노동자 교육을 둘러싼 지식의 절합과 계몽의 정치성 - 유길준의 『노동야학독본』(勞動夜學讀本) 고찰 -

Abstract

By considering Nodongyahakdokbon(勞動夜學讀本), this paper reveals the double meaning of the concept of labor inherent in enlightenment logic and the meaning and the limits of the sense of identity of the intellectual from a political and cultural viewpoint. There are, at the same time, two different kinds of concepts about laborers in Nodongyahakdokbon(勞動夜學讀本). One is a laborer as a member of the Chosun nation and another is a laborer as a neglected class of people. This occurred as a result of the situation under which nation ideology had been combined with the concept of labor introduced and settled in the age of the time of enlightenment. This paper compares Nodongyahakdokbon with Namgung Ok’s Gyoyukwolbo(敎育月報) and Yagakdokuhon, by Horie Hideo and Godai Sigeru, which were published around the same time. This study also deals with the acceptance of the theory of social evolution and the thought of Confucius and Mencius which influenced the publication of the textbook of Yu Giljun. In addition, this work finds as the root cause of the insufficient response of the laborers towards Nodongyahakdokbon in its high price, unpractical and difficult contents, and coercion towards the figure of adaptive labor. In this aspect, Nodongyahakdokbon acts as important data in exposing the concept and value of labor and the importance of the education of laborers in the development of modern society. But it had an obvious limit in that it could not envisage the possibility of the independent educational participation of laborers or the making of the culture of the laborers.