조선 전기사 연구의 현황과 과제(2011~2012)

초록

This review article examines scholarly monographs and articles, published during 2011~2012 in Korea, dealing with a variety of topics in the time period of early Chosŏn Korea, covering the 1400s~1500s. Early Chosŏn Korea underwent a longterm transition from indigenous/Buddhist to Confucian in almost all aspects, with the result that it began to take shape as a Confucian society in which Confucian values were placed above any others, from politics to even daily life. Younger generations of the ruling elite, more seriously versed in Confucian values than older generations, were very eager to apply what they had studied through Confucian classics to the reality of the time without compromise. With respect to this longterm yet steady transition that took place in early Chosŏn, the years of 2011~2012 witnessed a number of valuable analyses and interpretations, including, among others, the features of the founders of the new Chosŏn dynasty in the 1400s and the more Confucianized ruling elites in the 1500s, a new relationship between Ming China and Chosŏn Korea based on Confucian rituals, the development of Neo- Confucianism among Korean intellectuals and its ‘Koreanization,’ remarkable changes in the family organization, and the prevalence of new types of porcelain that resemble Chinese styles. This review article also provides some suggestions that scholars and students majoring in the early Chosŏn period need to share with each other for more meaningful research in the near future; for example, the necessity of producing more macroscopic and diachronic views and discourses.

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