---

Digital Transmission of Folk Beliefs - Resurgence of Samshin Faith Online

Presented by Lee Kyung-hwa, Research Professor, Chonnam National University.

The event will take place on Jan 14, 5:00 - 6:30pm (LA Time) / 8:00 - 09:30pm (New York Time) / Jan 15, 10:00 - 11:30am (Seoul Time).

ABSTRACT

Historically, Koreans believed they lived under the protection of deities. In the past, it was common to believe that every household was inhabited by divine entities who safeguarded the home and family. These protective entities were believed to possess their own domain, structured according to distinct geographic territories or human communities of various sizes, which often overlapped. In this context, to ensure a peaceful existence, people naturally imagined their lives as being under the influence of multiple deities. Such folk belief naturally diminished with the rapid modernization and decline of the agrarian society in the early 20th century. Today, the folk religion and the imagination attached to it are rarely transmitted, notably in some rural and coastal regions.

The folk belief and the deities that were once believed to be cast into oblivion recently resurfaced in our lives in an unexpected manner, in a place least expected: the Internet. Korean women in their twenties and thirties reanimate, circulate, and transmit the belief system once thought to be lost forever. This time, this doesn’t happen in the traditional/physical community but in the digital realm. Folk beliefs in the Internet era exhibit distinct characteristics, due to the conditions specific to the Internet, where the circulation and transmission of folk beliefs occur.

Among such distinct phenomena, this study aims to examine the various aspects of transmission of the Samshin (Deity presiding over childbirth and nurturing) faith within online communities, particularly in Mom Cafes (online gathering places where mothers and soon-to-be mothers communicate), to explore the new phases where Korean folk belief finds itself.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lee Kyung-hwa is the BK21 FOUR Research Professor in the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Chonnam National University. She earned her Ph.D. from Korea University with a dissertation titled "Literary and Ritualistic Formations of Household Deity Beliefs." Her primary research focus is on myth chanted during Korean shamanic rituals. By examining the lives and perceptions of deities reflected in narrative shaman songs, her research aims to understand the lives of ancient people who lived amidst numerous gods.