writing a critical history of liberalism in Korea, and how might that history be relevant to the (global) present? Focusing on Yun Ch’i-ho, a Christian reformist and government official prior to Korea’s annexation by Japan in 1910, Professor Em will argue that colonial-era liberals like Yun Ch’i-ho were complicit in creating a class alliance between the (colonial) state and propertied classes while also creating a society of competitive individuals. Basing his analyses on Yun Ch’i-ho’s Diary, he will examine several emergent aspects of liberalism in colonial Korea: economic thinking (market logic) and its dissemination into spheres of life and work; modes of feeling that endeavored to make certain ideas, values, and behavior normative; and reflexivity, via linguistic innovation, that objectified self and others for incessant evaluation and competition.

Henry Em is associate professor of Korean history at Underwood International College, Yonsei University. He received his B.A. and PhD (History, 1995) from the University of Chicago. From 1995 through 2012, he was assistant professor at UCLA and University of Michigan, and associate professor at NYU. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar to Korea (1998-1999) and Visiting Professor at Centre de Recherches sur la Corée, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (2000). His recent publications include “Historians and History Writing in Modern Korea,” Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 5 (Oxford University Press, 2011), The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea (Duke University Press, 2013), and The Unending Korean War, a special issue of positions: asia critique co-edited with Christine Hong, 23:4 (Winter, 2015).

Event Sponsor
Dept. of History, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Prof. Shana Brown, (808) 956-7151

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