ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the origins of research concerning Korean forced labor practices, arguing in part that both of the common frameworks are simplistic and reductionist. Reexamining many of the foundational works reveals that when considering the history of the subject, one cannot ignore the political inflection of the early writings, nor the ways in which authors frame their arguments and deploy survivor testimony and evidence. In contrast to John Lie’s expansive analysis that focuses heavily on zainichi-authored literature, this chapter focuses on a small representative number of historical narratives and concentrates on examining not only the historiography and wider conservations of the subject, but also prying into the terminological nuances of zainichi Korean research dealing with forced recruitment and forced labor. The conceptualization of historical writings as an important object of study in and of themselves can be appreciated by considering Michel Foucault’s ideas concerning discourse.
