뉴스레터

This year marks the 5th anniversary of the 'Early Korea Project' ('EKP') launched in 2007 by the NAHF with the mission of promoting Korean history (Goguryeo history) to western academia. Dr. Mark Byington at Harvard is deeply involved in EKP programs which have produced many results since the beginning in 2007. In the following interview, he discussed in detail the motivation for the creation of the EKP and its results so far. The interview was conducted via email and it is presented in a Q&A format for the convenience of the readers.
_ Note by the Editors

It's been five years since the beginning of EKP which is conducted by the Korea Institute, Harvard University. What was the background and objective of planning EKP as an American scholar?

The EKP was designed to fill a serious void in western academia; namely, the near absence of treatments in English on the earlier periods of Korean history. The publications that did exist up to 2006 were mostly out of date, based on old or biased scholarship (often based on scholarship conducted by Japanese prior to 1945), or were translations of Korean scholarship but either poorly translated or lacking the necessary context to permit western readers to follow the arguments presented. In 2006, the state of English-language studies of early Korean history and archaeology was in very poor shape. With only a very few exceptions, existing publications were inadequate and often misleading. The Goguryeo history dispute that began in 2003 highlighted the need for better understanding of early Korean history in English. In 2005 I organized and directed an international conference on Goguryeo history and archaeology held at Harvard, which featured presentations by scholars from six countries. The success of this event suggested that the time was ripe for an effort to develop English-language studies of early Korean history and archaeology. In 2006 I designed a program through which carefully designed workshops would bring together scholars in Korea, North America and elsewhere, to focus on selected themes in early Korean history and archaeology. These workshops would then produce books in English, which would gradually build a solid foundation for Early Korean Studies in English. In summary, the motivation for the creation of the EKP was to compensate for the lack of development of Early Korean Studies in the west, in order to bring them at least up to par with studies of early China and Japan in the English-speaking world.

Your expertise lies in Buyeo history. What made you choose Buyoe history, and could you tell us about the current status and research activities of the researchers specializing in Early Korean history in the US?

Since the late 1980s my primary interest has been in Goguryeo history and archaeology, and I spent several years researching this topic while in a graduate program at Harvard. My Masters thesis focused on Goguryeo, and I had intended for my PhD dissertation also to feature Goguryeo. However, when I conducted my field research in northeastern China in the mid-1990s, Goguryeo sites became difficult to access due to the growing dispute between Chinese and Koreans over the proper historical affiliation of Goguryeo. Since access to sites was essential to the successful completion of my research, I decided to shift my focus to Buyeo, which was archaeologically well-represented, and access to sites was not a problem. This turned out to be a fortunate choice, since Buyeo has been so little explored. My revised dissertation has been accepted for publication at the Asia Center at Harvard, so I hope that its publication will help to prompt western scholars to explore the earlier periods of Korean history, including those portions of its history that lay outside of the peninsula proper. With regard to the present status of Early Korean Studies in the US, it is a new and growing field, and one of great promise. There are at present only four scholars holding PhDs whose active research focuses on Early Korea (these include specialists focused on Paekche, Silla, Goguryeo, and on prehistoric archaeology), but there are several graduate students focused on Early Korean Studies (mostly archaeology) at various universities in North America. And there are many undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in studies of Early Korea at various levels.

We would like to hear about the themes and contents of the workshops held so far. And can you briefly tell us about the meaning and significance of each workshop?

The EKP is guided by a Steering Committee composed of the four scholars in North America whose research actively focuses on Early Korea. We meet at least four time each year to discuss the most effective ways to introduce the various components of Early Korean Studies in English. We select workshop topics that are expected to have an immediate impact on the state of studies in the west, either because the topics represent subjects that have been badly misrepresented in English or because they would be well received and utilized by western scholars based on academic themes of interest prevalent in western academia. Our first workshop series, in 2008, was on Korean history during the time of the Han commanderies. This topic was selected both because it is a field that has been badly distorted in English and because Korean scholarship is now fully prepared to address this sensitive topic in ways in which western scholars will understand and appreciate. The papers from this workshop are expected to be published this year, and that publication will be of great value in correcting what has been a very badly misunderstood and misguided subject in English. The second workshop series focused on statecraft in middle and late period Silla, which was selected because it presents a thorough treatment of statecraft in early Korea, which had previously been lacking, despite the existence of similar treatments on early China and Japan. The publication of the papers from that workshop has already begun to have an impact in North America, as demonstrated by the high sales volume for that book and the fact that it is used in university classrooms in North America. In 2010 the EKP had two workshops, one focused on Early Korea-Japan Interchanges, and the other on Goguryeo relations with Sui and Tang China. These workshops both addressed critical subjects that treat early Korean relations with neighboring polities, and the publication of the papers resulting from these workshops will present in a comprehensive manner the latest scholarship on these topics, both of which have been lacking in English. In 2011 the EKP had a workshop on Silk Road glass in early Korea, which addressed the exchange of commodities in early Korea, revealing Korea's role as an active participant in a dynamic interregional exchange network that encompassed not only East Asia but most of the eastern hemisphere. This workshop also highlighted the effective use in Korea of advanced scientific methodologies in exploring ancient trade networks, which makes for a very good bridge between Korean and western scholars. In addition to the above-described workshops, the EKP organized a series of three workshops designed to present an update of the state of Korean archaeology, which is expected to provide a very valuable contribution to the foundation for continued studies of Early Korea in English.

How does the American academia evaluates the contents, and the process of selecting authors and themes of the occasional series published through the Project?

The EKP Occasional Series is the primary medium through which we make available the results of our workshops. The EKP Steering Committee discusses the selection of topics after consideration of various criteria, including the immediate usefulness of the results in western academia, the availability of scholars in Korea and elsewhere to address the topic, and the availability of western scholars who can participate in the workshop. We do not publish the books based on historical chronology, nor do we choose topics based on their popularity in Korea. Themes are selected based on how well they can be integrated into the overall foundation the EKP is building for the development of Early Korean Studies as a whole. Once a topic has been selected, the Steering Committee research published scholarship in Korean and works to identify potential participants in the workshop. We also solicit advice from our contacts in Korea. After careful consideration, including how well participants can be expected to work with each other, we invite individual scholars to participate in the workshop.

It's about the lecture on Early Korean history which was the first-ever lecture on Early Korean history at Harvard. What was the lecture about, and how did the students react to it? And please tell us about the current status of lectures on Early Korean history in the US.

I taught two courses on Early Korean Studies at Harvard, one being an introductory class and the second a reading course in which students read primary sources relevant to Early Korean History. Enrollment was very good for new courses, averaging about five students per class. Students came from a wide variety of backgrounds and had various reasons for taking the courses. Both courses provided an overview of Early Korean History and also challenged the students to look at matters of academic debate. The students were all very actively involved in classroom discussion, and the courses all received the highest rating upon their completion. Presently there are two students (one undergraduate and one graduate) who are writing theses on Early Korean History as a result of these course offerings. This is significant as it confirms the level of interest among students in Early Korean Studies, whether their interest constitutes a focus on that subject or indicates the usefulness of Early Korean Studies as a component in a broader field of study. To my knowledge these are the only courses on Early Korean History ever taught in North America.

There are lots of errors and distortions remaining unresolved in the existing publications and researches on Early Korean history that were already introduced to the West. We believe that Korean scholars have to exert more efforts to raise awareness on Korean history. If we provide the Western scholars of East Asian studies with logical grounds, and historical and archaeological materials on the histories of Gojoseon, Koguryo, and Barhae, their perception of Korea that it is to nationalistic could be changed. I guess there is a long way to go to make that change. What is your opinion on this?

My view on the problem of scholars being labeled as "nationalistic" is that this has more to do with their reluctance to consider alternate perspectives. In the case of Goguryeo and Old Chosŏn this has not been a problem, since western scholars, to my knowledge, have not specifically challenged the Korean views regarding those states, though few western scholars are aware of those views. Parhae is a slightly different matter, since even Korean historiography has not been consistent with it, and some western scholars are suspicious of the motives of Korean scholars when too much attention is paid to the ethnic identity of Tae Choyŏng or to the distinction between Goguryeo leaders and Malgal masses, which are very complicated matters that can at best be guess at based on existing data. While I understand why such matters are of concern to Korean scholars, western scholars would not see why the ethnicity question would be of such interest and would interpret that as reflecting a nationalistic perspective. The best resolution to this problem would be cooperative research and publications to include scholars from Korea, North America, and elsewhere, including China and Russia. In fact, this is a priority topic for an EKP workshop, though the EKP has to establish a strong presence in western academic before this can be accomplished.

What was the background of the establishment of the Research Center for Early Korean History at the Korea Institute? Is there any other research center for Early Korean history in the West?

This was mostly addressed in quest 1 above. To my knowledge there is no other center in the West that even includes Early Korean Studies as a component, and certainly no other that focuses on Early Korea. This does not reflect a lack of interest – it reflects a lack of a solid foundation of reliable publications on the topic in English. The EKP is unique in that it was designed to establish a new field in the West and to provide for the development of that field. Without the EKP or something like it, I am quite certain that Early Korean Studies cannot be developed in North America.

EKP has carried out great number of activities. What is your plan for the use, publicity, and distribution of the outcomes of the Project?

The results of EKP programs are published in one of two series: the Early Korea series provides more introductory level treatments of key issues in Early Korean Studies, and some of the lectures given at Harvard as part of EKP programs are published there; the EKP Occasional Series is the primary medium for publishing the results of our workshops. EKP also researches the academic trends in North America in order to determine which institutions and individuals will have the greatest interest in our publications, and we take measures to ensure that they receive them. Our publications, though published at the Korea Institute, Harvard University, are distributed by the University of Hawaii Press, which has a very extensive distribution network for East Asian Studies. Our goal is to ensure that our publications are made available to every one who has an interest in and use for subjects in Early Korean Studies.

What is your resolution as a scholar who is working to improve understanding on the histories of Koguryo and Early Korea in the West?

With regard to Goguryeo, I continue to conduct my own research on that topic and to publish when there is time to do so. I am responsible for editing a large multi-author volume on Goguryeo History and Archaeology that resulted from the 2005 Goguryeo conference at Harvard, and I hope to have that completed this year. The most basic task I face in presenting Goguryeo (and early Korean) history to the West is making the foundational material available first. It is one thing to publish on Goguryeo in English, but for this to be successful it is necessary that a full treatment of Early Korean History be made available in English, so that the place of Goguryeo within that framework can be understood. I have devoted more than two decades to the study of Goguryeo and related matters, and it is my hope that Early Korean Studies will ultimately find a place among East Asian Studies programs in western academia. This is not an easy task, however, and the success of the EKP is essential to the achievement of this goal.

Is there any possibility for a center, like the Reischauer Center, Fairbank Center and Harvard-Yanching Institute that can serve as a driving force of Korean studies to be established at Harvard? If there is a possibility, what kind of efforts can be made by the Foundation and the Korean government to make that happen?

The Korea Institute is the sole center for Korean Studies at Harvard, and any development of Korean Studies at Harvard must be conducted through that organization. The Korea Institute is, however, modestly funded and staffed compared with the other centers. The Foundation and the Korean government can help to develop Korean Studies at Harvard by supporting the Korea Institute and its programs.

As a book review on occasional series of EKP gets published in an international journal, the Project began to be recognized by the international academia. We hope that you will continue your efforts to correct the errors and distortions about Early Korean history in the future. Lastly, do you have any comments to the Foundation as director of the Project?

I am always deeply grateful to the Foundation for its generous support of the EKP and its mission. Due to the unique nature of the EKP as an organization designed to introduce and develop an entire field that has previously be underrepresented in English, it must be difficult at times to understand why the EKP operates in the way that it does. Our goal has always been to introduce and develop studies of early Korean history and archaeology in such a way as to feature the best of Korean scholarship and to tailor the foundation we are building for optimal utilization by western scholars. We hope to continue to forge working relations with Korean scholars so that their views and understandings of Korean history can be clearly presented to western readers. Increased interchange and dialogue among Korean and western scholars will go a long way toward fostering understanding relevant to historical perspectives. The present year represents a crossroads as the grants that have supported the EKP for the past few years draw to a close. Among my primary concerns for the coming year is the matter of securing support for the continuation of the EKP and its mission. I hope that the Foundation will continue its support into the next phase of EKP activities, and that we may continue to work together to attain our shared goals.