The Origins of Korea's Eurocentrism: A Study of Discourses on Gaehwa and Munmyeong

Abstract

Power relations are reflected in discourse. In terms of global power relations, Eurocentric discourse assumes a Eurocentric world that idealizes the West at the expense of others. Under the global hegemony of the West, many societies have accepted the assumptions and ideas of Eurocentric discourse. During Korea's early modern period, discourses on gaehwa (enlightenment) and munmyeong (civilization) reflected the rise of a Eurocentric world order and provided justification for the efforts to "modernize" Korea. This study analyzes the historical transformation of discourses on gaehwa and munmyeong Eurocentric assumptions, focusing on the changes in the ways the national self and the West were perceived. Through an analysis of representative modern Korean newspapers from the 1880s to the 1930s, this study argues that it was not until the 1890s that a Eurocentric hierarchy between Korea and the West became manifested in discourses on gaehwa and munmyeong. This study also finds that the Eurocentric features of these discourses were relatively clear in the 1890s and 1900s but came to be fairly indistinct in the 1920s in the wake of World War I.