Broken Voices Series Editor: Frederick Lau Broken Voices POSTCOLONIAL ENTANGLEMENTS and the PRESERVATION of K OREA’S CENTRAL FOLKSONG TRADITIONS
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Broken Voices Series Editor: Frederick Lau Broken Voices POSTCOLONIAL ENTANGLEMENTS AND THE PRESERVATION OF KOREA’S CENTRAL FOLKSONG TRADITIONS ROALD MALIANGKAY University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu The Korea Foundation has provided financial assistance for the undertaking of this publication project. © 2017 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Maliangkay, Roald, author. Title: Broken voices: postcolonial entanglements and the preservation of Korea’s central folksong traditions /Roald Maliangkay. Description: Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016059836 | ISBN 9780824866655 (cloth; alk. paper) Print 9780824866655 Amazon Kindle 9780824866679 EPUB 9780824866662 PDF 9780824866686 Subjects: LCSH: Folk songs, Korean—20th century—History and criticism. Classification: LCC ML3752.5 .M35 2017 | DDC 782.42/162957—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016059836 An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high-quality books open access for the public good. The open-access ISBN for this book are 9780824878337 (PDF) and 9780824878344 (EPUB). More information about the initiative and links to the open-access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org. The open access version of this book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means that the work may be freely downloaded and shared for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. Derivative works and commercial uses require permission from the publisher. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. For Shuge and Lucas CONTENTS Acknowl edgments ix Romanization and Other Conventions xi Introduction: Promoting Tradition in Korea 1 CHAPTER 1 Colonial Foundations of Korean Cultural Policy 23 CHAPTER 2 Defining Korean Folksongs: Characteristics and Terminology 52 CHAPTER 3 Masculinity in Demise: Sŏnsori sant’aryŏng and Kyŏnggi minyo 73 CHAPTER 4 Embodying Nostalgia: Sŏdo sori 117 Conclusion: Mimicry and Adaptation 149 Appendix: Paebaengi kut 159 Notes 175 Glossary 211 Bibliography 219 Index 241 ACKNOWL EDGMENTS The completion of this book is owed to the kindness of a great many people. Among those who have played a crucial role in my academic life over the years, I wish to first thank Boudewijn Walraven for introducing me to folklore studies and to many a soju- guzzling, chain- smoking, spirit- whispering shaman at the foot of Seoul’s Namsan in the early hours of the weekend. Koen De Ceuster and Remco Breuker crucially guided me further into the world of Korean studies and to many visual, audial, and palatable delights. Nathan Hesselink encouraged me tre- mendously when I set first foot on the shaky ground of academia, and like the others and Keith Howard, he continues to be an inspiration. Keith, my doctoral adviser, never ceases to support and motivate me, for which I am extremely grateful. Jacqueline Vel, Mario Rutten, Willem van Schendel, and Leo Douw provided me with my first institutional home in Amsterdam, a place full of wonderful synergies; one I have become increasingly nostalgic about since leaving for Australia, perhaps because it no longer exists. As soon as I took up a position at the Australian National University, however, I began to make many new friends. Those who have since provided very helpful feedback on my work in general include, in no specific order, Ruth Barraclough, Hyaeweol Choi, Marcus Mietzner, Benjamin Penny, Katarzyna Cwiertka, Theodore Jun Yoo, Stephen Ep- stein, Jo Elfving- Hwang, Ross Tapsell, Michiel Baas, Geng Song, and Tessa Morris- Suzuki. In developing this manuscript in par tic u lar, I am hugely indebted to Clark Sorensen, who graciously dedicated much of his time giving invaluable, detailed advice on many aspects of the first draft. His comments have significantly- im proved my approach t oward vari ous aspects of my work and I hope the changes I made after his review do his efforts justice at least to some degree. My good friend Benjamin also provided sharp and insightful thoughts on one of the chapters. At University of Hawai‘i Press, I was very fortunate to gain the magnificent support of Masako Ikeda, who provided impor tant feedback on my manuscript and ix graciously guided me through the vari ous pro cedures. Kristen Bettcher, fi nally, did an amazing job seeing this book through the production pro cess. The people and institutes who have helped me in K orea are too numerous to mention by name. I wish to sincerely thank, first and foremost, the Korea Foun- dation for its enormous support over the years. I was fortunate enough to re- ceive one of the PhD scholarships it funded through the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and was able to rely on its support for a number of es- sential fieldwork trips. I am again grateful to the Foundation for the subsidy it provided for this publication. Another institute I wish to thank is the National Gugak Center. It has provided many occasions for me to meet people, and even after she took up the role of Director of the Busan National Gugak Center, So Inhwa and her network of peers have continued to go out of their way to respond to my queries and requests. Others who always offered generous assistance and hospitality to me on vari ous occasions include performers Yi Ŭn’gwan, Yi Ŭnju, Muk Kyewŏl, Hwang Yongju, Yi Juna, Pak Chunyŏng, Yu Sangho, and Yu Chisuk, as well as professors Shim Usŏng, Im Tonggwŏn, and Kwŏn Oh Sung. Professor Yi Pohyŏng, in par tic u lar, never seemed to tire of my questions and requests and always welcomed me to his study, where he would dazzle me with fascinat- ing anecdotes and collectibles. Jocelyn Clark gave impor tant advice on my hypotheses, helped me on a few complicated quests, and along with Cecilia Heejeong Kim offered generous scoops of makkŏlli when my battery needed re- charging. Together with her late husband and her d aughters Ji Eun and Chihye, Chŏn Misuk provided a loving home in Seoul, heaps of yummy food, and many hilarious descriptions of Korean culture. Mr. Yi Sŏnggon at the National Folk Museum of Korea made it pos si ble for me to reproduce the beautiful image on this book’s cover, while Mr. Tony Jung was extremely generous with his time helping me with several other illustrations. None of t hese delightful people are responsible for any of the incorrect or uninspiring parts of this book for which I take full responsibility (though, if urged to do so, I might pass the buck to the Boogie, rather than Australia’s sunshine). I owe much gratitude to my f amily for always inspiring and supporting me. They are often missed, in part for their creativity and many passions and for making my work peeves seem so delightfully insignificant. I mention Shuge Wei only at this point, but she comes first in thought. With much love, wit, and care, she has turned my life into an adventure, and I find myself hoping time will slow down. Th ese acknowl edgments would not be complete, however, without an ode to Poktori, who for almost seventeen years accompanied me during my work while reminding me of shared meal times, until he sadly passed away during the final months of writing. Fortunately, Shuge and I were able to welcome an- other amazing boy into our lives not long a fter. I dedicate this book to her and our dearest Lucas, in loving memory of the greatest food thief who ever lived. x Acknowl edgments ROMANIZATION AND OTHER CONVENTIONS Because the official Korean romanization system promulgated at the start of the new millennium can render unfortunate (and in some cases hilarious) con- notations, I use the McCune- Reischauer system instead, albeit in the revised form created by the Korean Ministry of Education in 1988. This allows me to use “shi” for sounds previously transcribed as “si,” which does not represent the actual sound and therefore defeats the main purpose of transcription. I make exceptions in the case of commonly accepted alternative spellings, such as Seoul and Pyongyang, and where Koreans used an alternative spelling of their name in an En glish language publication. In the bibliography references to the latter are listed under that name, followed by a systematic transcription between brackets. In the narrative I retain the order of people’s given and surname as common in what I take to be their country of residence. When referring to place names, I occasionally leave suffixes like— san and - dong untranslated when they are commonly treated as part of the township’s name in Eng lish. When the ver- nacular clearly deviates from the McCune- Reischauer system, such as with words like pohopŏp and Sejon- kut, which the system would have me romanize as pohobŏp and Sejon- gut, I disregard the rules and transcribe the word as I hear it pronounced. Although I add hyphens to separate suffixes from nouns and numbers, the transcription reflects how the sound of the noun’s final conso- nant is inflected when it is followed by the initial vowel of a suffix. Therefore, rather than pohopŏp- ŭi I use pohopŏb- ŭi. In order to avoid confusion I also add a hyphen when a single compound word is separated upon romanization, as in “30- nyŏndae” (1930s) and “1970- nyŏndae” (1970s). I have transcribed Chinese terms according to the pinyin system and Japa nese according to the Hepburn system. All translations are mine u nless other wise specified.