What It Means to Be Korean: National Identity in North and South Korean Elementary Textbooks, 1960–2019

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Abstract

This study examines what it means to be Korean as seen in North and South Korean textbooks. Because mass schooling transforms students into national citizens, defining expectations of citizenship is especially important for the Koreas. To gain insight into how they envision their ideal citizens, we examine elementary school textbooks as data points for analyzing the intended curriculum. We find that North and South Korea define two separate and distinct national identities for their students, focused more on the political differences than on their shared cultural and ethnic heritage. In their struggle to claim the true Korean identity, they exclude the other Korea from their definition of their respective identities, reinforcing the differences between the two nation states.

Authors

• Chealin Won, Stanford University

• Anne S Huntington, Stanford University