한말 국사교과서의 근대사 서술에 나타난 대외인식

Abstract

About 20 kinds of Korean history textbooks were published from 1895 when Korea’s very first Korean history textbook Joseon History was published under the leadership of the faculty to 1910 when Japanese annexation of Korea took place. The characteristics of the foreign perceptions in the description of modern history in those Korean history textbooks are as follows：first, while they claimed the nation’s political sovereignty should be obtained against China, they failed to completely graduate from the conventional Confucius ideas of history. They put almost too much emphasis on independence from China but took relatively favorable positions towards Japan, which became the ground behind the criticism that they accepted Japanese imperialism and colonial history with no critique. Secondly, a considerable portion of the textbook content was distorted under the Japanese influence. Starting in 1908, the Tonggambu(통감부) began its overt intervention into Joseon’s textbook policies. As a result, subtle differences were found in the textbook content according to the different periods. While Qing Dynasty had its image reinforced as the neighbor that was impotent and corrupt and suppressed Joseon, Japan was beautified as the country that was friendly, advanced, and even would save Joseon. Represented by Russia, the West began as the party that would keep the competition among the world powers in check but became the party to justify Japan’s intervention, being described as the whites trying to swallow Joseon up. The biggest reason behind the limitations with the textbook content was the Tonggambu’s control policy, but some clues are found in the situations of the authors who were under the direct and indirect influences of Theory of Social Evolution and Japanese history books. The major figures that led the publication of Korean history textbooks were Hyeon Chae(현채), Jeong In-ho(정인호), Ryu Geun(류근), and Ahn Jong-hwa(안종화), who were the intellectuals that engaged in the patriotic enlightenment movement. The Korean history textbooks published in late Joseon were bombarded by criticisms at the time of publication and still are even today. However, they should be recognized for trying to raise interest in Korean history and systemize it, introducing a new system for modern history science, and making efforts to establish independent consciousness in Korean people. Thus they should be understood as transitional textbooks written by intellectuals who were overwhelmed by Theory of Social Evolution and lacked capabilities in textbook writing.