Organizer and Chair: Eun Mee Kim, Ewha Women’s University
Constructions of Cultural Identity in Choson Korea
Marion Eggert, Munich University
The Confucianization of Korean society which the Choson ruling house started for mainly political reasons had cultural side effects that most likely were not part of the original agenda. To recognize a Chinese ideal past as cultural paradigm meant by necessity to marginalize indigenous Korean cultural traits—Choson Koreans became closer to being a kind of minority within the Chinese cultural universe than they had ever been before. However, as this process was self-imposed and self-regulated, there remained more space for the negotiation of cultural identity than is usually the case with minorities. Among the criteria that are most commonly cited as markers of ethnic identity—common territory, language, ancestry, history, religion—"territory" (i.e., Korean land/landscape) and the Korean language were those Choson literati seem to have used most consistently to construct and maintain a distinct Korean identity against the odds of neo-Confucian Sinocentrism. Based on readings in both domestic travel literature (concerned with Korean landscape) and discussions of the relationship of the Chinese and Korean languages and scripts, this paper presents a diachronic model of strategies of identity construction developed during this period. Special attention is given to Choson literati attitudes towards classical Chinese as their own written language and their changing evaluation of their Korean mother tongue. Three major modes of negotiating the comparative value of both languages are differentiated and explanations for their successive prevalence offered.
The Shamanic Vision-Quest Motif and the Acquisition of Knowledge in the Buddhist Traditions of Silla
Richard D. McBride, II, University of California, Los Angeles
Scholars of traditional Korean history, religion, literature, and culture, have tended to use the existence and persistence of what we in the West term "Shamanism" in Korean folk religion as the mainspring to which they trace the uniqueness of Korea’s Buddhist traditions. However, they have neglected to look into the similarities between all religious or shamanic traditions in India and East Asia before positing this claim. Despite the inherent problems that such a term as "Shamanism" implies, I demonstrate similarities in Eliade’s concept of the Shamanic Vision-Quest Motif and the acquisition of knowledge in the Buddhist traditions of India as found in Mahayana literature—The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight-Thousand Lines and The Flower Garland Scripture. Furthermore, we can trace the Shamanic Vision-Quest Motif in the Buddhist traditions of China, e.g., concerning the visions of Manjusri on Mount Wu-t’ai, and in Korea with the narratives of three Silla period (traditional dates, 57 B.C.–A.D. 935) monks Chinja (fl. 576–579), Chajang (fl. 636–645), and Myongnang (fl. 632–671) that are the focus of this study. These monks follow the basic outline of the Shamanic Vision-Quest Motif and may even have had access to the sutras mentioned above which exemplified this method of gaining knowledge.
With the demonstration of a line of unity in the method of acquiring knowledge, which stretchs from Mahayana texts to the Buddhist traditions of Silla, I am forced to be skeptical, though sympathetic, to the view of Korea’s unique Shamanic tradition and its influence on Buddhism—whatever that may be and if at all. However, one thing this study shows is that there may in fact be greater cultural trends linking India and East Asia together than ever thought before.
Visual Culture as National Culture: The Shifting Imagery of Korean Advertisements
James P. Thomas, Harvard University
Long neglected by scholars favoring "more substantial" measures of development and cultural life, Korean advertising is now a huge industry and powerful cultural force that demands serious examination. Unfortunately, current scholarly research on advertising, in its generation-long obsession with semiotic theory, has privileged the "diversity of viewer readings" and "consumer practices," to the neglect of earlier concerns over the fallacy of consumer choice and the manipulation of consumer self-image. This makes ads seem politically benign and serves to deny their role in national acculturation. This condition calls for critical analysis.
To their credit, Korean newspaper editorials have challenged the dominance of Caucasian models, English, and prestige goods in Korean advertisements. But they ignore how ads shape and reinforce Korean culture or attempt to reposition Korea within the hierarchy of nations, which is evident in ad images invoking nationalism, prestige, austerity, femininity, etc. Most notable is the clear shift from the ubiquitous, bold (and sometimes outlandish) ads to understated and cautious ones in the eighteen months before, during, and after the financial crisis (or "IMF crisis," as most Koreans put it), corresponding with a 30 percent reduction in purchases of imported consumer goods.
Korean ads clearly do more than promote products and their corporate producers—advancing a political and social agenda that warrants critical scrutiny. Analysis of this evidence promises to broaden the scope of popular culture and mass-media research, and link them to the well-worn ground of nationalist and anti-consumption studies.
Risk Society as a System Failure: Sociological Analysis of Accidents in Korea
Jaeyeol Yee, Seoul National University
In this paper, I will show that the lack of social coordination and institutionalized trust contributes to the system failure, which occurs as tragic accidents as well as an economic crisis.
Risks structured in the social system are an aggregated result of micro-level processes, such as routine, custom, and mores of ordinary people. Fast expansion of the social system has surpassed the "carrying capacity" of the morality. While the growing social system requires institutionalized trust in the public sphere, people still live within the realm of personal trust. The persistence of traditional values in everyday life conflicts with the expanding requirements for modern institutions. The duality between nominal structure and everyday routines is found in a wide range of social arenas. Active negotiation with the legal system mediated by bribery and personal networking creates a de facto regime of an underground/parallel system exerting an invisible but substantial influence.
The recurring accidents in Korea are obviously different from normal accidents in a society living with high risk-unknown technologies. Loosening of coupling among social units increases the risk of preventable disasters. In this sense, Koreans are suffering from routinized abnormal accidents.
Political Economy of Korean Crisis: A Turning Point or End of Miracle?
You-Il Lee, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
This paper examines the dynamics and political and economic significance of the recent financial crisis in South Korea, makes a contribution to the understanding and knowledge of difficulties and problems in penetrating the Korean market, and constructs a qualitative account for overall behaviour of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the region. In particular, a unique combination of a market economy with an authoritarian polity nature of South Korea under the IMF (International Monetary Fund) intervention since the post-1997 Asian crisis raises an array of critical questions and issues on international political economy: Why was it possible for the Korean market to flourish within an authoritarian political context? How do the political economic structures of the Korean economy shape market or business development and how is it reflected by the MNCs? What are the major characteristics reflected in market participation by state actors in the concerned economy? What is the impact of market/business development on political and economic structures in the country, particularly on the state-society, state-business and state-labor relationships?
This paper will accelerate debates of contemporary issues in international trade, business, international political economy, and key elements of political and economic systems including structural adjustment, the role of the state, state-business-labour relations, and the changing nature of economic and industrial policies brought up by the IMF intervention.