In-between Colonial Heritage: Postcolonial Heritage Perception by Local Society in South Korea

This thesis explores local society’s perceptions of colonial heritage in South Korea, reflecting the in-betweenness of a heritage interpretation. While colonial heritage is often defined by dichotomous views of anti- and pro-colonialism, it also expresses the plural experiences of local residents. An entity occupies a space located in-between being merely an object and being the subject who perceives it. Colonial heritage is also understood in a sense as existing between a pure materiality of heritage, which describes its origin and history, and plural perceptions relationally created by different stakeholders. This research reveals how colonial heritage is explained by local societies in postcolonial locales, reflecting in-between perceptions that cannot be viewed fully as anti- or pro-colonial. The case studies include three different villages in the city of Busan, South Korea, where transformed colonial heritage sites are located and are deeply relevant to the everyday life of the current residents: Biseok village (a former Japanese cemetery), Somak village (a former Japanese cowshed complex) and Maechukji village (former stables and military facilities on reclaimed land). After the Korean liberation in 1945, the Japanese architecture in the case villages was repurposed into different uses, such as war refugees’ houses during the Korean War in the 1950s, as well as residential buildings for labourers during the postwar restoration period. Under the effect of changes, colonial heritage embeds multiple layers of local narratives and plural perceptions of postcolonial heritage by different individuals. Methodologically, a narrative analysis is mainly used to identify how different stakeholders perceived the meaning of colonial heritage in the case study. The stakeholders include not only the village’s residents but also local entities, such as local grassroots heritage activists, local press and local authorities. Through the qualitative analysis of diverse narratives, the core argument of the thesis is that different understandings and approaches shape a postcolonial heritage in which multiple stories are cumulatively embedded. The implication of this research is that the history of continuous acts of violence, such as the Japanese colonial occupation period and the Korean War, creates a heritage of in-betweenness. This expresses simultaneous and interconnected relationships with different entities who perceive and interpret colonial heritage in multiple ways during the transitional period of postcolonial locales. While the ownership of a colonial heritage is ambiguous, postcolonial heritage is identified as a response to plural ways of perceiving.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Hyunjae

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Carr, gillian

• colonial heritage
• heritage and narratvie
• Japanese colonialism
• memory
• postcolonial

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/cbedeefc-798a-46d6-a65c-e69fdd9fc0a5/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

Language dc:language

eng

Author Identifier

0009-0003-2337-2317

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/395136