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Contextualizing Cyber Memorial Zones in Korea

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DIGITAL SPIRITUALITY AND GOVERNMENTALITY: CONTEXTUALIZING CYBER MEMORIAL ZONES IN KOREA1 A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Joon Seong Lee August 2006 This dissertation entitled DIGITAL SPIRITUALITY AND GOVERNMENTALITY: CONTEXTUALIZING CYBER MEMORIAL ZONES IN KOREA by JOON SEONG LEE has been approved for the School of Telecommunications and the College of Communication by Karen Riggs Professor of Telecommunications Gregory J. Shepherd Dean, College of Communication Abstract LEE, JOON SEONG, Ph.D., August 2006, Mass Communication DIGITAL SPIRITUALITY AND GOVERNMENTALITY: CONTEXTUALIZING CYBER MEMORIAL ZONES IN KOREA (203 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Karen Riggs This is an interdisciplinary study in which the fields of media studies, religion, and political economy are integrated from the perspective of cultural studies. This study explores how shamanism, the indigenous belief system in Korea, has been revived as the dynamics of shamanic inheritance with the advancement of cybercultures in Korea. Cyber memorial zones, as an apparatus of Korean cybercultures, testify to the rebirth of shamanism in the form of digital spirituality. With the historical consideration of Korean shamanism, which has been oppressed and marginalized by the ruling classes, this study attempts to understand the rebirth of shamanism as the empowerment of the Korean populace. The notion of digital spirituality is significant as an instrumental tool to better understand the relations of Korean cybercultures and other cultural contexts. By examining the construction of digital spirituality in various cyber memorial zones, this study articulates the different power tensions lying within socio-political and cultural contexts in Korea. Cultural studies was adopted as the methodology of this research for contextualizing cyber memorial zones in the different contexts and articulating their power relations, especially between Korean cybercultures and the new culture of death. By doing so, this study explores the relations of technologies of the Korean people’s self and those of government domination. Textual analysis, online and in- depth interviews, and participant observation were selected as the methods and were used circumstantially. This research finds that cyber memorial zones are the outgrowth of the combination of the government-driven information policy and the rebirth of shamanism as inherited dynamics. Cyber memorial zones have multiple facets that reflect not only the technologies of the empowered Korean populace’s self but also the power of capital flow that deterritorializes the rite of death. Cyber memorial zones also mirror technologies of government domination that enhance capital flow. Technologies of the Korean populace’s self, although empowered through the cyber cultural contexts, do not seem to be counter-technologies in response to the power of capital flow and the technologies of government domination. Approved: Karen Riggs Professor of Telecommunications Dedication For Heajin, forever my love and an embodiment of Dharma Kaya Buddha. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank all of my committee members: Dr. Karen Riggs, my advisor: Dr. Mia Consalvo, Dr. Ted Striphas, and Dr. Justin McDaniel for their considerate support, without which this project could not have been completed. With the expertise of media studies, cultural studies, and religious studies, the committee members allowed me to challenge the exploration of digital spirituality, a new dimension of spirituality, and its relevance to Korean cultural contexts with an interdisciplinary approach. I am also grateful to the users of cyber memorial zones who have been very cooperative in helping me deal with very delicate subject of this project: the death of loved ones and memorial letters. Although I was contacted them only through email or telephone, they showed frankness to my inquiries, which made this project dynamically progress. I express my deep gratitude to Heajin, my wife, whose love and support helped me to complete this journey. Heajin has always encouraged me whenever I encountered the difficulties of advancing in this work and became frustrated. I would like to dedicate this work to Heajin, who has kept me from the difficulties as an embodiment of Dharma Kaya Buddha. 7 Table of Contents Page Abstract............................................................................................................................. 3 Dedication......................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 9 Playing with Puzzles........................................................................................... 10 Research Questions............................................................................................. 23 Methodology and Methods ................................................................................. 24 Chapter 2. Historical Considerations of Control in the Korean Funeral Culture............ 37 Shamanism and Korean Funeral Culture ............................................................ 37 Historical Consideration of Control On the Korean Funeral Culture................. 46 Governmentality on the Korean Funeral Culture in Modernity.......................... 59 Chapter 3. Cybercultures and the Change of the Funeral Culture in Korea ................... 73 The Emergence of Cybercultures in Korea......................................................... 74 The New Funeral Culture and Cyber Memorial Zones ...................................... 87 Chapter 4. Korean Cyber Memorial Zones and Dynamics of Shamanic Inheritance... 101 Different Categories Various Dynamics........................................................... 101 Individually-Oriented Zones............................................................................. 103 Individually-Oriented Zones as Spaces for Women ......................................... 112 Individually-Oriented & Commercially-Driven Zones .................................... 119 Celebrity- & Commercially-Driven Zones ....................................................... 125 Celebrity Driven- & Individually-Oriented Zones ........................................... 128 Socio-Politically-Oriented Zones...................................................................... 130 Socio-Politically-Oriented- & Celebrity-Driven Zones.................................... 137 Chapter 5. Exploring Construction of Digital Spirituality............................................ 143 Spirituality and Digital Spirituality................................................................... 143 Characteristic 1: Digital Spirituality and Dynamics of Shamanic Inheritance. 151 Characteristic 2: Digital Spirituality and Liminality in CMR .......................... 158 Characteristic 3: Cyber Memorial Zone as Yosungjang, Space for Woman.... 164 Characteristic 4: Digital Spirituality and Governmentality .............................. 168 Chapter 6. Interpretation ............................................................................................... 183 References..................................................................................................................... 193 8 List of Figures Figure Page 1. A Frame of an Altar in Cyber Memorial Zone ................................................... 10 Retrieved July 2005 from http:// www.memorial-zone.or.kr 2. A Shamanism Promoting Website...................................................................... 11 Retrieved October 2005 from http://www.shaman.co.kr/index.php3 3. Cheering Crowds Summer 2002......................................................................... 16 Retrieved November 2005 from http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/dmx2000_92916_1[1].jpg 4. Two Teen-age Girls Killed by a US Armored vehicle ....................................... 16 Retrieved April 2006 from http://cafe.daum.net/dlrtn44 5. Mourning Crowds Winter 2002 ......................................................................... 17 Retrieved April 2006 from http://image.ohmynews.com/down/article_images/1/126/newmoon_117057_1[ 13].jpg 6. Cyber Memorial Zones on a TV program........................................................... 21 Retrieved May 2006 from http://www.chungahpark.co.kr/article_movie/movie/pds/chungahmovie/아리 랑 TV-Click!DigitalKorea.mpg 7. Dimension of Liminality in Computer Mediated Ritual................................... 160 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION One evening early in autumn 2002 I was sitting in the school library, surfing the Net to find a research topic for a term paper. By chance I found a Korean memorial website called Cyber Memorial Zone operated by the Seoul city government. In a section titled “The Post Office in Heaven,” I found thousands of memorial letters, including this one: Dear Dad, How are you? We have heavy snow today. All the places of the city were laden with the snow. Feeling the snow falling down on my shoulders, I remembered the time when
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