역사의 ‘매체적 전환’ - 매체로 보는 역사와 역사학 - (“The Medial Turn” of the History - History and Historiography from the Viewpoint of Medium -)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 역사학회
· 수록지 정보 : 역사학보 / 204호 / 105 ~ 139페이지
· 저자명 : 김기봉

초록

Just like we need a transportation vehicle for space travel, we need a medium such as a time machine for a time travel in history. Historical research is impossible without medium. The result of historical research depends in the first place upon which medium a historian uses. The first thesis starting from this fact is that “history is medium.”
Medium is necessary not only for historical research, but also for showing the result of that research. Since Herodotus, written history has been claimed to have unique historical authority. However the recent vortex of historical drama brought a crisis of written history and this is, in turn, perceived as a crisis of historiography. Why is a crisis of written history straightly taken as a crisis of historiography? Can written history alone represent scientific history and will the reconstruction of the past by a visual medium unavoidably lead to a fictionalization of history? The second thesis to tackle with these problems is that “medium is history.”
The third subject of this paper is “the medial turn" in historical research and historiography. Transition through medium means opening a new perspective from the viewpoint of medium. This kind of new perspective is available when we think that innovations of media have led to social and civilizational change, not vice versa. For example, ancient states could be established thanks to legal systems and bureaucratic institutions based upon the invention of letters; Gutenberg's printing technique led to the Reformation; books triggered revolutions; the capitalism of printing contributed to the formation of nation as "an imagined community." Based upon these research results, we can put forward the thesis of "the medial turn" which considers medium as the decisively driving force of historical change.
History is basically storytelling, Storytelling is a compound word made up by story and telling. Story means narration with a plot, and telling is an expression method tailored to the medium's features. Historical storytelling is putting the past as contents into a medium as a form. Medium transforms the past into history. Medium is a container of the contents of the past rather than an instrument to deliver it. Since the past is turned into history and memory through medium, medium decides about the message of history, as Marshall McLuhan says that “medium is message.”
For example, “the Chosun Dynasty Record” has determined the history of the King Jeongjo’s era. In contrast, the history which the recently disclosed “Secret Letters” of King Jeongjo is conveying is quite different from the public one known from “the Chosun Dynasty Record”. During the daytime, King Jeongjo tried to wield his absolute power by a cultural policy using literature as a medium of the Tao(道), whereas at night by private letters using reckless colloquialism. The former was the King Jeongjo's discourse, whereas the latter was his action. The historical viewpoint through medium gives an insight into such a discrepancy between discourse and action and opens up a new historical window by reconsidering “all the given history of societies as a history of the struggle between media.”

영어초록

Just like we need a transportation vehicle for space travel, we need a medium such as a time machine for a time travel in history. Historical research is impossible without medium. The result of historical research depends in the first place upon which medium a historian uses. The first thesis starting from this fact is that “history is medium.”
Medium is necessary not only for historical research, but also for showing the result of that research. Since Herodotus, written history has been claimed to have unique historical authority. However the recent vortex of historical drama brought a crisis of written history and this is, in turn, perceived as a crisis of historiography. Why is a crisis of written history straightly taken as a crisis of historiography? Can written history alone represent scientific history and will the reconstruction of the past by a visual medium unavoidably lead to a fictionalization of history? The second thesis to tackle with these problems is that “medium is history.”
The third subject of this paper is “the medial turn" in historical research and historiography. Transition through medium means opening a new perspective from the viewpoint of medium. This kind of new perspective is available when we think that innovations of media have led to social and civilizational change, not vice versa. For example, ancient states could be established thanks to legal systems and bureaucratic institutions based upon the invention of letters; Gutenberg's printing technique led to the Reformation; books triggered revolutions; the capitalism of printing contributed to the formation of nation as "an imagined community." Based upon these research results, we can put forward the thesis of "the medial turn" which considers medium as the decisively driving force of historical change.
History is basically storytelling, Storytelling is a compound word made up by story and telling. Story means narration with a plot, and telling is an expression method tailored to the medium's features. Historical storytelling is putting the past as contents into a medium as a form. Medium transforms the past into history. Medium is a container of the contents of the past rather than an instrument to deliver it. Since the past is turned into history and memory through medium, medium decides about the message of history, as Marshall McLuhan says that “medium is message.”
For example, “the Chosun Dynasty Record” has determined the history of the King Jeongjo’s era. In contrast, the history which the recently disclosed “Secret Letters” of King Jeongjo is conveying is quite different from the public one known from “the Chosun Dynasty Record”. During the daytime, King Jeongjo tried to wield his absolute power by a cultural policy using literature as a medium of the Tao(道), whereas at night by private letters using reckless colloquialism. The former was the King Jeongjo's discourse, whereas the latter was his action. The historical viewpoint through medium gives an insight into such a discrepancy between discourse and action and opens up a new historical window by reconsidering “all the given history of societies as a history of the struggle between media.”

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