Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea
This thesis examines the development of mental healthcare in colonial Korea as not merely an evolution of knowledge, but as central elements of biopolitics. The Korean idea of madness underwent a drastic change in the early 20th century. Madness, which was previously deemed as a closed-door family a...
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| Format: | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| Language: | English |
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Nanyang Technological University
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155972 |
| _version_ | 1811679621635112960 |
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| author | Lim, Yih Ching |
| author2 | Ivy Yeh |
| author_facet | Ivy Yeh Lim, Yih Ching |
| author_sort | Lim, Yih Ching |
| collection | NTU |
| description | This thesis examines the development of mental healthcare in colonial Korea as not merely an evolution of knowledge, but as central elements of biopolitics. The Korean idea of madness underwent a drastic change in the early 20th century. Madness, which was previously deemed as a closed-door family affair, became a societal threat that required institutional intervention. Such a shift in perception played out against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation, the influx of foreign scientific knowledge and the pursuit for modernity. However, the intention of introducing biomedical interpretations of madness was never to enhance the colony’s standard of patient care. It was a governing strategy driven by biopolitical goals and strategically staged as a humanitarian initiative.
This thesis argues that the institutionalisation of mental health in colonial Korea was a colonialist imposition intended to strengthen the Japanese rule through ingratiation and it was optimized as a justified means to police the colony effectively. In exploring this new method of policing and coercive control, a new notion of mental illness which connotes threat was cemented in the minds of the Koreans. This lends inconceivable power to the colonial authorities as regulating madness became a necessary evil that claims to safeguard social security and bring modernization to a backward country. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:12:04Z |
| format | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| id | ntu-10356/155972 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:12:04Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1559722023-03-11T20:08:57Z Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea Lim, Yih Ching Ivy Yeh School of Humanities hyyeh@ntu.edu.sg Humanities::History This thesis examines the development of mental healthcare in colonial Korea as not merely an evolution of knowledge, but as central elements of biopolitics. The Korean idea of madness underwent a drastic change in the early 20th century. Madness, which was previously deemed as a closed-door family affair, became a societal threat that required institutional intervention. Such a shift in perception played out against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation, the influx of foreign scientific knowledge and the pursuit for modernity. However, the intention of introducing biomedical interpretations of madness was never to enhance the colony’s standard of patient care. It was a governing strategy driven by biopolitical goals and strategically staged as a humanitarian initiative. This thesis argues that the institutionalisation of mental health in colonial Korea was a colonialist imposition intended to strengthen the Japanese rule through ingratiation and it was optimized as a justified means to police the colony effectively. In exploring this new method of policing and coercive control, a new notion of mental illness which connotes threat was cemented in the minds of the Koreans. This lends inconceivable power to the colonial authorities as regulating madness became a necessary evil that claims to safeguard social security and bring modernization to a backward country. Bachelor of Arts in History 2022-03-28T00:00:50Z 2022-03-28T00:00:50Z 2022 Final Year Project (FYP) Lim, Y. C. (2022). Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea. Final Year Project (FYP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155972 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155972 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::History Lim, Yih Ching Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea |
| title | Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea |
| title_full | Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea |
| title_fullStr | Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea |
| title_short | Purging madness : the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial Korea |
| title_sort | purging madness the politics of mental health in early 20th century colonial korea |
| topic | Humanities::History |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155972 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT limyihching purgingmadnessthepoliticsofmentalhealthinearly20thcenturycolonialkorea |