Becoming a Biologist in Colonial Korea: Cultural Nationalism in a Teacher-Cum-Biologist

Abstract

Science has recently emerged as a key concept in understanding the process of nation-state building. The relationship between science and nationalism may be explored from various angles, but most research examines the relation only in its ideological aspect, without paying much attention to how deeply nationalism has been intertwined with scientists' everyday work—including their research agendas and methodologies. This essay examines the practices of Korean biologists during the Japanese colonial period (1910–45), focusing on how the members of an emerging occupational category connected their research with cultural nationalism. Depending on their respective career patterns, they had different ideas about research objects, methods, and the very nature of science. A central figure in this essay is the Korean taxonomist Seok Ju-myeong 石宙明 (1908–50), who found in nationalism a helpful resource to guide his taxonomical research on butterflies. He maintained that he was doing “Korean biology” since the unique characteristics of indigenous fauna and flora played an essential role in guiding his work. Seok is a fine case of the codevelopment of nationalism and scientific research.

Keywords:

• Seok Ju-myeong
• Chung Tai-hyun
• Cho Pok-sung
• Kang Yung-sun
• colonial science
• cultural nationalism
• Korean biology

Notes

¹ In writing East Asians' names, I have conformed to the practice shared by Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese, placing the family name before the given name.

² For a detailed analysis of Mujeong and its author, see Shin 1999.

³ For more information on the history of science in colonial Korea, see Kim Geun-bae 2005.

⁴ Chōsen is the Japanese word for Korea and was used in Japanese and Korean writings alike to designate the country in the colonial period. I will use Korea whenever possible, since the official name was Korea both before and after the colonial period.

⁵ For more information on Nakai's fieldwork in Korea, see Kim et al. 2006.

⁶ On the career of Cho during the colonial period, see Kim Sung-won 2008. See also Cho's (1975) posthumously published memoir.

⁷ Because Keijō University was expected to carry out research for Japan's further occupation of Manchuria and the continent, the university had a major interest in Manchuria and the northern part of China. See Tsukahara 2007.

⁸ Seok wrote his initials “D. M.” in English. This is because he pronounced and spelled his name “Du-myeong” thanks to the influence of his hometown dialect; standard pronunciation would be “Ju-myeong.” For more information on Seok's life and research, see Lee Byeong-cheol 2002. See also the website of the Korea Science and Technology Hall of Fame (http://www.kast.or.kr/HALL) for a brief introduction to his career and achievements (in Korean). Seok was inducted into the hall of fame in 2008.

⁹ For Kang's personal history, see his memoir, Kang 1982.

¹⁰ Seismology in Japan may be exceptional in this regard; however, its strong local orientation cannot be denied. See Clancey 2007.

¹¹ A type of cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae is Korea's most common species. Seok collected about 168,000 specimens of P. rapae but wrote only a few lines about them during his research career.

¹² Although regional studies did not yet exist, Seok wrote six books about Jeju-do. He has recently been called the “founder of Jeju-do studies.” See Lee Byeong-cheol 2002.

¹³ Seok was also greatly interested in Esperanto, an artificial language designed to help people from different linguistic backgrounds communicate. He taught Esperanto at several colleges and published a textbook that included a glossary of Esperanto. He is regarded as a pioneer in this area. Seok argued that Esperanto was a symbol of peace and democracy because it gave equal opportunities to all countries.

¹⁴ In that sense, Kim Yong-gwan (金容瓘), the head of the Inventors' Society and a driving force behind the Science Movement of the 1930s, was exceptional: he was determined to cultivate the specific kinds of technology that would permit Korea to win industrial independence. He was foiled by a lack of financial and social support. See Lim 1995.

¹⁵ Chung Tai-hyun's three coauthors were Lee Duk-bong (李德鳳), Lee Fui-je (李徽載), and Do Bong-sup (都逢涉). The two Lees were high school teachers, while Do was a professor at the Keijō College of Pharmacy. Other members of the Korean Research Group for Natural History prepared a work titled “Vernacular Names of Korean Animals,” but it was never published due to lack of funds.

¹⁶ After the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, the colonial government gradually eliminated the use of Korean from the bureaucracy (1937), the schools (1938), and the press (1939). See Robinson 1988.

¹⁷ During the Japanese occupation, most Korean biologists were forced to adopt Japanese names. Of the four scientists profiled in this essay, Seok alone did not change his name. I believe that this is connected to the respective career patterns.

¹⁸ On cultural nationalism in colonial Korea, see Robinson 1988.