[KS] Origin of term "자연부락"?

[Frank Hoffmann]

Hi Tommy:

"자연부락" -- that would be "自然部落," and I doubt that the Japanese 
used that term at all, either in Japan itself or as a replacement of 
the Han'gŭl-only term "마을." This seems rather to be a 1970s term, and 
one that got only REALLY popular since the mid-2000s, always in 
relation to SOUTHERN villages.

If you wonder if that term might have been introduced by the Japanese, 
try to find some textual references from colonial period publications 
-- that would be the first and easiest step to find out. Isn't it?

In the 1930s (and less so in the 1920s already) the Japanese sure 
pushed the idea of "modernized, Japanized, streamlined & efficient 
Korean culture" *vs.* "traditional, folkloristic, inefficient village 
romanticism" -- so, in a way, yes, that concept fits the term, but I 
believe the term itself was not used then. I'd rather speculate it came 
from either the Park Chung Hee party in the 1970s ... basically 
replicating that colonial concept (first museum villages established 
while the Saemaŭl movement was going on), of from Park's critics.


Best,
Frank



On Wed, 29 Jun 2016 14:35:47 -0700, TOMMY TRAN wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> While working on dissertation research in Cheju, a local intellectual 
> and colleague informed me that "자연부락" (or 자연촌락) was a 
> Japanese colonial invention. The term is still used on Cheju among 
> geographers (notably in the 제주도지 [2006]) and for tourism reasons. 
> I was wondering if anyone knows when this term came into being and 
> how long has it been used in Korea. Also, are there any particular 
> books or articles (in Korean or in English) on the topic?
> 
> Best regards,
> Tommy Tran
> Graduate Student
> University of California Los Angeles

--------------------------------------
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreanstudies.com