In Defense of the State: The Kabo Reforms, Education, and Legitimacy
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2013, Vol 18, Issue 2
Abstract
Kojong’s government in the late nineteenth century initiated an aggressive program of reform, known as the Kabo Reforms, amidst one of the most turbulent times in Korean history. Previous scholarship focuses on modern state-building and the construction of Korean nationalism, as well as the role of education in this process. In contrast, through a lateral reading of the first official modern textbooks this paper focuses on the Kojong government’s attempt to legitimatize its rule itself rather than developing nationalism or capitalism as systematic objectives of its rule. Beleaguered by social unrest, political instability, and economic hardship, the government faced a legitimization crisis, and thus through education attempted to cast the existing state in a reinvigorated light while defending its program of reform.
Authors and Affiliations
Leighanne Yuh
Keywords
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