Musical Heritage as mediator of dialectic relation in Korea on production and consumption side
Intangible Cultural Heritage(ICH) is distinguished as Representative List and Urgent Safeguarding List, according to UNESCO. One of the Representative List in South Korea is Arirang folk song and it is shared by North Korea, too.
As it transfers from national to international list, the song contributes to construction of peace between different stakeholders of Korea in a conflict situation, particularly in class division, struggle and social dogma.
The scopes of conflict include socio-economical, inter-provincial, and bureaucracy-originated. Those three constituents are all relation-oriented. In Korea, legacy of prior caste system abolished in law. However, still pervasive are social division and discriminations toward minorities.
Within each divided Korea, Arirang consists of about 3600 various versions based on different regions in Korea. It is a symbol of cultural diversity. Then does the representative song contribute to problem solving solutions in social division situations of South Korea?
The history of ICH field is relatively short comparing other cultural fields. When considering community hasn’t been clearly defined in the 2003 convention of UNESCO, what kind of stakeholders would be included and excluded is need to be considered in a community-based approach. In this regard, existing criticism is UNESCO as an international cultural regime and heritage enlisting as political process. Based on the articles i’ve referenced, in ICH field, recent studies are focused on the influence of ratification among six groups of countries and possibility of interdisciplinary study with other fields.
ICH is an inclusive concept as it means knowledge, oral tradition, music, language, etc. As instruments of the convention, music constitutes a key part of heritage studies. Intangibility of heritage is recent paradigm and it has meta cultural nature, which means it goes beyond cultures of community in terms of the UNESCO heritage list is for universal humanity.
In the case of Arirang, as “living heritage”, it has undergone continuous change passing through different generations. Anyone can participate in the change of lyrics and improvisation.
The value of Arirang is identified as the inclusiveness of different categories of identity. Different levels of stakeholders; individuals, the ruling(upper) class, and the nation used Arirang for the reproduction of identity. Particularly, the song was a critical tool for the minor subject who seek inter-subject exchange and diversity.
Under many other ICH domains, performing arts contains many instruments as music is the most universal human expression. In it, the political dimension is more associated with the production side. On the other side, the economical dimension is associated with the consumption side.
As the most popular song in Korea, enjoyment, and consumption of Arirang in certain sub group was depicted by Kim, S. (2020). They consume the song differently from the ruling class. In South Korea, among many versions, currently, 36 versions of Arirang are known.
Mainly, there are four types of Arirang; Jeongseon, Jindo, Milyang, and Bonzo. Heterogeneous local identities based on those different cities(E.g. Jeongseon, Jindo, Milyang) and national identity(E.g. Bonzo) as the main culture transferred into international lists. Main ‘Bonzo’ version goes back to the colonial period of Korea. At that time it was a counter-culture resisting Japan. Under the legacy of imperialism, civil people expressed their emotions through song.
After liberation, the regional version became a subculture resisting the ruling class. It served as media, a lens of mirror of Korean ethnics rather than the message itself. In Marx’s economic-political term ‘the class struggle’, one of the forms of it is ideological.
The meaning of cultural production is controlled by cultural elites in institutions. Lower classes of people struggled with the inability of accessing cultural means. But in the case of Arirang, it provided means for mass to consume the song and reproduce their identities to be connected with national and international institutions up until the present day.
On consumption of heritage side, according to Bak, S. et al., (2019), heritage registration on international list positively influenced to increase of tourism and economic benefit to the 72 countries which ratified 2003 convention. In the case of Safeguarding List tour spot, it needs to be more careful than Representative List. In the literature, the status of tourists was quantified as intervening and control variables. Control variables include individuals’ health, education level, and urban or rural area where they live in.
Tourists who don’t have conditions to travel cannot contribute to an increase in heritage tourism. In the other study by Jeong, S (2019), the author shows that since the liberation of Korea, the skill of Tangible Heritage(TH) and ICH weren’t fully transferred to the young generation in rural areas, particularly Wanju city. As “living heritage”, tangible craft items used in ritual and skill making of it both correlated to individuals’ class and social status.
According to the author, Individuals need to participate in co-curating with older generations and understand intangibility within tangible craft and the relationships between TH and ICH. Traditional musical instruments and the intangible music which operated through the instruments are connected and embodied.
On the other side, political dimension is more associated with production side. Among pieces of literature on heritage production, Oh, J. (2021), Chen, Y. et al. (2020), and Jeong, S. (2019) are the selected ones to answer my question. Registering heritage in the list UNESCO is the production of an institutional system. The designation is the process of acquiring status under the system of international organization. Among countries that ratified the convention, South Korea articulated a debate regarding production side by registering many heritages and researching it.
Contrary to this, the literature discussing questions concerning heritage consumption is Bak, S. et al., (2019) and Kim, S. (2020). The linkage of these kinds of literature are impacts of enlisting individual tourists and practitioners. By using a comparative perspective between production and consumption, it is possible to examine Arirang song as a means of problem-solving solution in Korean society.
On the production side, Oh, J. (2021) inspected research trends and keywords in cultural heritage and anthropology fields from 2002 to 2020. Since the ICH convention in 2003 initiated by UNESCO, articles regarding ICH actively started to be published. When considering the quantified method is relatively rare in the field, this article using quantitative data helps understand the network of articles from international cultural heritage-related journals.
Among analyzed keyword, the most frequent word was “community”, “practice”, and “culture”. The new keyword “safeguarding” was added to the existing analyzed keyword. In particular, in the safeguarding process of practice, community-oriented approach is crucial. The rising importance of safeguarding is reflected in the analysis of the trend. Safeguarding means a more active process with an aim for preservation than the word “preservation” which was used before. The role of transmitters in in regional Arirang community is examined by Oh, J. (2019).
Not only individuals and communities, but also nation-state as a bigger stakeholder employ heritage as a source of power. According to the descriptive analysis of Chen et al. (2020), heritage is the soft power of the country, and it is a part of a nation’s identity. Authors descriptively analyze research trends since agreement of the convention in each region, Asia, Europe, and the United States. Specifically, Asia is focused on the protection side.
Nevertheless scholars in other areas are more focused on critical combinations with other fields. ICH is impacted by modern advancement in society, and for innovation adopting technology is required.
The field became more interdisciplinary. According to the author, the ICH research is unstructured. What this research promotes is the construction of related studies.
In that the song provides means of expression to all kinds of people, it contributes to problem-solving solutions in social division situations in South Korea. ICH nomination affects to increase of tourism, hence it also brings economical benefits (Bak, S. et al., 2019).
The current state of knowledge is divided into producing lists and consuming already listed ones. What I have found is the importance of safeguarding as a process-oriented approach across all generations. Representative list particularly Arirang song includes all classes of people in different areas (Kim, S. 2020).
Its representativeness of all classes, particularly of minority people’s layer adds diversity to authenticity in intangibility and it mediates dialectic relations through its performative practice. Peace can be sustained through respect and coexistence of diversity within society. From these findings, I can answer that it contributes to solving the conflict situation in Korea in case of ICH is safeguarded properly, and involved with multitudinous people.
From this, I can bring that new question as follows; As Korean Society becomes more individualized with the development of social network technology, still musical heritage based on shared identity in community works to mediate conflict situation in recent times? How has the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on musical heritage in Korean Society changed the transmission of Arirang as a “living heritage” in daily life?
Writer: © DahaKim 김다하
References
De-Miguel-Molina, M., & Santamarina-Campos, V. (2021). Conclusions: Music as an Economic, Social, Cultural, Creative and Resilient Activity. Music as Intangible Cultural Heritage Economic, Cultural and Social Identity, 139. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76882-9_9
Sangmee Bak, Chung-Ki Min & Taek-Seon Roh (2019). Impacts of UNESCO-listed tangible and intangible heritages on tourism. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(8), 917-927. DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2019.1658034
Seong-mi Jeong. (2019). (Co-) curating the rural traditions and material culture of villages: a case study in Wanju, Korea. International Journal of Intangible Heritage, 14, 173-185. DOI : 10.35638/ijih.2019..14.010 https://www.ijih.org/volumes/article/845
Oh Jung-shim. (2019). A Study of Intangible Cultural Heritage Communities through a Social Network Analysis-Focused on the Item of Jeongseon Arirang. MUNHWAJAE Korean Journal of Cultural Heritage Studies, 52(3), 172-187. https://doi.org/10.22755/kjchs.2019.52.3.172
Oh Jung-shim. (2021). Research flows and results of studies on intangible cultural heritage: A network analysis of articles in related international journals, 2002–2020. The International Journal of Intangible Heritage, 16, 18-29. DOI : 10.35638/ijih.2021..16.004
Kim Seon-woo. (2020). The Subcultural Characteristics and Consumption Forms of Arirang — With a focus on its history from the Enlightenment period to colonial period — . THE JOURNAL OF MODERN LITERARY THEORY, 81, 31-57. DOI : 10.22273/SMLT.81.2 https://kiss.kstudy.com/thesis/thesis-view.asp?key=3790701
Yulong Chen, Ke Xue & Megan Dai (2020). The academics of Intangible Cultural Heritage – knowledge map analysis based on CiteSpace (2003-2019). International Journal of Intangible Heritage, 15, 181- 198. DOI : 10.35638/ijih.2020..15.012
This piece of writing is really a fastidious one it helps new web visitors, who are wishing for blogging.