An Attempt to Construct and Characterize the History of Korean Buddhist Studies in France (1868–2022)

Abstract

This article is the first to address the history of Korean Buddhist studies in France, written on the occasion of the first international conference of the program "Glocality of Korea from the Buddhist Perspective" of the Center for the Expansion of Academics on Korea of Dongguk University held in July 2022 in Paris. Because of the scope of the subject matter, it is limited to defining a few chrono-thematic milestones in order to understand the actors, the institutions involved, the national and international context, as well as the main works and themes treated. Thus, a century and a half of history of this field of study is divided into four major periods, highlighting the conjunction of several factors determining the development of Korean Buddhist studies in France, such as the history of relations between Korea and France, the development of Korean studies in France, the permanent presence of representatives of the Jogye Order, the number of theses defended in France on Korean Buddhism, and the career of specialists after their PhD. From this point of view, several recent events constitute a favorable context for the development of research in the humanities and social sciences on Korean Buddhism in France: 1) the creation in 2017 of the Interdisciplinary Center for Buddhist Studies (CEIB) operating as a network within the framework of a group of institutions (EPHE, College de France, INALCO); 2) the opening since 2020 of a position in "Korean Buddhism" in the Religious Sciences Section at the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE) giving rise to the offer of an annual seminar; 3) a project to create a research team of French-speaking specialists working in France on Korean Buddhism, to be housed at the Institut d"Études Coréennes (IEC) du College de France in 2023.