Arirang People: A Study of Koreans in Transnational Diasporas of the Russian Far East and Manchuria, 1895-1920
Much attention, scholarly and popular, has been given to the Japanese deployment of Koreans in their war efforts during the Pacific War from the 1930s to 1945. Much less attention, however, has been given to the subject of the pre-Colonial period prior to 1910. The main objectives of this dissertation are to: 1) present the evidences which reveal the presence of Korean nationals in the Japanese military during the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905, years before the formal annexation of Korea by Japan and decades earlier than the historiography has established, 2) analyze the new evidences of the presence of Koreans not only on the Japanese but also on the Russian side of the war, and 3) investigate why and how these Koreans came to settle as transnational diasporas in the Russian Far East and Manchuria at the end of the Yi Dynasty of Korea at the turn of the twentieth century, resulting in their involvement in the Japanese and the Russian military forces. From a geopolitical and multicultural perspective, this is a study of transnational diasporic communities of Koreans in Russia and Manchuria, formed by their desire for better lives and their struggle for survival during a time of conflicts and dissatisfaction in their homeland. The Yi Dynasty was about to collapse in its attempts to secure sovereignty as well as achieve modernity and westernization in the geopolitical environment of turn-of-the twentieth century Asia. This dissertation will focus on the period from 1895, when Korea was declared independent from its tributary relationship from China, to 1920, after Korea was formally annexed by Japan, to understand the context behind the presence of Koreans in someone else’s countries and wars.
Jack London in Korea, Japanese imperialism, Korean transnational diasporas, Koreans in Manchuria, Koreans in the Russian Far East, Russo-Japanese War, Asian History, History
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