ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the long-term transition of the basic assumptions and implications of Korean gaehwa and munmyeong discourses from the 1880s to the 1930s, by concentrating on the varying images of the West in relation to Korea's self-identity. It focuses on the temporal change of the discursive hierarchy between Korea and the West concerning Eurocentric assumptions. The chapter analyzes six historical newspapers representing Korea's early modern era: The Hanseong Sunbo, the Hanseong Jubo, the Dongnip Shinmun, the Daehan Maeil Shinbo, the Chosun Ilbo, and the Dong-a Ilbo. It discusses the new perceptions of the West emerged in the 1880s. The chapter explains the decline of the Eurocentric munmyeong discourse and the reconstructive move of munmyeong discourse in the 1920s and the 1930s. It examines the characteristics and changes of Korean gaehwa and munmyeong discourses in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, showing that they did not simply imply binary hierarchical distinctions.
