NEWS

2023.11.30

【Report】Meridian180 Workshop was held! Dr. HEO Jihyang: “The Usage of Words and the Historical Background in the Economic Essays of Nishi Amane”

On November 22, 2023, the Meridian180 Study Group “Digital Transformation (DX) of Research and Multilingualism in the Post-Coronavirus Era” was held. Dr. HEO Jihyang (Assistant Professor, Kinugasa Research Institute, Ritsumeikan University) was invited to give her presentation under the title: “The Usage of Words and the Historical Background in the Economic Essays of Nishi Amane: Focusing on the Period around the Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity.”

As shown in the title, the subject of analysis in this presentation is Nishi Amane (1829-1897). Nishi is an intellectual known for his prolific translations of various key concepts in Western academics at that time during the Meiji period. To clarify the historical context of his proposed translation, Dr. Heo positioned Nishi’s translational works in the specific historical context of the Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity (1876), which was an unequal treaty between Japan and Korea. Specifically, based on the circumstances of the two countries before and after the conclusion of this treaty, as well as the statements of diplomats and intellectuals, Dr. Heo’s presentation sought to analyze the concrete picture of economic ideas in Japan at that time through a discussion by Nishi.

During the Q&A session, participants lively shared several important points about Nishi’s philosophy on society in terms of his translation activities, the process in which translated languages become settled for Japanese readership, and Nishi’s intellectual position at his time.

Dr. Heo delivering her presentation