Non-Human Creatures in Joseon Wangjo Sillok: Pragmatics, Myth and Morality

Abstract

Abstract From the modern point of view, The Annals of Joseon Dynasty (Joseon Wangjo Sillok 朝鮮王朝實錄)—one of the major literary windows into the discourse at the royal court of premodern and early modern Korea—may appear strongly anthropocentric. The nonhuman dimension is especially underutilized in research on the Joseon era whenever animals and legendary creatures are taken into consideration, as they have often served multiple functions in high-level discussions—for example, as exemplifications of moral judgments, sociocultural “otherness,” or purely within the frameworks of husbandry, taxation, and rural administration. Indeed, a closer look reveals that “miscellaneous” or even “posthuman” topics are often strongly connected with this-worldly attitudes of Joseon-era Confucian scholar officialdom. In this article, the pragmatic aspects of the “birds and beasts,”, including indigenous as well as Chinese nonhumans, and the influence their associated notions exerted on the theory and practice of Joseon’s Confucian statesmanship will be analyzed.