Book
Reciprocity and Korean society: an ethnography of Hasami
Seoul National University Press • (6) • Published In 1984 • Pages: xviii, 232
By: Chŏn, Kyŏng-su.
Abstract
Chun examines the various kinds of reciprocal exchanges which help to maintain egalitarian social relations in a small fishing and farming community on the island of Chindo, which is off the southwest coast of Korea. He looks at exchanges associated with weddings, ancestral rituals, kinship groups and voluntary associations. He also examines the exchanges between the village community and the more hierarchical ordered external society which includes merchant-buyers, government officials, and military and police officers. According to Chu, the exchanges between villagers and outsiders are not as balanced or diverse as they are in the village and tend to put villagers in a state of dependency. Although gifts to military and police officers may appear as bribes, their intended purpose is to establish a friendly relationship, so that the officers can recognize and accommodate villagers' interests. By extending credit to villagers, merchants and government cooperatives have shackled villagers with debt, which undermines their capacity to exchange with their fellow villagers. The book contains an extensive glosary and transcripts of two voluntary association meetings.
- HRAF PubDate
- 1998
- Region
- Asia
- Sub Region
- East Asia
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Types
- Ethnologist
- Indigenous Person
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ; 1997
- Field Date
- 1975-1976
- Coverage Date
- 1945-1976
- Coverage Place
- Chindo Island, Republic of Korea
- Notes
- Kyung-soo Chun
- Revision of author's thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Minnesota, 1982
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-226) and index
- LCCN
- 85118216
- LCSH
- Koreans