Meaning of Housing Through Oral Life History : Experience of an Old Woman Living in an Old House for more than 80 Years

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the meaning of housing through an oral life history of an old woman who was born in an old house and survived Japanese military occupation and Korean War in 1950s, and lived in the old house for more than 80 years. To this end, the study used D. G. Mandelbaum’s framework of analysis such as dimensions of life, turnings and adaptation. In the dimensions of life, the house is ‘a space where she should live eternally’ as well as a space identified with its holder and her family. At the turning point, she could have two events to change her perception of housing in her life story. At the life of adaptation, she actively involves to strengthen the solidarity between residents and local community to publicize the value of preservation of her house. Her current perception and action regarding the house are clearly distinguished from her past experiences. This paper identifies and uncovers the layered experiences of an old woman who expresses her house as ‘an original root’, and she perceives that ‘the house’ is a medium for preservation of the family and its members, and that ‘the house’ is the only space, everything that she can rely on.