Legacies of the Old Empire: The Formation of Aviation and Industrial Medicine in 1950–1960s South Korea and the Dis/Continuity of the Korea–Japan Knowledge Network

Abstract This paper examines how knowledge circulated since 1945, merging Cold War history with the transnational history of knowledge. While existing studies have focused on U.S. influence in transforming knowledge circulation within the Cold War's global order, postcolonial states present different dynamics. Countries such as South Korea and Taiwan transitioned from Japan's imperial network to a U.S.-centered system after the war, raising critical questions: What happened to knowledge networks that operated under the Japanese Empire when American hegemony emerged? Did these networks dissolve or persist? Such issues are specific to postcolonial contexts and cannot be fully addressed within Western frameworks. Through case studies of aviation medicine and industrial medicine in post-liberation Korea, this paper explores the dynamics of discontinuity and continuity in knowledge networks. It demonstrates that the circulation of knowledge was shaped not only by American influence as the new imperial power but also by continuing interactions between postcolonial Korea and its former empire, Japan. The findings reveal that different academic disciplines experienced varying patterns of knowledge transfer, highlighting the complex interplay between new and former imperial powers in shaping postcolonial knowledge production.