Looking Koreans’ Sense of Self Formation through the Cultural geography of a Local-lineage-based-village of Korea

Abstract

This project is a study to analyse the cultural prototype of Koreans' self-identity formation method. Koreans' self-identity formation method is most characteristically revealed in the self-identity formation method within the family. South Koreans' personal sense of themselves tends to be always placed after their sense of themselves as the descendant of the genealogical origins of their lineage, and through this, their identity could be situated in the vertical lines of the local genealogy which originated from their ancestors. This means that, rather than the self as myself, the self as a child of my parents and the self as a descendant of my ancestors become the basis of self-identity formation. In order to trace the origin of such a unique cultural phenomenon in Korea, this thesis pays attention to two facts. First, the self-identity formation method of Koreans is the result of imitating the self-identity formation method of the noblemen of the Chosŏn Dynasty. Second, the reason why bloodlines can always be at the centre of the self-identity formation method of noblemen in the Chosŏn Dynasty is not only the single sociocultural condition of Neo-Confucianism, but also the result of adaptation to the geographical environment. For an empirical argument for this, an anthropogeographical case study is conducted on Darsil Village, one of Korea's representative yangban villages.