Major Trends of Korean Historiography in the US = Major Trends of Korean Historiography in the US

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The need for intelligence on enemy countries during World War II spurred the establishment of area studies programs in the US. In the case of Asia, these programs produced an Orientalist scholarship that was grounded in modernization theory. This article examines the major streams of Orientalist and anti-Orientalist scholarship in Korean historiography in the US. Orientalist historiography has tended to critique internal development theory, amounting to a revival of stagnation theory that had been propounded by Japanese scholars support by the government during the occupation period. Anti-Orientalist scholarship has used a variety of critical theories to overcome the limitations of modernization theory and to situate the dynamism of modern Korean history within the context of developments in the capitalist world system.