Community of Parting (2019) traces a different approach to borders, translation, and aesthetic mediation by invoking the ancient shamanic myth of the Abandoned Princess Bari and engaging female Korean shamanism as an ethics and aesthetics of memory and mutual recognition across time and space. Rooted in oral storytelling and embodied by female shamans, the myth about … [Read More]
Category: Religion and philosophy
Histories of Philosophies in the Peripheries: The Case of Korea
There is still no standard work on the history of Korean philosophy in a Western language. Even in Korea, there is no general consensus on whether premodern intellectual traditions in Korea qualify for a history of philosophy: a well-known situation for us working in global or intercultural philosophy. However, a distinctive Korean interest in philosophical … [Read More]
Seminar: The Political and Social Role of Confucian Thoughts in Koryŏ Dynasty
How did bureaucrats as intellectuals ruling Koryŏ dynasty (918~1392 C.E.) shape their political thoughts to govern the country and what kinds of thoughts influenced them? This talk will try to find the answer. Koryŏ dynasty located on the Korean peninsula is generally regarded as a Buddhist society. Of course, people of Koryŏ dynasty lived their … [Read More]
When a PowerPoint presentation can hold your attention for almost two hours…
How long is it since the time when we could go in person to a talk given by a real person in an actual physical room? I reckon it’s around 15 months. Since the beginning of March last year, Zoom has been the norm. Online talks do have advantages over a traditional lecture theatre: you can … [Read More]
Online talk: Korean Neo-Confucianism and its Shrines
This is a first for LKL. After more than 15 years online, we’re organising our first ever event! Having sat through rather too many online seminars which I logged on to because they happened to be available, I suddenly realised that I really didn’t find many of them all that interesting. And then I discovered … [Read More]
Book review: Christopher Lovins on King Chŏngjo
Thus far this year I’ve been focusing on literature in translation. As I wait for the next major wave of publications to hit the shops, I’ve turned my attention to non-fiction. And the first title I reached for was Christopher Lovins’s King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea, which came out in paperback … [Read More]
Nine Confucian academies listed at UNESCO
For visitors to Korea (such as myself) who like to try to get round all the UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, the list just got longer. On Saturday 6 July, the World Heritage Committee included nine Seowon, or Neo-Confucian Academies, in the list. The nine seowon are dotted around the central and southern parts of the … [Read More]
2019 Travel Diary #4: Seosan – Haemi Eupseong and Gaesimsa
Sunday 5 May 2019. My leisurely weekend in Taean was coming to an end, but Chris and Eunok are always generous enough to take me the scenic route to Cheonan Asan station before I catch the KTX down south. We had a relatively early start to the day: we wanted plenty of time to get … [Read More]
2018 travel diary 3 – The Smile of Baekje
10 – 11 November 2018. My trips to Korea are usually preceded by a hurried piece of research on the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) website trying to find out what notable items of tangible or intangible heritage, or what other historic or scenic sites there might be, to attract an inquisitive traveller to the places … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: Shamans and Confucian Public Officials
The first SOAS seminar of the month: Shamans and Confucian Public Officials: Religion and Social Recognition in Korea Dr Antonio J. Domenech (Universidad de Málaga) Friday 1 March 2019, 5:15pm Room B104, Brunei Gallery, SOAS University of London This seminar is free, but registration is required. Register here Abstract The general objective of this presentation … [Read More]
Lee Geonyong receives Thomas Cranmer Award
Congratulations to Dr Lee Geonyong, director of music at Seoul’s Anglican Cathedral, granted the Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 6 April 2018. The Cranmer Award for Worship was first awarded by Archbishop Justin Welby in March 2016. It is named after Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to … [Read More]
The LKL quiz of the year 2017
I’m currently going through my 2017 press cuttings and trying to make sense of them, in the hope that as in (some) previous years I’ll be able to pull together a series of posts summarising some of the most newsworthy stories of the year. In case I don’t manage to get that done (after all, … [Read More]
Becoming Who I Was gets brief theatrical release – catch it while you can!
Jeon Jin’s and Moon Chang-yong’s documentary Becoming Who I Was screened at the London Film Festival back in October. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but it made quite an impression on me, and it ended up being one of my films of the year. My brief review is here. Do try and catch this … [Read More]
Festival film review: Becoming who I was
Nine years ago Moon Chang-yong and Jeon Jin were in Ladakh, Kashmir – a mountainous region 100 miles or so northeast of where the Dalai Lama lives, and less than 50 miles from Tibet’s westernmost extremity. They were filming a documentary about practitioners of traditional medicine in the various regions of Asia. Their subject was … [Read More]
2017 travel diary 5: Wolbong’s hermitage and Buddha’s Birthday at Bongamsa
Mungyeong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Wednesday 5th May 2017, 4am. An early start this morning is required to beat the crowds. Slightly groggy, Master Oh, Kyung-sook and I drag ourselves into the car at 4:30am and drive for half-hour or so to Bongamsa. We get the last space in the temple’s car park. Even at that time in the … [Read More]
HTB warns against Korean “cult”
An exclusive in yesterday’s Telegraph reports that Holy Trinity Brompton, among other evangelical churches, is warning against a group called Parachristo which is said to have links to ‘a controversial South Korean group known as Shincheonji (SCJ) – or the “New Heaven and New Earth” church (NHNE) – whose founder Man-Hee Lee is referred to … [Read More]