Advantages of Oral History Over Conventional History.
“Under the Black Umbrella” is a collection of oral histories of Koreans who lived through the colonial years of Japanese rule. It has a lot of rich and vivid stories that reveal the diversity and difficulty of colonial life. Oral history has several advantages over contemporary history. Oral history captures individuals’ daily unique life experiences, perspectives, and modern mannerisms, lacking new historical sources. Hildi Kang developed the idea to write the book while listening to her Korean father-in-law tell stories of his experiences during the Japanese reign. The recollections that she collected gives a better understanding of Korea’s colonial history. Oral history provides a historian with a broad range of historical sources that reference the past. Written historical materials such as photographs, letters, historical data, newspapers, and memoirs though rich with historical information, cannot equal the uniqueness of oral history. Therefore, relying solely on written documents to reconstruct an entire historical period can leave some critical information sought by historians.
Oral history also enables historians to understand other people’s viewpoints whose records may not be available in other historical sources. An ordinary person’s life experiences rarely get documented in written records. Written records mostly take care of famous individuals in society. Kang’s contacts also tell stories that they heard from their parents and other relatives, enabling a historian to understand different viewpoints and gain a sense of life before annexation.
Disadvantages of Oral History Over Conventional History.
Oral historical sources also have numerous disadvantages. Oral history usually is volatile due to memory failure or the death of the person who knows it. Some vital information or facts may be forgotten or omitted since oral history heavily depends on human memory. Kang collected accounts in which informants recall events and feelings they experienced over a half-century previously. As is the case with oral histories, it is difficult to tell how the informants’ memory dimmed or the extent to which postwar interpretations influenced their accounts.
Another problem with oral history is that the narrator can easily conceal or exaggerate information. It is not easy to verify the information passed on to Kang’s informants as an accurate account of events during that time.
Summary of Hong Ŭlsu’s Story
In the story of Hong Ulsu, he describes a situation in school when the Japanese took control of Korea. He states, “All of us had long hair, hanging down our backs in long braids. Then we were all sent home with no hair” (Kang 26). Koreans’ traditions, which involved growing hair and speaking their native language, were taken away. The forced change in culture ultimately is a change in daily lifestyles. The change resulted in independence movements and rebellions. The revolution’s outcome was killing thousands, imprisonment of tens of thousands, and the destruction of hundreds of churches, temples, schools, and private homes. The Japanese affected Korean culture and also turned Korea into a colony to supply Japan with food. Several Japanese went to Korea to farm and to fish its waters, while high taxes and crop prices forced thousands of Korean farmers to move out of their land to Manchuria or relocate to Japan as laborers. While some Koreans moved, others had to make quota. Koreans had to increase rice production and then export most of their production to Japan. They were unable to eat rice due to rice export abuse to Japan, which caused much famine. The farmers were slaves to the Japanese and were not getting paid.
On the other hand, there were also positive impacts of the Japanese invasion. The Korean economy would have bankrupted if the Japanese did not control Korea to provide financial aid. For Korea to get out of their financial challenge, the Japanese helped her with agriculture, energy, transportation, communications systems, and commercial distribution. The transformation allowed Koreans to create more jobs and improve the efficiency of performing other jobs. Japanese modernized Korea with a new communication system and new schools.
Question for Discussion
From the summary, the Japanese saved Korea from the brink of collapse by colonizing her.
Work Cited
Kang, Hildi. Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910–1945. Cornell University Press, 2005.