동학, 미완의 혁명과 엇갈린 공감의 그늘

Abstract

The main interest of this article is summarized into two things. First, why was “Donghak,” which had rapidly risen as a target of belief in the mid-late half of 19th century, converted into a “revolutionary war” featuring an anti- foreign powers and anti-feudalism? Second, how is the Donghak movement, which disappeared as a back road of memory as an unfinished revolution, called in Korean society, and what does the Donghak mean for us living in the present? In this article, I particularly captures the “shame” and “anger” of the Donghak Peasants Army, who carried out the revolutionary war by overcoming fear of death and annihilation and shouting for justice, as a “resistance collective sensibility.” It calls for a new way of explaining that Donghak has emerged from a counterpoint with “Western Studies,” bringing together a wide range of low-class people, including farmers and slaves suffering from tyranny and violence, and launching a revolutionary war that has never originated in solidarity with common intellectuals. This is because it is impossible to capture "self-awareness" through collective emotion that erupted during the turning point of the era and the practice of the newly transformed entities only by a logical and analytical way. Thus, I will avoid studying chronological or textual analyses of the existing Donghak and Donghak Peasants Wars as much as possible, and discuss them from an emotional humanitarian perspective, keeping in mind the contemporary ‘sympathetic geography.’ This methodology will provide clues to the emergence of new entities and new emotional phenomena that have not been seen before ‘Donghak’.