Marginality and subversion in Korea : the Hong Kyŏngnae rebellion of 1812 / Sun Joo Kim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kim, Sun Joo, 1962-

Series:

Korean Studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies

Korean studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hong Kyŏng-nae Incident, 1811-1812.

Korea--History--1637-1864.

Korea.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the history of Korea, the nineteenth century is often considered an age of popular rebellions. Scholarly approaches have typically pointed to these rebellions as evidence of the progressive direction of the period, often using the theory of class struggle as an analytical framework. In Marginality and Subversion in Korea, Sun Joo Kim argues that a close reading of the actors and circumstances involved in one of the century's major rebellions, the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812, leads instead to more complex conclusions. Drawing from primary sources in Korean, Japanese, and classical Chinese, this book is the most extensive study in the English language of any of the major nineteenth-century rebellions in Korea. Whereas previous research has focused on economic and landlord-tenant tensions, suggesting that class animosity was the dominant feature in the political behavior of peasants, Sun Joo Kim explores the role of embittered local elites in providing vital support in the early stages to spur social change that would benefit these elites as much as the peasant class. Later, however, many of these same elites would rally to the side of the state, providing military and material contributions to help put down the rebellion. Kim explains why these opportunistic elites became discontented with the state in the scramble for power, prestige, and scarce resources, and why many ultimately worked to rescue and reinforce the Choson dynasty and the Confucian ideology that would prevail for another one hundred years. This sophisticated, groundbreaking study will be essential reading for historians and scholars of Korean studies, as well as those interested in early modern East Asia, social transformation, rebellions, and revolutions.

Contents:

Part I. State, region, regional elite, and culture

Historical development of the Ch'ŏngbuk region and the regional elite

Regional discrimination and the Hong Kyŏngnae rebellion

The economic context of the Hong Kyŏngnae rebellion

Prophecy and popular rebellion

Part II. The Hong Kyŏngnae rebellion of 1812

Leadership and preparation

Rebels and counterrebels

Rebels on the defense

Nation, class, and region in the study of the Hong Kyŏngnae rebellion.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-277) and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9780295803388

029580338X

OCLC:

608484939