대학에서 교양 역사 강좌로서 ‘문화사’ 교재의 현황과 역사인식(1945~1960)

The Current Status of History of Civilization Textbooks Utilized at History Classes at Universities and Historical Perception

The focus of lecture covered during history of civilization classes is the European civilization which is regarded as the essence of western culture, and the western civilization including the United States that creatively succeeded the Europe. In many of the textbooks utilized for these classes, western civilization is described as the equivalent of the universal value, not to mention being the object of admiration and emulation. On the contrary, Asia is depicted as a stagnated society held back by autocratic dictators and as a passive society that could only be propelled to modernization and development by outside forces such as the western civilization. History education centering on the west provided grounds for justification that civilization is westernization and modernization equals westernization and left lasting perception on the minds of elite intellectuals. Such history perception took root more firmly as nations strived to build own territory in the course of divisions, conflict between the left and the right and ideological wars. It is such unfiltered admiration as well as instigation of inferiority toward the west taught via history education that set the natural course of stage for the U.S. s hegemony over the Korean Peninsula. The history textbooks drove people to behave positively to western civilization as the embodiment of capitalism and democracy i.e. two wheels of designed modernization which must been protected and attained. Such public sentiment served as the force that brought down the Rhee Sigman government in the 60s. Later during the Park Junghee rule, such emotional background enabled the government to persuade the public to tolerate economic development plans. These are what the role and significance of history of civilization hold for Korea as part of the history education.