From Brotherhood to Humanity

From Brotherhood to Humanity: Korea and India’s Forgotten World Order, c. 1880-1950, uses Korean, Hindi, Chinese, and English sources to excavate a new history of Asia and democracy. Existing studies on the historical connections between South Asia and East Asia have centred on India and Japan. Buried under this shadow is the entanglement between Indian and Korean anti-colonial activists, their ideas and struggles throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. To uncover this history, Sophie-Jung surveys the discourse of brotherhood, fellowship, and humanity that Indian and Korean anti-colonial actors evoked in their transnational social organizations, cultural and religious international events, and non-violent mass protests. By bringing to the surface the parallel journey of Indian and Korean decolonization, this project seeks to de-centre our understanding of internationalism, global publics, and democracy from the dominant west-centric frameworks, while introducing a new geography of Asia.