'Brokers of empire': Japanese settler colonialism in Korea, 1910--1937

The dissertation examines the role and actions of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea. They formed one of the largest colonial communities in the twentieth century, and yet their history remains largely unknown. Scholars have traditionally approached the colonial period either from the top-down, focusing on the administration or exploitation of the colony, or from the bottom up, focusing on Korean nationalistic movements. Moving beyond this dichotomized approach, this work examines settlers as a unique lens through which to identify the multiple levels of engagement that shaped the colonial relationship between Japanese and Koreans. Settlers are conceptualized as brokers of empire to highlight the role of non-state actors, who intervened in the colonial project in informal and internally contested ways.; The argument in the dissertation is three-fold. First, settlers played an important role in supporting Japan's nation-building and empire-building at the grassroots level. Unlike most European imperial powers, Japan began its projects of modernization and overseas expansion simultaneously. Ordinary Japanese served as migrants, merchants, and political fixers in mediating the two processes, while embodying the anxieties of Japan as a fledgling nation-empire.; Second, settlers provided a unique vector of influence in colonial governance. They developed their own power, culture, and ideology that complemented as well as complicated the Government-General's rule. Settlers explain the intense and yet fragile nature of Japanese colonial power itself.; Third, Japanese and Koreans engaged with each other at multiple levels, complicating the binary view of colonial rule as a zero-sum conflict between Japanese oppression and Korean resistance. In spheres as diverse as political economy, discourse, and everyday life, settlers, Koreans, and officials pursued their own interests and agendas that dynamically intersected with one another. And each of these entanglements became a building block of colonial modernity, giving rise to pluralistic identities.; Overall, the dissertation employs an interactive as well as interdisciplinary approach to colonial history. The actions of settlers, Koreans, and officials are examined as mutually constitutive processes using the combined methods of history, anthropology, and discursive analysis. These micro-level engagements are further explored within the empire-wide context of modernity and the comparative context of twentieth-century imperialism.