Abstract

The Government-General of Colonial Korea (GGCK) conducted an extensive investigation into tenant practices in colonial Korea in order to deal with the colony’s social problems, especially the expansion and radicalization of tenancy disputes during the 1920s. The results of this investigation were compiled in The Tenant Practices of Korea (Chōsen no kosaku kankō 朝鮮の小作慣行; 1932). This report enumerated the complex landlord-tenant relationship into simplified statistical data, and social conflicts were moved from the field of disputes to policy discussions based on tenancy statistics and implementation of legislative measures. Based on this statistical survey, the Joseon Farmland Ordinance (Chōsen nōchirei 朝鮮農地令) was enacted in 1934, which fundamentally altered practices surrounding tenancy disputes. Specifically, the survey provided social median data and indicators for tenancy periods, rents, and rent reduction rates for a lean year, which became the new political apparatus for the settling of tenancy disputes. At the same time, by enumerating colonial society, the colonial state earned the opportunity to actively intervene in social conflicts. The GGCK began to present itself as the mediator or regulator of social conflicts, setting apart from the old image of target of antagonism. This is a historical case that illustrates the power effects of systematized knowledge (/statistics) on the agricultural politics of colonial society.