Although sovereignty (self-rule) as a modern, political imperative is often identified with the Westphalian Peace (1648) in Europe, the concept's iterations across the globe were inextricably linked to imperialism. Henry Em's The Great Enterprise elaborates on this paradoxical relationship between self-rule and global imperialism by tracing the ideal of sovereignty that was rigorously and often contentiously explored during the long hundred years of Korean history writing, heralded here as “the great enterprise.” Em's study takes a creative, interdisciplinary approach to these two related concerns of nationalism and historiography, drawing innovatively from the more established disciplines of history (historical materialism, positivism), political science (Park Chan-seung, anti-communism, world systems theory), and archaeology (colonial “discovery” of the Sŏkkuram Buddha, Manchurian history), as well as from the more recent disciplines of cultural history (hair cutting, the modern exhibitionary complex), translation studies (minjok as a neologism), and what Em calls “postnational/postcolonial” studies (subaltern, the...
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Book Review|
November 01 2016
The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea
The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea
. By Henry H. Em. Durham, N.C.
: Duke University Press
, 2013
. xi, 265 pp. ISBN: 9780822353577 (cloth, also available in paper).
Ellie Choi
Ellie Choi
Cornell University
Search for other works by this author on:
Journal of Asian Studies (2016) 75 (4): 1148–1149.
Citation
Ellie Choi; The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea. Journal of Asian Studies 1 November 2016; 75 (4): 1148–1149. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911816001467
Download citation file:
Advertisement
40
Views