Rockefeller Foundation and medical research in Korea and Taiwan under Japanese rule

Abstract

Much historical information is yet to be uncovered, such as how knowledge was formed in certain parts of the world, including in Japan and Korea. Professor Toshihiko Matsuda, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Japan, is investigating, in a global context, the body of knowledge formed in Japan, and it's outer influence, including on Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria in the modern era and on public health study and education. This needs to be clarified as, in Japan, there is a tendency to believe that Korea's knowledge and high-level education system came about from its colonial era, but South Korean researchers don't believe this to be the case. One line of investigation for Matsuda concerns a famous bacteriologist in prewar Japan called Kiyoshi Shiga who spent his last decade as a researcher in colonial Korea. Through this research, Matsuda is seeking to understand the position occupied by colonial Korea in the course of global medical history. He is using historical records to establish an understanding of how the history of public health as an academic discipline was introduced into colonial Korea, including using the documents of the Rockefeller Archives Center to decipher Shiga's role in introducing public health into Korea. In the process, Matsuda is filling gaps regarding how knowledge was imparted, pooled and shared between Japan and South Korea and emphasising that the information shaped in colonial Korea is closely connected to Western knowledge.