해방 이전 개신교의 가족 만들기와 생명정치 = Protestant Family-making and Bio-politics in Korea before 1945

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Bio-power tends to work closely with the state and family as the power to manage the population through institutional devices such as birth and death control, parenting, and education. However, in Korean society before 1945, Protestantism rather than the state was closely related to bio-power through the family. This article focused on Protestant discourses and practices to analyze how Protestant family-making was specifically related to the operation of bio-power prior to 1945. The project, which was carried out by medical missionaries, such as J. D. Van Buskirk and G. G. Mills in the early days of Japanese occupation, was the first modern census conducted in Korean history. This survey existed in the sphere of bio-politics in that it involved measurements, analysis, and statistics on the population. The survey found that the mortality rate of Korean children was very high, approaching 50%, so its statistics were used as a major indicator of projects related to family planning and public health. Protestant missionaries attributed the high child mortality rate to people having “no knowledge” of hygiene and nutrition and suggested the conquest of ignorance through "knowledge" as a solution. In this context, texts such as An Address to Mothers on The Care of Children, Hygiene of Parturition and The Care of Infants were produced. These books emphasized the importance of basic medical knowledge and hygiene regarding the health of children and mothers. Knowledge of hygiene, nutrition, and scientific upbringing was disseminated through large-scale Bible study meetings and public lectures or distributed as leaflets. It was also widely distributed through various Christian networks such as missionary communities, youth organizations, and media. Furthermore, as part of the maternal and child health project, events such as baby bath demonstrations, free medical checkups, and the "baby show" of Christian welfare institutions promoted the standardization of hygiene and medicalization of families. These discourses and practices related to parenting and health provided in the Protestant space resulted in a dramatic decline in child mortality. This process, which is part of Protestant family-making, was a part of the larger focus on the creation of docile body and the realization of bio-politics through discipline. In other words, the standardization of hygiene based on regularity and discipline and the medicalization of the family were the operational processes of bio-power that managed the population while controlling the individual's body. As such, the Protestant family-making before 1945 was closely related to the bio-politics of the time.