Colonial Historiography Research Articles

Transcending Pseudohistory: Korean Early Asia and Discourse Analysis

Abstract Advocates of Korean pseudohistory imagine early Korea to have comprised a vast continental empire. They accuse professional scholars, who reject their ideas, of promoting “colonial historiography” to the benefit of China and Japan. This polemic resonates with domestic political nationalism. In 2014–15 it caused the termination of two government-funded projects, and a similar incident occurred in 2023. Despite a series of critiques, pseudohistory continues to thrive, particularly in the popular domain, and cannot be ignored. The challenge is how to address it. The author suggests two directions that can attend to pseudohistory while offering constructive areas for new research. The first is to pay attention to a discourse of Korean scholarship that focuses on regions extending beyond the conventional boundaries of Early Korea. This discourse represents a critical counterpart to pseudohistorical narratives of expansive empire, while its study enables engagement with Korean scholarship. The second suggestion is wider discourse analysis. For given topics of early Korea and Asia, we should model popular and pseudohistorical discourse alongside scholarly discourse, thus attending to popular and public domains. To address online, screen, and real-world sites of historical discourse, this article calls for constructive collaboration from a wider disciplinary spectrum of Korean studies and communication fields.

Things Fall Apart: Tracing the Tools and Means of Constructing Colonial Historiography

Things Fall Apart: Tracing the Tools and Means of Constructing Colonial Historiography

‘Punitive’ Expeditions in German Colonial Contexts in Africa

AbstractThe debate on the restitution of African cultural heritage has brought greater attention to the history of colonial violence, especially to the dispatch of so‐called ‘punitive’ expeditions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Expanding knowledge on the genealogy of this particularly brutal form of military campaign, this article explores the historical semantics of the German term ‘Strafexpedition’ and its contextual use in the organ of militarist colonial propaganda at the time in Imperial Germany, the Deutsches Kolonialblatt. Through a content analysis of the occurrence of the term and its correlate, this study aims to bridge the fields of semantics and colonial historiography and lays the groundwork for a macro‐history of events of spoliation and plunder in German colonial contexts.

Revisiting the voices from the Margins: A Study of Subaltern Narrative in Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome

The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh delves into the subaltern narrative giving voice to marginalized people often overlooked in mainstream literature. The narrative draws on the themes of identity, power, and history through its characters and their experiences challenging traditional narratives and offers a unique perspective on the complexities of colonialism, science, and storytelling. The novel resurfaces the issues of defiance and resistance against the imperial power and its’ hegemony as depicted by Ghosh through the characters like Murugan, Mangala and Laakhan against British scientist Roland Ross and his associates. In the juncture of scientific research about the Malaria in colonial India, Ronald Ross was assisted by the Indian people, however, their contribution remained excluded in colonial historiography which Ghosh's narrative stages to revisit the colonizer's discriminatory policy. Meantime, this study triggers on the voice of the voiceless to subvert the 'orientalism' in Westerners' historiography by staging the voice of the oppressed in the domain of subaltern studies envisaged by Spivak and others. In so doing, it valorises the voice the subalterns by constituting an academic discourse for their age-longed muffled silence.

South Korean Historiography on Civil Service Examination, Max Weber, and the Cold War Transpacific Invention of Confucian Modernity

Abstract: This article first offers a postcolonial critique on Japanese colonial historiography and post-1945 South Korean historiography on Confucian tradition of Korea that they both have shared a very essentialized understanding on Confucian tradition of Korea as unique nature of Korean society based on the same overarching evolutionary modernization narrative in spite of their contradictingly different definition of it as either premodern backwardness or Confucian modernity. In order to go beyond these still dominant essentialized bipolar views on Confucian tradition of Korea, based on a transnational perspective, this paper seeks to show how post-1945 South Korean historiography has redefined Confucian tradition of Korea. Then, to do so, this paper tries to historicize post-1945 South Korean historiography's appropriation of Max Weber's bureaucracy and modernization theories from U.S. academia of social science and East Asian studies for its studies of Koryŏ-Chosŏn civil service examination and social status system. Then, this paper goes further to look at how post-1945 South Korean historiography on late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn history has struggled from 1945 to early 2000 to redefine and reinvent Confucian tradition of Korea such as Koryŏ-Chosŏn civil service examination as the unique origin of its own meritocratic modernity that is as close as "Western Modernity," based on this appropriation of Max Weber's bureaucracy and modernization theories. Then, this paper finally turns to rethink the meaning of this appropriation within the broader context of Cold War and South Korean postcoloniality.

Making of the Other: Critiquing Baloch Historiography

Orientalism is the critique of the European perspective about the creation of colonial discourse and this approach advocates that European colonialism has created a concept of “othering". The Occident and the Orient is a pure European construct, and it would see another world from the lens of Europe and give a verdict of being inferior about all those concepts, cultures and ideologies which are not in conformity with European perceptions. The present work is based on the colonial construction of the history of Balochistan, and colonial scholars had provided the landmark of historiography in Balochistan. These colonial scholars had derived their concepts of the cultures and histories of the indigenous people based on the official documents provided by the colonial masters. So, the primary premise of the colonial discourse was not to do academic research rather it was to control the indigenous people. This premise of colonial historiography was bequeathed after partition as the post-partition and indigenous scholars had followed the footsteps of colonial scholars especial in the theories of ethnic origins. The present work is a historiographical critique of colonial and post-independence historiography into Balochistan, and it has been endeavored to provide main themes of oriental historiography and its counter-narrative which based on a post-colonial perspective derived from primary and secondary sources. The paper is an attempt in opening of new debates in the historiography of peripheral regions like Balochistan and its an effort to shed light on the areas on which there is a historical silence.

Spices and Diplomacy of the Banten Sultanate with Foreign Kingdoms in the 16th- 19th Century

The Banten Sultanate was a pre-Indonesian Islamic kingdom from the 16th to early 19th centuries. Banten developed as a kingdom based on trade, its main commodity being pepper. In the 17th century, pepper became a spice with high value, so Banten used it as a diplomatic tool apart from being a trade commodity. As the destination of many foreign traders, it encouraged Banten to communicate with several kingdoms. Through historical research methods and a literature review, this article attempts to see diplomacy as one of the political activities of pre-Indonesian kingdoms. As a result, it can be seen that the Banten Sultanate carried out its diplomatic activities with several kingdoms, for example, Mecca (Ottoman), the Netherlands, England, Denmark, and France. This activity can be known from Banten's correspondence with the foreign kingdom and is supported by the chronicle narrative as colonial historiography. In this activity, the sultan of Banten often included several gifts, one of which was a large amount of pepper. Therefore, letters and other manuscripts can show Banten's position in diplomacy with other kingdoms, and pepper has an important role.

Holocaust refugees’ experiences in, out of and nowhere in Africa

ABSTRACT Eppelsheimer’s article examines Holocaust refugees’ experiences in colonial Kenya. It draws attention to the autobiographical novels of German Jewish author Stefanie Zweig, as well as testimonies and memoirs of former Holocaust refugees who had fled to Kenya, and asks if and how refugees’ own experiences of racial persecution informed their responses to colonial racism. This article illustrates how Zweig responded in aesthetic terms to her experience in colonial spaces. It does so by examining autobiographical aspects of Zweig’s writings, highlighting the author’s upbringing in multiple cultures, literary traditions and languages, and discussing Zweig’s novels in the contexts of white British settler writing about Kenya, as well as the German ‘Africa-novel’­—both of which have shaped the images and perspectives of Kenya among millions of readers. It examines such European colonialist perspectives and discourses in literary texts as well as testimonies. In so doing, it questions whether a text like Nowhere in Africa, which is about the experiences of a German Jewish refugee family in Kenya, contributes to the silencing of African voices and the obscuring of African history by colonial historiography and literature.

Female Subjugation and Resistance in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys's Portrays the European domination and patriarchal cultural context of Jamaica after the passage of the Emancipation Act (1833). The novelist stages creole characters who are exclusively exploited, subjugated and marginalized in colonial regime. In this respect, the representations of the female characters such as Antoinette, Christophine, Gracepoole, Amelie, Leah, among others clearly display the debased status of females in Jamaica even after the emancipatory proclamation. The novel dramatizes the violence perpetrated on women by the White colonizers even after the colonial rule. Moreover, Rhys projects female characters to expose the humiliating state of women in the novel. Thus, this article proposes to analyze the female body as a subordinated site as well as resistance in the purview of postcolonial feminist theory especially of Gyatri Spivak, Ketu Katrak and Chandra D. Mohanty address the challenges faced by subjugated and marginalized voices in representing themselves within dominant discourses. So, the research draws on the ideas of Spivak’s “Can the subaltern speak?” as the subaltern refers to individuals or groups who are socially, politically, racially, culturally and economically subjugated and silenced by dominant power structure and system. Their feminist stands unbox the exploitation of female and their feeble resistance in the commonwealth countries that this research critically analyzes Rhys’s novel. Imbibing their arguments it further, argues that Wide Sargasso Sea not only revisits the lacuna prevalent in colonial historiography by depicting the colonized people but also clearly points out the marginal representation of female under the ambit of imperial power.

Ecological Stereotypes: Perceptions of Indigenous and Maroon Communities in Late Colonial Suriname

The colonial historiography of Suriname has often portrayed the Indigenous and Maroon inhabitants of the Surinamese Amazon in stereotypical ways, according to which the former would be stewards of the rainforest whereas the latter would have a destructive relationship to nature. Such stereotypes have persisted in conservationist discourse and in the Surinamese nationalist literature of the first half of the twentieth century. As such, they were at the basis of the Surinamese national project prior to independence, and justified dispossessing Maroon populations of their ancestral lands. The alleged ecological differences between the two populations can, however, not be sustained within our current understanding of Amazonian history.

Colonial internationalism and the governmentality of empire, 1893–1982

Florian Wagner's new book, Colonial internationalism and the governmentality of empire, 1893–1982, is a valuable contribution to imperial and colonial historiography. It traces the rise and lasting influence of the International Colonial Institute (ICI), which was founded in Brussels in 1893 and remained active until 1982. As Wagner convincingly argues, the ICI became the most influential colonial think tank of the twentieth century. According to the author, this influence was derived from ICI's transfer of knowledge and practices across European empires and in different colonial localities in Africa and Asia (other imperial regions, such as the Pacific and the Caribbean, are omitted from the research). Such knowledge-sharing was often dressed up with diplomatic language, progressive reformism or scientific pretexts, but in practice it entrenched, legitimized and prevented the reform of colonialism, undermining radical claims for independence. This was often done under the cover of ‘indigenous’ laws, knowledge or institutions and in ways that diminished the influence of nation-states. Thus, the ICI helped to embed the racist subjugation and impoverishment of the global South, for the economic and political betterment of the (mostly white) ICI members.

Perkembangan Historiografi Indonesia

The development of historiography in Indonesia cannot be separated from the historical background of the Indonesian nation. In the development of historical writing in Indonesia, several patterns or patterns of historiography stand out, namely, traditional historiography, colonial historiography and finally, national historiography or modern historiography. Each of these historiography certainly has its own characteristics. Like traditional historiography which is still thick with elements of myth and existed before the colonial period, even traditional historiography existed during the royal period. After that, traditional historiography changed to colonial historiography due to the entry of colonialists into this country. Colonial histiriography was also written by historians or people from the colonial government, the essence of which was that it was westerners who made it. Then after Indonesia was able to defeat the invaders, it changed to national historiography. The author is an Indonesian historian, and in writing, he genuinely knows Indonesia.
 
 Keywords: Historiograf, Indonesia, Tradisional, Kolonial, Moder.

EXPLORING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS OF PRE-COLONIAL NON-MECHANISED TRANSPORT SYSTEMS IN ILORIN EMIRATE

Transport and transportation systems in pre-colonial Africa were important aspects of Nigeria’s pre-colonial socio-economic history. Prior to the period of colonial rule and the introduction of mechanised transport systems, the movement of goods and services across domestic and national borders was not alien to Nigerian pre-colonial societies. As against the colonial historiography which described pre-colonial transport and transportation systems as primitive, backward, and incapable of supporting economic growth and development, the article demonstrates, through a thorough examination of pre-colonial transport and transportation systems in the Ilorin Emirate, that such arguments are untrue. Ilorin Emirate, like other pre-colonial towns, has a record of different pre-colonial transportation systems in operation to support its economic growth, trade and market systems, and inter-economic relations. Among the pre-colonial transportation systems widely used in the Ilorin Emirate were the Porterage system and the use of animal packs (camel, horses, and donkeys). These identified pre-colonial non-mechanised transport systems contributed significantly to the growth and development of the Ilorin Emirate. Through these transportation systems, revenues were generated through tolls and taxes, and the expansion of trade and markets, among others, were experienced. The paper relies on primary and secondary sources of data to interrogate the contributions of pre-colonial non-mechanised transport systems.

韩国学界对日帝时期“满鲜史观”“满洲史观”的批判硏究

The Korean academic call the study of Korean history and “Manchurian history” during the Japanese Emperor period “colonialist history”, which is usually characterized by the theory of heteronomy, stagnancy, the theory of Japan's common ancestor, and the “Manchurian view of history”. The Korean academic began to criticize colonial historiography in the 1960s. After the Northeast Frontier Research Fever appeared in China in the early 21st century, the “Man Xian’s View of History” became the focus of the Korean academic. A series of critical studies focused on the “Man Xian’s View of History” of ancient Korean history, Gao Gou Li history, and Bohai history. These studies mainly expose and criticize theories such as “inseparable theory of Manchurian-Korea”, “non China theory of Manchuria and Mongolia”, and “inseparable relationship between Manchuria and Japan”, which are carried out by Japanese scholars like Shirikuki and Inaba Yanji for the needs of the Japanese Empire's invasion and expansion to Korea and China and its colonial rule.
 There has been another proposal to rethink the problems and limitations in “colonial history research”, and to reconstruct the ancient Korean history system. The key to finding an effective method to solve the East Asian history ownership problem is to avoid equalizing historical problems with contemporary reality, to avoid equalizing territorial problems with history. Historical studies should be considered purely academical and historical facts should be restored by “seeking truth from facts”.

Imperial inheritance: The transnational lives of Gurkha families in Asian contexts, 1948–1971

AbstractWhile there is burgeoning scholarship on the transnational lives of Nepali Gurkhas and their families, research on their migration history and lived experiences in Asian contexts is few and far between. Building upon Vron Ware’s concept of Gurkha families as ‘military migrants’ and using an inter-Asia approach as a framework, this article foregrounds the interconnections between military service and migrant pathways during the period of decolonization, particularly in Southeast Asia, and in so doing, offers a gendered perspective on labour migration. Drawing on multi-sited archival and ethnographic research, it seeks to argue that from 1948 to 1971, the Asian region(s) were a dominant feature in the global migration process of Gurkha families who circulated within the arc of a declining British empire. The article further advances that their gendered mobility patterns problematizes the ‘migration–left behind’ nexus as binary opposites as Gurkha wives and children engaged with mobility and mediated their transnational lives in complex ways. It also expands upon the notion of dukha—meaning ‘sadness’ or ‘suffering’ in Nepali—as an analytical theme to yield further insights into their lived experiences and to revisit colonial historiography about Gurkha society.

전후 미국학계에 소개된 한국사 연구와 식민주의 역사학

As the Cold War system was established after World War II, American academia’s interest in East Asia as well as Korea, the front line of the Cold War, increased. Establishment of East Asian research institutes, new courses and professorship as well as the publication of Korean Studies Guide in the 1950s, shows considerable interest in East Asia and Korea in American academia right after World War II. Especially, the fact that Suematsu’s 『朝鮮史のしるべ』(1936) and Hatada’s 『朝鮮史』(1951) were translated and published in the days when there were very few Korean history books in English in the academic field, are an implication of the relation between the colonial historiography in pre-war Japan and post war Korean studies in the U.S. These two books, known to American academia by the Korean Studies Guide and its writers, received conflicting reviews from the time they were first introduced and even after the release of the book. A Short History of Korea was welcomed as a textbook and reference material in the absence of an English history book, but A History of Korea was evaluated as a fresh and objective Korean history book because it was not only based on socioeconomic perspectives but also described in strict criticism of colonial rule.BR Indeed, the two books revealed a clear difference in their description and composition, but they were common in that they negatively portrayed Korean history based on the study by former Japanese researchers. Hatada’s work based on socioeconomic perspectives was in line with the theory of lack of feudalism, which Japanese historians argued in the past, that the production relationship revealed in Korean history was developmental but centered on ancient production until the late Joseon Dynasty. This discussion was to find the reason why only Japan could succeed in modernization through feudalism from the time it first appeared by Japanese researchers in the early 20th century, which could lead to the modernization theory that emerged in American academia after the war. In addition, both books deal with the pressure and aggression of foreign forces on Korea as important historical nodes, which have resulted in not only emphasizing the heteronomy of Korean history but also explaining the development of Japanese history. The establishment of the Four Chinese Commanderies(Hansagun), and the Imjin War was a representative basis that not only showed Korea suffering from foreign invasion, but also described as a major phase revealing the historical relationship between the island country Japan and the continent. This was based on the research of former Japanese historians who tried to explain the history of Tōyō(東洋) centered on Japan, and could also be linked to the U.S. policy of pursuing U.S. hegemony and national interests in postwar East Asia.BR In conclusion, A Short History of Korea and A History of Korea are not only based on the identity and heteronomy of Korean history, but also faithful to the perspective of former Japanese historians in that they explain the historical relationship between Japan and the continent through Korean history. The reason why these works were able to be distributed to American academia was that the discussion of colonial historiography could easily match the U.S. policy and modernization theory that tried to carry out the security and U.S. national interests in East Asia with Japan as a policy partner.

Colonialism and Its Implication on the African Family Stability in Embu North Sub-County of Kenya from 1895 to 1965

Family value system is the basic foundation on which stable societies are created. Sustaining the authentic traditional family value system in a wave of change as strong as western imperialism called for a society that was ready to struggle to retain their culture. This study is on colonialism and its’ implication on the African family stability in Embu North Sub-County of Kenya from 1895 to 1965. The study employed the descriptive research design. Data was obtained from oral, archival and secondary sources. The researcher interviewed a total of 50 respondents who were purposively sampled using snowballing technique. The study corroborated data from oral, archival and secondary sources to ensure the validity and reliability of the study. The discussion starts with aspects of the traditional values that existed among the Aembu by the time colonialism was imposed on Kenya in 1920, advances to how these aspects were executed in family and communal life among the Aembu and moves to how the Aembu were able to retain these family practices and values during the colonial period of 1920 to 1965. Cultural Evolution theory was used to examine colonialism and its implications on the African family stability in the area of study. The findings of the study were that there were family values that the Aembu people maintained before and during colonialism like circumcision (especially female circumcision), the culture of dowry payment, naming system, hospitality, and polygamy; that these family values were evident in their cultural traditions and practices and served to explain their unique African identity, were held in high regard, passed the test of time and were preserved from 1920 to 1965. This study has Contributed to the colonial historiography of the Aembu of Embu North Sub-County, Kenya.

From Pioneer Historiography to Patriotic History: Constructing Usable Pasts in Zimbabwe (1890–2018)

AbstractDifferent political projects and ideological positions are founded upon distinct accounts of the past, each with their own emphases, silences, and omissions. The case of Zimbabwe illustrates this connection between power and history. Whereas the myths of colonial historiography provided legitimization frameworks for settler colonialism, “patriotic history” became a key element of the legitimation strategy implemented by the post-independence regime. Pinto analyses how history and historiography were incorporated into narratives of power legitimization in both pre- and post-independence Zimbabwe and how, in the late 90s, history and historiography became critical sites of political polarization and contestation.

Colonialism and its implication on the African family stability in Embu North sub-county of Kenya from 1895 to 1965

This study sought to explore the colonialism and its’ implication on the African family stability in Embu North Sub-County of Kenya from 1895 to 1965. The study employed a descriptive research design. Data were obtained from oral, archival and secondary sources. The researcher interviewed 50 respondents who were purposively sampled using a snowballing technique. The study corroborated data from oral, archival and secondary sources to ensure the validity and reliability of the study. Cultural Evolution theory was used to examine colonialism and its implications on the African family stability in the area of study. The study findings indicated that the family values among the Aembu were authentic and ensured a well-organised rhythm of life before the advent of European imperialism in 1895. However, there was a disruption in the traditional religion of the Aembu with the establishment of the Kigari mission station in 1910, the modes of dressing, eating, language and education were changed to suit a western value system. This study has contributed to the colonial historiography of the Aembu of Embu North Sub-County, Kenya.

Demystifying the past: mythical subversion in Herminio Martínez' novel Diario maldito de Nuño de Guzmán.

This article offers a myth-critical analysis of the novel Diario maldito de Nuño de Guzmán by Herminio Martínez, published in 1990. Firstly, arguments supporting the application of the term «myth» to the narrative of the Spanish Conquest of America, which emerged from early colonial historiography, will be presented. Subsequently, the analysis of the subversive character of Martinez' novel will be provided. In particular, the strategies of demythification on the story level and demythologisation on the discourse level will be examined in detail. The article is intended as a contribution to the myth-critical methodology and praxis.