Marginality and Subversion in Korea : The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812

Sun Joo Kim

ISBN 10: 0295989319 / ISBN 13: 9780295989310

Published by University Of Washington Press Jul 2009, 2009

About this Item

Neuware - In this first extensive study in the English language of any of the major nineteenth-century rebellions in Korea, Kim argues convincingly that it was neither desperate peasants nor ambitious new economic forces but rather traditional local elites, frustrated by their marginalization from the center and by government policies that threatened to undermine both their status and their financial well-being, who plotted and carried out the rebellion of 1812.

Seller Inventory # 9780295989310

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Marginality and Subversion in Korea : The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812
• Publisher: University Of Washington Press Jul 2009
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295989319
• ISBN 13: 9780295989310
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 235W x 156H x 20D millimeters 235 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 20 millimeters depth
• Weight: 477 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Sun Joo Kim is professor of Korean history at Harvard University.