essay
Rituals of resistance: the manipulation of shamanism in contemporary Korea
Asian visions of authority : religion and the modern states of East and Southeast Asia • Honolulu • Published In 1994 • Pages: 195-219
By: Kim, Kwang-ok.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This study describes the use of shamanistic ritual in student protests against the South Korean government. Kim describes several student demonstrations as well as the postwar history of Korean political and religious movements which culminated in the Kwangju Massacre of May 18, 1980. According to Kim, students have drawn on the symbols of folk culture as a form of resistance to the elite and state ideology of Confucianism. The death of one student by police prompted the public performace of a shamanistic ritual to purify and console the vengeful ghost lest it become a evil spirit. Part of the ritual included a powerful dance perfomance by an university professor that depicted the torture and death of the student. Kim argues that the use of such symbolism has been an effective tool in the process of democratization.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Form and rules of government
- Miscellaneous government activities
- Political movements
- Revolution
- Magical and mental therapy
- Students
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Korea
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1998
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- East Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Indigenous Person
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 1997
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1945-1988
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Republic of Korea
- NotesAdditional notes
- Kwang-ok Kim
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 9337979
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Koreans