Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Mélina Gazsi, journalist

From the start of the 2007 academic year, French and German high-school students will learn about modern and contemporary history using the same textbook– an entirely new project that cements a little more the reconciliation between France and Germany within Europe.

Franco-German reconciliation has accustomed us to strong emotions and symbolic gestures. Although less spectacular, the latest action is more than a symbol. The production of a Franco-German history textbook published by Editions Nathan in Paris, and Ernst Klett in Stuttgart, marks another step in the work of deepening relations between the two countries and especially in the specific construction of an everyday Europe and a sense of sharing a common destiny.

In fact, this is a first in the teaching of history, which, on both sides of the Rhine, used to be aimed at awakening patriotic feeling. Because "we have lived through centuries in which the interpretation and writing of history nourished a ferment of bitterness between us, we are now seizing the opportunity to make it the bond that unites us", said the then French Minister of National Education, François Fillon, at a meeting in Berlin in March 2005 with Peter Müller, minister-president of Saarland, responsible for cultural relations with France, and Johanna Wanka, president of the permanent Conference of Ministers of Education of the 16 Länder (German regions).

Shared perspectives

It was on the 40 th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty, founding document of Franco-German reconciliation, on 23 January 2003 in Berlin, that this joint history textbook project was presented by the Youth Parliament*.

The first volume, written "jointly", will be published this March 2006 and will be used by all final-year classes. It will cover contemporary history from 1945 to the present day. Two other books are planned for the 2008-2009 school year, intended for upper and lower sixth-form classes, which will cover the period from Antiquity to Romanticism and from the 19 th century to 1945 respectively. All three volumes will be published in two versions, French and German, with strictly identical content and presentation.

Over and above the symbolic concept, it is a matter of "constructing a scientific teaching aid, a textbook that can be used in the classroom and which fits into both the French high-school curriculum and the curricula of the 16 German Länder", says Jean-Louis Nembrini, advisor to the new French Minister of National Education. "So there is no question of an official history", continues Nembrini, who, from the French side, leads the steering committee of historians and teachers responsible for drawing up the specifications of the first volume and for validating its contents.

Teaching pupils about differences in interpretation

The school textbook will not give an account only of the history of France and Germany, nor only of relations between the two countries. " One chapter in five will be devoted to them individually", say spokesmen for Nathan and Klett, the French and German publishers. " The intention is not to erase differences, quite the reverse, but to educate students in different perspectives and interpretations, to present them as an enrichment", explains Delphine Dourlet, in charge of the textbook at Nathan. For " there are obviously differences in the points of view of French and German historians, but, on the fundamentals, there is no real debate", comments Guillaume Le Quintrec, who cites, for example, the occupation of the Ruhr immediately after the First World War, generally described " in a more violent way by the Germans than by French historians". For this history graduate, a qualified university teacher, who leads the team of authors, as much as for his German counterpart, Peter Geiss, the differences have more to do with the topics themselves and the importance given them on either side of the Rhine. So religious questions matter in German history, while they do not appear in the forefront of French secular education. Similarly, decolonisation and the Algerian war are almost unknown to German students and the division of Germany and its re-unification studied little by French high-school students.

In terms of format, the two teams have chosen a textbook comprising only 30% text, abundantly illustrated and supported by numerous documents and exercises that teachers will work through in order to extract what can be learned from them. "It i s the French concept that has been used. Textbooks in Germany are drier", observes Jean-Louis Nembrini, " but this dryness also allows students greater autonomy, while our French textbooks tend to be more modern but more directive."

This Franco-German venture may give ideas to other countries who may also like to embark on the road to reconciliation.[Label France Magazine, Embassy of France, Kathmandu]

Pakistan: Higher growth rates recorded in many sectors of economy

The World Bank's increased assistance is a measure of its trust in the economic policies being implemented by the Government and the positive impact they have left on the state of the economy in Pakistan. This confidence in Pakistan's economic health and the right direction of economic policies is not without reason. Facts speak for themselves. The GDP has registered a growth of over seven, in fact touching 8. This is owed to a 7.5 per cent growth in agriculture, 15.4 per cent in large-scale manufacturing and 7.9 per cent in the services sector. This is for the fifth time in Pakistan's 57-year history that a growth rate had exceeded eight per cent. In 1953-54, GDP growth was recorded at 10.2 per cent, while it was 9.4 per cent in 1964-65, 9.8 per cent in 1969-70 and 8.4 per cent in 1984-85.

The World Bank has announced to increase its grant to Pakistan. It will give $ 1.5 billion per year to Pakistan over the next years. The World Bank has agreed to provide $ 2 billion for infrastructure development in Pakistan. The WB assistance will cover areas such as roads, ports, railways etc. The announcement to this effect came from a WB team following its meeting with the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. It was agreed during the meeting that a coordination cell would be set up by Pakistan's Planning Commission, to coordinate with the WB. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz pointed out that an efficient infrastructure could save 1 to 4 per cent of GDP. Given Pakistan's developing needs, and with mega projects like Gwadar in place, the need for more and more investment in infrastructure in Pakistan cannot be overemphasized.

Higher growth rates in almost every sector of the economy have resulted in more jobs and additional liquidity in the market, improving the purchasing power of the people and creating a vast mass of middle class. Inflation, however, is high. The government is taking measures to bring it down. It is expected that inflation will be brought down to single digit, as also declared by the Prime Minister. The main cause of inflation is the rise in the prices of oil in the world market, and Pakistan being one of the main importers of oil has to spend more foreign exchange to run its industry and transport. Since this is an international factor over which Pakistan has no control, at best what the government can do is bear the main brunt of the oil spiral. Oil prices now touch $ 66 per barrel, which can sink any developing economy.

Using this economic improvement to address people's problems, more funds have been diverted towards education, infrastructure and energy, which is essential given their potential and utility in spurring national growth in both economic and human terms. Measures are being taken to increase the capacity of ports and improve the road network in the country. The present pace of the development is the result of the consistency in Shaukat Aziz's policies and reforms. With the advent of the WTO, which entails tough competition in the world market, Pakistan's economic about-turn could not have come at a better time, and the World Bank and other financial institutions' trust can be the most important factor in enhancing Pakistan's economic credibility.

As things stand, Pakistan's economy is all set to enter the phase of sustained growth. Budget deficit has been curtailed. The foreign exchange reserves that stood at a dangerously low level some years ago have gained strength. Pakistan's economy can sustain a rate of 7 to 8 per cent over the next three to four years with the private sector playing a leading role in it. With Pakistan's entry into ARF and its policy of expanding towards Central Asian Republics, SAARC, China, Japan and Latin America, Pakistani exporters are set to gain a foothold in new markets. This change in Pakistan's economic fate has been gradual. The growth rate of six is remarkable given that in 2001-2 it was 3.6 per cent and in 2000-1 it was 2.5 per cent. Since then owing to the policies ushered in by Mr. Shaukat Aziz as Finance Minister and now as the Prime Minister, an overall improvement has been registered by the economy.

The soundness of Government policies can be gauged from Pakistan's economic performance even when some years ago, it confronted tensions on the border with India, lingering drought, world market recession, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – the latter having a negative effect on Pakistan in terms of rise in oil prices. Future economic projections are promising still: increased availability of water, as promised by water schemes, is expected to boost agriculture as well as increase hydropower generation. The textile industry, as also other sectors, is better placed for increased production after heavy investment in this sector in the past two years. Pakistanis' remittances, which have played the most vital role in enhancing the foreign exchange reserves, are likely to maintain their momentum. The construction sector and consumer-related schemes are showing results, thanks to the consumer credit schemes by banks and other financial institutions. Higher growth in manufacturing, together with a reduction in import tariffs, is likely to ensure growth in imports. That Pakistan is in for good times in the coming years would not be a wrong statement. After the attainment of the macro level, the trickledown will start at the micro level.

Text courtesy: Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal-ed.

The Korean Diasporic Literature :
"An Example of an Effort To Understand Humanity In Its Extending and Changing Context of Human Existence"

(The following are excerpts from a paper, "Korean Diasporic Literature," lectured by Prof. Hong Ki-sam, President of Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea, at the Yenching Institute at Harvard University on Dec. 8, 2005. - Ed.

Korean literature has a long history. For the oldest Korean literature, we can trace back to 2,000 years ago in accordance with confirmation with written records. Of course, Chinese characters were borrowed to express Korean sentiments at that time, and the aboriginal Korean alphabets were not created.

Since the 15th Century, when the Korean alphabet was first created, Korean literature written in Korean language appeared in various modes and genres, although the tradition of using Chinese characters remained persistently until the 19th Century.

The authentic Korean literature written in Korean language did not flourish in full bloom until the 20th Century. Koreans have inherited the literary legacy from the past on the one hand and have established Korean literature as the major medium of self-expression under the influence of western and Japanese literatures on the other hand.

In fact, the formal spectrum of Korean literatures spans from the struggle for obtaining the political right to self-­determination to the experience, memory, and thoughts which will provide significant contributions to the collective communal lives of Koreans in the 20th Century.

I am afraid I have to express my pity that Korean diasporic literature has not arrested critical attention from the Korean literary critics despite its global presence in the six different continents. Whenever there is a chance, I have been proposing to understand Korean diasporic literature in relation to modern Korean literature at large. Today, I wish my proposal on Korean diasporic literature makes sense and proves verified in practice.

The history of Korean diaspora stems from the historical fact that Korean peasants in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula crossed the border and entered into the Northeast area of Mainland China in the early 18th Century. However, there is a theory that the format history of emigration of Koreans is shorter than most of the other countries: only one-century year old.

According to this theory, the time of the first formal emigration was the year 1902 when a group of 121 Korean Christians departed the Inchon Harbor for Hawaii. According to official statistics of the year 2,000, a total of 5.5 million ethnic Koreans are living abroad: 2 million in China and the U.S.A.; 700,000 in Japan; 500,000 in Russia; 100,000 in Canada and South America; and 70,000 in Europe. The total number of 5.5 million amounts to 8% of 70 million, which is the number of the whole population of the combined South and North Korea.

Ethnic Koreans living overseas rank fourth in the number of worldwide ethnic overseas residents, after China, Israel and Italy. Besides, the ratio of overseas Korean residents to Korean residents in the motherland is 12%, ranking number one in the world-wide ranking.

It is not proper to say that the reason for this increasing number of Korean Diaspora in the 20th Century is irrelevant to the fact that Koreans during this period had suffered from multi-level tribulations including the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

During this period, Koreans left their fatherland in attempts:1) to be relieved of economic poverty and political oppression; 2) to commit themselves to the cause of liberating their motherland and indepen-dent movement; and 3) to leave the legacies of better living environments for their posterity.

Now I want to turn to the literary achievements of ethnic Korean overseas country by country to get the whole picture of Korean diasporic literature for your information. First of all, the case of China. The emigration of Koreans into China started in the early 18th Century. In the early 21st Century, the emigration of Koreans into China began on a substantial scale on account of Japanese Colonial Rule.

The debacle of the Yi Dynasty and its subsequent economic catastrophe pro­duced displaced peasants, political and belligerent militarists, and exiles on a huge scale. The locus where they settled down and were active was China. As a result, the modes of literary writings of Korean diasporic literature are tinted strikingly with nationalistic tones. Moreover, it is worth noting that Korean diasporic writers in China tended to write not in Chinese but in Korean language.

Among the early writers in Korean diasporic literature in China, Kim Tack­young (1850-1927) and Shin Jeong (1879­-1922) were both exiles and they are regarded as the trailblazers of Korean diasporic literature in China. Kim Taek-, young was well versed in the modes and styles of classical Chinese, and Shin Jeong has been compared to Sun Yat-Sen who was a national hero of China against Japanese colonialism. Shin Chae-Ho (1880­1936) inherited the high culture and sense of nationalism from Kim and Shin, and many more writers moved to the Northeast area of China and joined the literary activities.

One of the most distinctive charac­teristics of this Korean diasporic literature in China is anti-Japanese struggle, and "The Song of Bloody Sea" in 1937, a representative masterpiece of drama. This drama, which consists of two acts and three scenes, is a joint creative work by the anti­-Japanese writers, and demonstrates a victory story of Korean guerillas against the Japanese colonial soldiers. This play is similar in contents to "Pi-ba-da" (Bloody Sea), one of the three revolutionary masterpieces of North Korea, and has been known as the origin of the latter.

For the last century, the Korean diasporic literature in China reflected in a very sharp manner the rapid political change and ideological struggle in the area of Northeast Asia. Above all, the extra­-literary, political circumstances of the age have contributed significantly to the formation of the Korean diasporic literature in China.

In comparison, Korean diasporic literature in China has more distinctive characteristics than Korean diasporic literature in Japan. China respected the language and culture of the Korean residents in China (the so-called Jo-seon-­jok) in accordance with the minority race policy, thereby contributing to the geographical extension of Korean literature proper.

I n contrast, Japan assumed a double policy in dealing with Korean residents in Japan. The Japanese government resorted to an extreme social policy of dis-crimination, although they did not inflict political restrictions upon Korean residents. As a result, most Korean residents in Japan had to suffer from the difficulty in maintaining the mother tongue in their ordinary daily lives.

It has been understood that Korean diasporic literature in Japan originates from the appearance of two Korean writers in the 1930s: Jang Hyuk-joo and Kim Sa­ryang. Both Jang and Kim had been recognized among Japanese literary circles as distinguished writers because of their outstanding Japanese language proficiency and creative talents.

As the intellectuals in "The Age of the Japanese Colonial Rule," both Jang and Kim were said to be different from other writers. Jang accepted the humiliation and was naturalized as a Japanese citizen, while Kim resisted against Japanese rule, thereby becoming the exemplar of the Korean diasporic literature in Japan.

However, there is a theory that Korean diasporic literature in Japan emerged from the Korean society in Japan after Japan's defeat in the World War II. In this regard, the first achievement of Korean diasporic literature can be discovered from Kim Dal­soo. Kim's works deal with Koreans' agony and resistance during Japanese Colonial Rule, and Kim brought the indictment of the discrimination against Korean residents in Japan to a focus.

Besides, Kim's works arrested critical attention in the literary world by presenting the report on the real life situations of Korean residents in Japan as well as the historical research concerning Korean cultural heritage. Memorable works of Kim Dal-soo are "Taebaek Sanmaek" (The Taebaek Mountains) and "Ilbon Sokeui Joseon Munhwa" (The Korean Culture in Japan). The Taebaek Mountains objectively delineates the social and political circumstances of Korea after the liberation from Japanese colonial rule, while the Korean culture in Japan presents a positivist investigation of how Korean culture was introduced into Japan.

So far, critics have failed to deal seriously with Korean diasporic literature in Japan because most of the works were written in Japanese. Nevertheless, these literary works share many common themes with Korean literature written in Korean language, sometimes revealing deeper insights in their investigations of the themes under consideration than the Korean literature proper.

L et me now turn to Korean diasporic literature in the U.S.A. For convenience's sake, we can simply classify it into "Korean Diasporic Literature" written in English and in Korean. Kang Young-hill, Kim Yong-ik, Hyun Woong, Kim Eun-kook, and Lee Chang-rae belong to the first category, while Ko Won, Hwang Kap-ju, Ma Jong­ki, Song Sang-ok belong to the second.

It is my contention that Kang Young­hill's (1898-1972) autobiographical novel, entitled "The Grass Root" (Chodang, 1931), and should hold a high position both in Korean-American literature and in Korean diasporic literature at large. Kang Young­hill fled Japanese-occupied Korea in 1921 because he had participated in demonstra­tions for Korean independence. He came to the United States, via Canada, to study first at Boston University and then earned a graduate degree in English and American literature from Harvard University. Kang's novel, which has won wide readership in and out of the Korea, has become an unprecedented success by depicting the world of ordinary Korean daily lives from the multi-perspectives of anti-colonialism, national consciousness, and nostalgia.

Kim Young-ik (1920-1995) is the author who was exceptionally fluent and competent in both Korean and English. He made his debut with a short story, entitled "Wedding Shoes" (Kkotzshin, 1956), and his subsequent novel, entitled "The Sea Girl" (Hae Nyeo) was included in "People Focus on Literature," the American secondary school textbook.

Both fictions have arrested critical attention from the critics who set a high value on Kim's superb grasp of Korean sentiments, manners and customs. One can provide an extensive list of the most distinctive literary qualities of Kim Young­ik as follows: succinct writing style without superfluity, the sharp seizure of Korean moral life and the pure, empathetic perception of natural landscape.

Kim Eun-wook (Richard E. Kim, 1932)'s three novels, "Lost Name, "The Martyred" and "The Innocent," published a uniquely combined autobiographical and historio-­graphical picture of the author and his nation. On the one hand, the trilogy traces the author's developmental stages from childhood to adulthood. On the other hand, the trilogy picks up the three turning points in the history of Korea, and derives his main themes from the following three reference points: 1) The Age of Colonial Rule; 2) The Korean War (which broke out on June 25, 19-50); 3) The Military Coup (May 16, 1961).

In each turning point, Kim deals with the themes of 1) self-esteem of the nation and culture as its background; 2) faith and conviction in an extreme situation; and 3) moral conflicts. These themes are closely related to the historical, political and philosophical issues of modern Korean history in Moebius strip-like interrelations.

Nevertheless, despite their differences in geography, history, and language, Korean diasporic

literatures share a strikingly noticeable concern in common. It is an issue of importance for Korean literature as well: "What does it mean to be a Korean in the contemporary international world of global village?" This question has been raised for several purposes: first to narrate the stories about the experience and destiny common to Korean people; second, to identify certain moral and aesthetic values of Korean culture; and third and last to grapple with the demand of newly forming Korean identity across cultures.

However, whatever the purposes are, Korean diasporic writers have a unique characteristic of devoting themselves to searching for the meaning of their identities in wider historical and cultural contexts than their ethnic origin or belonging. In this respect, their works have something deeper in common with the effort of Korea-based writers to make sense of the Korean experience of modernity.

It has been a great mistake to regard Korean diasporic literature as irrelevant to the academic field of Korean literature. Many Korean literary critics and historians have been overlooking the literary achievements of Korean diasporic literature, by asserting that Korean literature should be found within the scope of the verbal artifacts made in the Korean language. However, this definition of Korean literature sounds unproductive.

If Korean literature is defined only in terms of linguistic differentiations, that definition will lead to an absurd assertion that Korean literature written in classical Chinese characters in the pre-modern Korea does not belong to Korean literature. Linguistic nationalism has been taken for granted as a consequence of the esta­blishment of modern nation -states, but this assumption prevents the comprehensive understanding of the literary self-expre­ssions of Koreans who are share common historical experience, cultural represen­tations and collective memories.

I would argue that Korean diasporic literature should be read, studied, and educated within the contextual scope of Korean literature. Korean diasporic literature has such significant values as the literary self-representation of Koreans, as the exploration into the experience and culture common to Koreans beyond the boundaries of language and region and culture, and as the in-depth complex understanding of the historically evolving Korean identity.

I have been finding in Korean diasporic literature an example of an effort to understand humanity in its extending and changing context of human existence. I look forward to the time when the research activities concerning Korean diasporic literature throw off the yoke of linguistic nationalism, and also when reading and research activities of Korean literature at large can flourish and be promoted in this rather open and transnational intellectual environment of America.

Text courtesy: The DIPLOMACY VOLUME XXXII NO. 1, Korea-ed.