식민지 조선의 영유아 신체 발육 심사와 차별적 요소 탐색

Abstract

During the Japanese colonial period, infants were the future human resources, and their physical health was the main concern because, unlike adults, they have sufficient growth potential if constant care is premised. Therefore, there was a need for a measure to manage the health of infants. A representative example is the infant physical examination. This paper aims to reveal the reality by focusing on the infant physical examinations in colonial Joseon. Since the infant physical examinations have the characteristic of dividing infants into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in nature, this paper also attempts to explore the discriminatory factors. In the 1920s, Joseon began paying attention to the health of infants. The Japanese government proposed standard indicators for the physical development of infants to improve the overall health level of infants. The standard indicators consisted of height, weight, head circumference, and chest circumference. The infant physical examinations aimed to check the health status of infants by having medical experts evaluate them based on the standard indicators. The infant physical examinations were implemented in earnest in the 1930s and continued until the 1940s. Infants who were screened through the infant physical examinations were divided into ‘selected’ and ‘rejected’. Among the selected infants, infants with excellent physical development were generally honored as healthy infants. On the other hand, rejected infants were required to be continuously monitored, such as visiting a health counseling center and receiving counseling so that they could reach the standard level. Infants with congenital physical diseases were not allowed to participate in the health check conducted by the infant physical examinations in the first place. In other words, the infant physical examinations are inherently characterized by selection and exclusion. Furthermore, there were discriminatory factors according to the circumstances of the times. The factors can be found in the differences between the Japanese people residing in Joseon and Koreans, the differences in the living standards, and the differences between cities and provinces. In these cases, some infants were deprived of the opportunity to participate in the health check by the infant physical examinations and to use medical institutions such as health counseling centers. The Japanese government tried to raise the standard of overall physical growth of infants through the infant physical examinations. However, some infants were excluded for various reasons, and in the end, the health care of infants was only limited to a few selected infants.