Pre-modern Korean Studies in France: history, objectives, and projects
Résumé
What might be called “pre-modern” Korean studies today are about a century old in France. They started almost by accident at the end of the 19th century when missionaries, diplomats, and orientalists were dispatched to Chosŏn Korea at the time of the European expansionist policy in East Asia. Some initiatives taken by a handful of individuals to raise awareness of Korea in France (especially Maurice Courant) have produced unexpected scholarly achievements that have been only recently acknowledged. After World War II, Korean studies in France have been progressively institutionalized in universities and higher education institutions (Paris Diderot, INALCO, EHESS, EFEO, Collège de France) with the help of specialists of close areas. The first generation of French pre-modernists have played a crucial role in building up the field of Korean studies in France (Li Ogg, Daniel Bouchez, Marc Orange). Today, pre-modern Korean studies is a strong subfield within the field of Korean studies in France. French pre-modernists (Elisabeth Chabanol, Kim Daeyeol, Yannick Bruneton, Isabelle Sancho, Pierre-Emmanuel Roux), who are holding key positions in academic institutions, networks, and structures, are very active in France and abroad. They maintain the community of Korean studies in France and develop their visibility abroad in cooperation with specialists of modern and contemporary Koreas. However, despite their importance in academic structures and activities, French pre-modernists have to face several challenges, in a difficult context combining the massification of undergraduate students population following the newly acquired attractiveness of Korean culture in France on the one hand, and large-scale reforms of French higher education and research sector on the other hand. Their most urgent task is to produce teaching and research materials for students, colleagues, and general audience. By training the next generation and developing both the knowledge and interest for pre-modern Korea, they must try to establish in the future long-lasting foundations for their specialty that has still to be built properly, while contributing to the further development of Korean studies in general.
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