[KS] {Disarmed} Fwd: [GWIKS] 02/22 Premodern Korea Lecture Series with Sujung Kim

Mon Feb 5 13:06:14 EST 2024

Warding Off Woes: Epidemic Talismans in Choson Buddhism
[image: Warding Off Woes: Epidemic Talismans in Choson Buddhism]
*The Premodern Korea Lecture Series*

*“Warding Off Woes: Epidemic Talismans in Chosŏn Buddhism"*
*Dr. Sujung Kim*

*Associate Professor of Religious Studies, DePauw University*

*Thursday, February 22nd, 202410:00 A.M. – 11:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
(EST)     Virtual Event via Zoom*
Register Here! <https://t.e2ma.net/click/cabr0k/s6egdozf/gdsl7eb>

*Event Description*
“Warding Off Woes: Epidemic Talismans in Chosŏn Buddhism"

Buddhist temples served as hubs for printing in the Chosŏn era, producing a
diverse array of Buddhist woodblocks and prints. Despite their prevalence
and abundance, printed talismans have often been overlooked by Buddhist
historians, dismissed as artifacts of commoner’s interest in worldly
benefits and superstitious beliefs. However, a closer examination reveals
that talismans transcend the surface appearance of illegible inscriptions
on paper strips; instead, they emerge as miniaturized cosmic conduits
channeling sacred knowledge for healing and offer a lens into everyday
Chosŏn life. This talk, informed by William McNeil’s insights into the
interplay between epidemics and religion, focuses on talismans employed as
protective measures against epidemics. By integrating Buddhist doctrines,
medical concepts, visual analyses, and firsthand accounts from Western
visitors to Chosŏn, it offers a comprehensive exploration of the Buddhist
epidemic talismans. The presentation ultimately aims to illustrate the
multiple layers of social connections and coping mechanisms, forged and
fostered by the rich talismanic culture and ritual healing in Chosŏn.
*Speaker*
*Sujung Kim*
*Sujung Kim* is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at DePauw
University. She received her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures
from Columbia University in 2014 and her M.A. in Buddhist Philosophy from
Korea University in 2007. Sujung specializes in Japanese and Korean
Buddhism and is interested in tracing the interaction between Buddhist
cultures using textual and material sources. After her first monograph, *Shinra
Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean”* (University
of Hawai‘i Press, 2019), she is currently working on her second book
project, titled *Korean Magical Medicine: Healing Talismans in Chosŏn Korea*,
which explores socio-cultural, religious, and medicinal roles that paper
talismans played in the everyday life of ordinary people in Chosŏn. This
project is supported by the ACLS/Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation (AY
2021–2022).
*Moderator*
*Jisoo M. Kim*
*Jisoo M. Kim* is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History,
International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George
Washington University. She is Founding Director of the GW Institute for
Korean Studies (2017-Present) and Founding Co-Director of the East Asia
National Resource Center (2018-Present). She also serves as Editor-in-Chief
of the Journal of Korean Studies. She specializes in gender, sexuality,
law, emotions, and affect in Korean history. She is the author of *The
Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea*
(University of Washington Press, 2016), which was awarded the 2017 James
Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is also the
co-editor of *The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation*
by JaHyun Kim Haboush (Columbia University Press, 2016). She is currently
working on a book project tentatively entitled *Criminalizing Intimacy:
Marriage, Concubinage, and Illicit Sex in Chosŏn Korea*. She received her
M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia
University.
Download Program <https://t.e2ma.net/click/cabr0k/s6egdozf/w5sl7eb>

Future Lectures
*Wenjiao Cai*(The University of Pennsylvania)

*Korean Ginseng and the Scale of Environmental Change in Early Modern East
Asia*

March 27, 2024 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EST
Past Lectures
*Graeme Reynolds*(The University of Chicago)

*From Restricted Access to Published Archive: The Circulation of Official
Histories of Koryŏ in Chosŏn (1392–1910)*

November 29, 2023

*Pierre-Emmanuel Roux*(Université Paris Cité)

*Cartography and Contraband Religion in Chosŏn Korea: Andreas Kim Taegŏn
(1821-1846) and his Map of Korea*

September 20, 2023
Watch the lecture here. <https://t.e2ma.net/click/cabr0k/s6egdozf/cytl7eb>
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