Corea or Cho-sen: The Land of the Morning Calm

Key themes

Cultural Observation and Ethnocentrism

The book is fundamentally an act of cultural observation, with Landor meticulously detailing Corean customs, social structures, and daily life. However, this observation is filtered through a late 19th-century European lens, often leading to implicit or explicit comparisons with Western norms and occasional ethnocentric judgments of Corean practices as 'peculiar' or 'backward'. This theme explores the challenges and biases inherent in cross-cultural interpretation.

Tradition vs. Modernity

Corea in 1890 was a nation poised on the brink of significant change, caught between deeply entrenched ancient traditions and the encroaching influences of modernization, often spurred by Western and Japanese powers. Landor observes a society where traditional ways of life, governance, and economy still dominate, but where the first whispers and visible signs of modernization are beginning to appear, creating a palpable tension.

The Imperial Gaze and Political Context

While not explicitly a political treatise, Landor's travelogue is deeply embedded in the geopolitical context of the late 19th century, an era of intense European and Japanese imperial expansion. His observations often touch upon Corea's vulnerability, its relations with neighboring powers (China, Japan, Russia), and the perceived 'backwardness' that often served as a justification for foreign intervention. The book implicitly reflects the power dynamics of the time.

Worth discussing

How does Landor's 'colonial gaze' influence his observations of Corean culture, and how might a modern ethnographer approach the same subject differently?