Ethnography of Community Building and Production of Locality in Contemporary South Korea

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K01211
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 04030:Cultural anthropology and folklore-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Honda Hiroshi 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 教授 (50262093)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 共同体 / ローカリティ / 民族誌 / 韓国 / マウル作り / 脱工業化 / 主体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we ethnographically examined the reconstruction of local communities through 'community-building' projects in contemporary South Korea, and attempted to reexamine sociological and anthropological theories of community based on the research results. In the process of community building, various communities or communalities are conceived, imagined, and practiced through the interaction of highly heterogeneous and diverse actors, including not only local residents but also government agents, intermediary support organizations and local activists. In this process, locality in terms of social network as well as subjectivity is being produced in the ways which are different from those of the early modern local society. As a theoretical framework for understanding this phenomenon, we have proposed 'community as potentiality'.

Free Research Field

社会・文化人類学，韓国社会の民族誌的研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的な意義として，まず現代韓国社会におけるローカル・コミュニティの生成に関する最新の事例研究を行なったこと，ならびにこれを脱工業化の脈絡に位置づけて実践を通じた共同体の生成に関する理論的考察を洗練させたことを挙げられる。社会的意義としては，日韓の共同体運動や共同体活動において，自他の実践を省察的に捉え直すことの助けとなりうる認識枠を洗練させたことを挙げられる。