A Study of the Mechanisms Behind the Changing Status of <i>Hanja</i> and <i>Hanmun</i> in Korean Society: An Epistemic and Power-Knowledge Perspective

This study examines how the social status of <i>Hanja</i> 漢字 “Sino-Korean characters” and <i>Hanmun</i> 漢文 “<i>Literary Sinitic</i>” has changed within the history of knowledge formation in Korea, focusing on three interrelated layers: shifts in episteme, the reconfiguration of knowledge baselines, and transformations in curriculum discourse. <i>Hanja</i> and <i>Hanmun</i> were marginalized in the context of modern nationstate language policy and the establishment of disciplinary academic systems, but this did not immediately entail the disappearance of their educational value. Rather, <i>Hanja</i> education came to be assigned new goals, such as deepening vocabulary and literacy, facilitating access to historical texts, and cultivating an understanding of the shared written culture of East Asia. At the same time, the ways in which each country and region evaluated and authorized “valuable” knowledge became a key factor in reshaping the respective status of <i>Hanja</i> and <i>Hanmun</i>.