Food for Empire: Wartime Food Politics on the Korean Homefront, 1937-1945
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Food for Empire: Wartime Food Politics on the Korean Homefront, 1937-1945 by Sunho Ko A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Sunho Ko 2018 ii Food for Empire: Wartime Food Politics on the Korean Homefront, 1937-1945 Sunho Ko Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto 2018 Abstract This research examines how the minute details of food production and consumption in colonial Korea became a target of wartime food politics under the rubric of improving productivity and efficiency for war efforts. In examining the politics, this research takes a more expansive approach to power and politics by locating the agency of power beyond the state and understanding its nature as more than simply totalitarian or suppressive. To this end, this study investigates the knowledge production of a group of experts—ranging from agronomists (Chapter 1 and 2) and nutritional scientists (Chapter 3 and 4), to cookbook authors (Chapter 4) and gardening manual writers (Chapter 5)—who, each in their own way, voiced opinions on the political, cultural, and social issues of the time beyond the sheer material concerns of enhancing productivity in food production and consumption. This research pays especially close attention to three recurring and entangled topics: first, the changing position of the colony and its population in the expanding empire; second, the geographical relationship between city and countryside in the urbanizing peninsula; and finally, ideal gender roles in the bourgeois domestic space. By attending to these themes through the lens of race, region, gender, and class, this study traces how a range of varied social aspirations betray tensions, dilemmas, and contractions of the time iii rather than converging in the fascist ideology for continuous improvement in total harmony, free from social conflicts. iv Acknowledgements My long journey in the PhD program required the help of many people. First of all, I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Andre Schmid for his support since my years in the Master program. I admire his knowledge in Korean history, and I really appreciate his careful guidance at every step of my PhD dissertation project. It was a great stroke of luck that Professor Janet Poole came to Toronto when I began my PhD program. She has opened my eyes to critical themes like material culture, urban/rural divisions, and bourgeois domesticity. Working with a specialist in Korean literature has helped me rediscover the joy of engaging with literary works as well as historical sources. Compared to the two aforementioned committee members, Professor Takashi Fujitani joined my dissertation project at a relatively later phase—after the completion of my coursework and comprehensive exams. Yet, his impact on my project has been equally significant. His scholarly emphasis on biopolitics and governmentality has led me to think deeply about the issues in the context of wartime colonial Korea. I would also like to thank my two reviewers. I was greatly impressed by the detailed, comprehensive, and constructive written comments of Professor Louise Young, a specialist in modern Japanese history and imperialism from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It was also a great pleasure to receive commentary from Professor Daniel Bender, a food history specialist whose research focus is situated outside of my own region of Korea. Apart from my committee members in Toronto, I thank professors and colleagues in Berlin for their help during my three-year stay in the city between 2012 and 2014 as a research associate in the AKS (Academy of Korean Studies) project, “Korea in the Global History, 1840-2000.” I appreciate Professor Sebastian Conrad at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institute at Free University of Berlin for providing me with the wonderful opportunity to work with other professors and graduate students, including the three project colleagues, Nadin Heé, Hakjae Kim, and Jaekyom Shim. I should not forget mentioning the support I received from the academic community in Toronto. As a great mentor, Sungjo Kim helped me overcome many academic and non-academic problems throughout the course of my PhD life in Toronto. As a great hubae and colleague, v Derek Kramer shared lots of memories and experiences with me and Sungjo. Derek and two colleagues, Na Sil Heo and Minna Lee, read almost all of the chapters and gave comments and editing advice at the different stages of the writing process. And Minna provided excellent copyediting work for the whole dissertation. I thank all the graduate students and postdoctoral students in Korean Studies, who contributed to my life in Toronto in their own ways in classrooms, the Purple Lounge, gyms, restaurants, coffee shops, and pubs: Matt Bears, Adam Bohnet, Sanghun Cho, Shin Hyung Choi, Sean Denny, Isabel Dzitac, Olga Fedorenko, Merose Hwang, In Chull Jang, Seongpil Jeong, Yehji Jeong, Sinhyeok Jung, Young Oh Jung, Inhye Kang, Charles Kim, Yonsue Kim, Grayson Lee, Sungsoo Lee, Tina Lee, Kris Meen, Sandy Oh, Jooyeon Rhee, Sang Ik Song, Sunyoung Yang, and Youngshil Yoon. I also thank graduate students in Japanese and Chinese studies: Josh Baxter, Chen Xi, Christina Han, Banu Kaygusuz, Doil Kim, Jennifer Lau, Yanfei Li, Mark McConaghy, Edwin Michielson, James Poborsa, Michael Tseng, and Wang Jing. Norma Escobar and Natasja Vanderberg deserve my expression of gratitude for their unwavering support from the administrative end. I appreciate two wonderful librarians, Hana Kim and Jihae Chun for their professional assistance, and also Professor Mihyon Jeon and Ahrong Lee at York University for giving me the opportunity to teach undergraduate courses over the past three years. It was truly fortunate for me to present draft chapters of this project in various settings over the past few years. I express my thanks to Professor Myung-lim Park, Dr. Robert Kramm, and Dr. Tobias Scholl, who participated in workshops in Berlin. I thank Dr. Lai Sze Tso for her helpful comments on my presentation in the 39th Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association in November 2014. Professor Christopher L. Hill gave generous comments on my paper in the Third International Conference of NextGen Korean Studies Scholars, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in May 2015. I also thank Alexandre Paquet who organized an East Asian Studies Graduate Student Union Workshop series for me in November 2016. Most recently, I appreciate Professor Jesook Song and Professor Yoonkyung Lee for their comments on my paper in the Korean Studies Brown Bag Series in December 2017. I must thank Yeonkyeong for sharing every minute of joy and adversity of my PhD journey. Without her, my life would not have been as productive or as meaningful. Last but not least, I offer my warm words of gratitude to my parents, Hyungwook Ko and Boonsoon Shin, and to my brother, Inho Ko, for their endless patience and support. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Total War and Food Politics for Productivity .............................................................................1 Food Politics Beyond Totalitarian and Suppressive Power of the State .....................................8 Improving the Colonial Population through State Intervention ................................................12 Developing the Country and Ruralizing the City ......................................................................20 Articulating Middle-Class Ideals about Gender, Domesticity, and Beyond .............................23 A Note on Chapter Organization...............................................................................................26 Chapter 1 Ensuring Productivity and Welfare: Rural Restructuring on the Korean Homefront ...28 Overcoming Feudalism in the Countryside...............................................................................31 Naisen Ittai for the Happiness of Koreans ................................................................................38 Restructuring of the Countryside for Productivity and Equality ..............................................46 Experts in State-Planned Economy ...........................................................................................54 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................61 Chapter 2 Rescuing the Poor: Slash-and-burn Farmers on the Korean Homefront .......................63 The Slash-and-burn Farmer Problem and Government Solutions ............................................65 Rescue through State-led Development: In Chǒngsik’s Statistical, Structural Representation....................................................................................................................71 Sympathy for the “Primitive”: Yi Pungmyǒng’s Nostalgic Representation