James Palais

James B. Palais (Korean: 제임스 팔레) (1934-2006) was an American academic, author and scholar of Korean history. He was Professor of Korean History at the University of Washington; and he was a key figure in establishing Korean studies in the United States.

Early years

Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Palais graduated from Harvard University in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in American history. He learned Korean in the army at the Monterey Language Institute; and this sparked an interest in East Asia.[1]

Following his discharge from the army, he earned an MA in Japanese History from Yale in 1960.[2][3]

Palais studied at the Kyujanggak from 1963 to 1965.[4] His Ph.D. was conferred at Harvard in 1968 with a dissertation on the reform policies of Heungseon Daewongun in the late 1800s.[5] His dissertation was published under the title Politics and Policies in Traditional Korea[6] by Harvard University Press in 1975.[5] At Harvard he had worked with Edward W. Wagner, one of the founders of Korean studies in North America.[7]

Career

Palais taught at Norfolk State University and the University of Maine before being recruited to help build up what was then known as the Far Eastern and Russian Institute at the University of Washington.[2] He became chairman of the Korean Studies Program there, and in 2002 he was made chairman of the East Asian Studies Institute at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea as well.

Palais' arrival in 1968 made the University of Washington program the largest Korean Studies Program on the North American mainland because there were three full-time scholars devoted exclusively to the study of Korea.[2]

From 1974-77, Palais edited Occasional Papers on Korean Studies, as known as the Journal of Korean Studies, which was edited out of the University of Washington until 1988. Palais' political interests resulted in the Asia Watch report Human Rights in Korea (Washington, 1986), but perhaps his greatest work was the 1230-page Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the late Choson Dynasty, a comprehensive overview of Choson Dynasty (1392-1910) Korean institutions as discussed by the eminent 17th century Korean statesman,. This book was awarded the John Whitney Hall book prize as the best book on Japan or Korea in 1998.

Palais was recognized with the Yongjae Paek Nakchun Award from Korea's Yonsei University in 1995, and by The Association for Asian studies with a lifetime achievement award in Asian Studies in 2001. Palais was Dean for International Studies at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea for three years.

Palais continued his activity at the University of Washington with editing, writing, and part-time teaching in the Korea Studies Program until hospitalized with his final illness in the spring of 2005.[2]

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about James Palais, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 10+ works in 50+ publications in 3 languages and 1,300+ library holdings.[8]

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
  • Politics and Policy in Traditional Korea (1975)
  • Korea on the Eve of the Kangwa Treaty, 1873-1876 (1989)
  • Confucian statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyŏngwŏn and the late Chosŏn Dynasty (1995)
  • Palais, James B.. 1995. “A Search for Korean Uniqueness”. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 55 (2). Harvard-Yenching Institute: 409–25. doi:10.2307/2719348. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2719348.
  • Views on Korean Social History (1998)

Honors

The James B. Palais Professorship of Korean History at the University of Washington has been established in his honor.[1]

AAS James B. Palais Book Prize
Main article: James B. Palais Book Prize

The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Northeast Asia Council (NEAC) presents the James B. Palais Book Prize, which has been awarded annually since 2010 for an outstanding English language book published on Korea.[11]

Notes
  1. Brunner, Jim. "James Palais, 72, leading Korea scholar," Seattle Times (US). August 12, 2006; retrieved 2011-05-31
  2. Sorenson, Clark. "Obituary for Professor James B. Palais," H-Net (US). August 8, 2008; retrieved 2011-05-31
  3. Staff (2001). "An Interview with James B. Palais". The Review of Korean Studies. 4 (2): 281–313, 285.
  4. Staff 2001, p. 285
  5. Deuchler, Martina (2008). "The Flow of Ideas and Institutions – James Palais: His Critics and Friends" (PDF). Seoul Journal of Korean Studies. 21 (2): 313–322.
  6. Palais, James B. (1975). Politics and policy in traditional Korea. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-68770-7.
  7. Gewertz, Ken (17 December 2001). "Edward Wagner dies at 77: Taught Korean studies at Harvard for 35 years". Gazette (Harvard). Archived from the original on 14 April 2002.
  8. WorldCat Identities Archived 2010-12-30 at the Wayback Machine: Palais, James B. 1934-2006
  9. American Association for Asian Studies (AAS), John Whitney Hall Book Prize, list; retrieved 2011-05-31
  10. AAS, 2001 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies; retrieved 2011-05-31
  11. AAS, James B. Palais Book Prize, list; retrieved 2011-05-31

References
  • Sŏnggyun'gwan Taehakkyo. (2002). James B. Palais. Seoul: Tong Asia Haksurwŏn. OCLC 259679875
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