Die Metamorphose des Schamanismus. Die Transformation der altreligiösen Kultur zum Medium des Protestes im heutigen Südkorea

Abstract

The 1970s and the 1980s saw a great surge in the protest movement in the Republic of Korea. In its course student activists and intellectuals unexpectedly turned to traditional culture as their source of inspiration. Folk culture, for example shamanism, long considered a distant relic of the past, found a new focus. This paper addresses one question in particular: how an old religious culture, which had been suppressed as “superstitious” in the public sphere, resurfaced through the protest movement. In this context two aspects are examined based on writings from this period: what implications did shamanism hold for those in protest circles; and what function did this belief system perform for the protest movement. It is shown that three distinctive features of shamanism were brought into prominence in the literature examined. In the final analysis it is argued that the protest movement utilised the old religious culture as a means to distance itself from the authoritarian regime.