Trends and Prospects of Environmental History Studies in Korean Western History

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to review from a historical perspective how Western historians in Korea have been studying Western environmental history. Western historians in Korea have produced quite a lot of research results in various areas and various topics in this field. As a result of review, these research results could be largely classified into three categories: ⑴ introductory research, ⑵ empirical research, and ⑶ interpretation research. Looking at the proportion, it was mostly focused on empirical research. Among the majority of excellent papers, there were also many papers of poor quality. The biggest problem is the lack of quantitative results due to the absolute lack of environmental history researchers. At the same time, the concentration of researchers who account for the majority of Western environmental history research in Korea by German history researchers is also emerging as a serious problem. This research trend is expected to continue in the future. It is hoped that Western history researchers in Korea will increase their interest in and research on environmental history.