Blood purity and scientific independence: blood science and postcolonial struggles in Korea, 1926-1975.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8904113 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 0269-8897 (Print) Linking ISSN: 02698897 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Context

Publication: Cambridge Eng : Cambridge University Press
Original Publication: Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, c1987-

Anthropology*; Colonialism/*history ; Racism/*history; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Republic of Korea

After World War II, blood groups became a symbol of anti-racial science. This paper aims to shed new light on the post-WWII history of blood groups and race, illuminating the postcolonial revitalization of racial serology in South Korea. In the prewar period, Japanese serologists developed a serological anthropology of Koreans in tandem with Japanese colonialism. The pioneering Korean hematologist Yi Samyŏl (1926-2015), inspired by decolonization movements during the 1960s, excavated and appropriated colonial serological anthropology to prove Koreans as biologically independent from the Japanese. However, his racial serology of Koreans shared colonial racism with Japanese anthropology, despite his anti-colonial nationalism.

Keywords: South Korea; blood groups; decolonization movements; race; racial serology; scientific nationalism

Date Created: 20191213 Date Completed: 20200518 Latest Revision: 20200518

20240628

10.1017/S0269889719000231

31829298