뉴스레터

In December 2013, the Early Korea Project by the NAHF published two new volumes, New Perspectives on Early Korean Art: From Silla to Koryŏ and The Han Commanderies in Early Korean History. All told, six volumes have been published under the Early Korea Project which the NAHF launched in collaboration with the Korea Institute at Harvard University in 2007 with the aim of spreading correct perceptions of Korean history across the Western academia. The four volumes published earlier are: Early Korea 1 (Reconsidering Early Korean History Through Archaeology); Early Korea 2 (The Samhan Perion in Korean History); Early Korea 3 (The Rediscovery of Kaya in History and Archaeology); and State and Society in Middle and Late Silla. The Early Korea Project publications include the Early Korea periodicals dedicated to systematically introducing to the Western academia the results of research in early Korean history conducted in the Korean academia, and the Occasional Series which publishes select reports from over nine workshops on early Korean history and archaeology held during the project period. The recently published two volumes are in the Occasional Series.

New Perspectives on Early Korean Art: From Silla to Koryŏ includes discussion of a variety of artworks, ranging from gold adornments found in Silla tombs to Koryo Buddhist paintings scattered in modern museum and private collections. New Perspectives features about 160 illustrations, and consists of introduction and five chapters. Based on thorough investigations of these artworks, their social context, and related texts, this book elucidates the cross-cultural interactions between the peoples and regions of Korea, China and South and Southeast Asia during the Silla to Koryŏ periods.

New Perspectives, a collection of the results of latest studies on Korean culture and civilization during the ancient and middle periods, is expected to be extremely helpful to the Korean Studies and East Asian Studies communities overseas in their research and education.
The Han Commanderies in Early Korean History, divided into ten chapters and featuring about 50 illustrations, treats that period of the history of the Korean peninsula characterized by the presence of commanderies first established by the Chinese Han empire in 108 B.C.
The Han Commanderies addresses such topics as the societies that preceded the commanderies, the history and material culture of the commanderies, particularly of Lelang, the political and cultural influence the commanderies exerted upon surrounding regions, and the structural character of the commanderies in Korean viewed in broad perspective. A collection of the Korean academia's recent research in the Han Commanderies, this book is thought to be a revolutionary reference to the communities overseas that study Korean history and East Asian history but have been little exposed to early Korean history. As authorities and majors of the relevant fields, the authors add to the book's overall depth and high standards. Featuring various charts, photographs, and maps, this book could be also used as a textbook. This book overcomes the problem with the 'Hypothesis of the Han Commanderies on the Korean Peninsula' in the Western academia still under the influence of Japan's colonial view of history that the Han Commanderies were confined to the Korean Peninsula, and helps escape China-centered or Japan-centered views.

The overall Western academia showed keen interest in China which ended up as the arena of competition among the Western imperial powers from the mid-19th century. Japan, which also pursued imperialism along with the European powers in the early 20th century, formed another axis in the study of East Asian history. Korean history, on the other hand, was considered to have been under the influence of Chinese history and civilization until the 19th century, and benefited from the modern European civilization through Japan in the process of modernization from the 20th century onward. In this regard, the NAHF's publication of introductory books in English about early Korean history will lead to the new discoveries of diversity and interactivity in early East Asian history, which, I hope, will prompt the Western academia to start describing East Asian history with lateral thinking beyond China-centered or Japan-centered views. In addition, the publication of introductory books in English is also expected to contribute to preventing the distortion of history as in the Northeast Project, and establishing an East Asia model of mutual exchange and cooperation.