Contentious Kwangju

The May 18th Uprising in Korea's Past and Present

Edited by Gi-Wook Shin, Kyung Moon Hwang

Not available to order

Publication date:

01 August 2003

Length of book:

200 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780585466705

One of the largest political protests in contemporary Korean history, the May 1980 Kwangju Uprising still exerts a profound, often contested, influence in Korean society. Through a deft combination of personal reflections and academic analysis, Contentious Kwangju offers a comprehensive examination of the multiple, shifting meanings of this seminal event and explains how the memory of Kwangju has affected Korean life from politics to culture. The first half of the book offers highly personal perspectives on the details of the uprising itself, including the Citizens' Army, the fleeting days of Kwangju citizen autonomy, the activities of American missionaries, and the aftermath following the uprising's suppression by government forces. The second half provides a wide-ranging scholarly assessment of the impact of Kwangju in South Korea, from democratization and the fate of survivors to regional identity and popular culture, concluding with an examination of Kwangju's significance in the larger flow of modern Korean history. In keeping with the book's title, the essays offer competing interpretations of the Kwangju Uprising, yet together provide the most thorough English-language treatment to date of the multifaceted, sweeping significance of this pivotal event.

Contributions by: Jong-chul Ahn, Don Baker, Ju-na Byun, Jung-kwan Cho, Jung-woon Choi, Kyung Moon Hwang, Keun-sik Jung, Linda S. Lewis, Gi-Wook Shin, Jean W. Underwood, and Sallie Yea

Introduction
Gi-Wook Shin
Part I: Origins and Development
Chapter 1: The Formation of an "Absolute Community"
Jung-woon Choi
Chapter 2: Simin'gun: The Citizens' Army during the Kwangju Uprising
Jong-chul Ahn
Chapter 3: An American Missionary's View
Jean W. Underwood
Chapter 4: Has Kwangju Been Realized?
Keun-sik Jung
Part II: Legacy and Representation
Chapter 5: From Heroic Victims to Disabled Survivors: The 5-18 Injured after Twenty Years
Linda S. Lewis and Ju-na Byun
Chapter 6: The Kwangju Uprising as a Vehicle of Democratization: A Comparative Perspective
Jung-kwan Cho
Chapter 7: Victims and Heroes: Competing Visions of May 18
Don Baker
Chapter 8: Reinventing the Region: The Cultural Politics of Place in Kwangju City and South Cholla Province
Sallie Yea
Afterword: Kwangju: The Historical Watershed
Kyung Moon Hwang

Gi-Wook Shin presents a masterful overview of the events of May 1980, impressive for both its breadth and brevity. . . . Contentious Kwangju is a must-read for scholars of contemporary Korean history and those interested in issues of civil society, democratization, and contested visions of the past more generally.