Beyond Missionary Medicine: Non-State Medical Institutions and Local Healthcare in Modern Korea, 1890-1941

Seulkee Nam (SOAS)

26 October | 16:00-17:30 | Seminar Room 00.063, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities

 history of medicine in modern Korea has been studied through state medicine, colonial public health, and major medical institutions. In East Asia, missionary medicine played an important part in the introduction of Western medicine, and mission hospitals have mainly been studied in relation to Western medicine and Christian missions. But what changes if we consider mission hospitals as ‘non-state medical institutions’ providing healthcare within changing local medical landscapes? This talk traces the hospitals run by the Anglican Church Korean Mission from 1890 to 1941 in four areas: the capital Seoul, the treaty port Inch’ŏn, and the rural areas of Chinch’ŏn and Yŏju. By comparing hospitals in different local and sociopolitical settings, the talk argues that their social roles were neither fixed nor simply determined by missionary aims. Rather, they changed over time and across places in response to local medical conditions, patients’ needs, available resources, sociopolitical change, and relations with local communities and government authorities. In particular, this talk focuses on the case of Inch’ŏn. It examines St. Luke’s Hospital as the city changed from a treaty port into a colonial port city. By placing the mission hospital alongside Korean and colonial providers of medical relief, it shows how different institutions coexisted, overlapped, and sometimes competed in caring for poor patients. Through this case, the talk considers mission hospitals not only within the framework of missionary medicine, but also as ‘non-state medical institutions’ whose social roles were shaped by changing local healthcare environments.

Seulkee Nam is a historian of modern Korea. She received her PhD in Korean Studies from SOAS University of London in 2026. Her PhD thesis examines the Anglican Church Korean Mission’s medical activities from 1890 to 1941, focusing on the social role of mission hospitals. Her research interests include healthcare, welfare and poor relief, marginalised communities, and women and gender, with a particular interest in how these histories can be understood in both local and global contexts. She is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the SOAS Centre of Korean Studies.