02/04/2026
VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY IN JEJU | April 18-20, Jeju Island, South Korea
🔸The Ethnographic Observation of Memorial Sites in Jeju🔸
Jeju Island is a significant location of state violence and atrocities in the history of contemporary South Korea, where more than fourteen thousand civilians were officially confirmed to have been killed by the state’s law enforcement and military. The April 3rd Incident, aka the April 3rd Uprising, occurred before and during the Korean War, as part of the ideological conflict that led to a notorious “hot” war during the Cold War. Since democratization, the South Korean government and Jeju’s provincial government have commemorated the event and honored the victims’ memory. The workshop participants will visit several memorial sites on Jeju and observe the landscapes of mourning, healing, and reconciliation. We will use cameras and walking methods with photos and/or videos.
🔸Observing and Filming the Diving Gut Ritual in Haenwon-ri Fishing Village🔸
‘Gut’ is a traditional shamanistic practice in Korea that is believed to connect the dead and the living. On Jeju Island, fishing villages perform diving gut rituals to mourn the victims of the April 3rd Incident. Haenyo, the professional women divers who go deep into the sea to collect abalones or sea cucumbers, are the main agents of these rituals. The IVSA South Korea Group has contacted a fishing village fraternity to see if they could visit the village and observe the ritual next year, and received a positive response. The workshop will visit Haengwon-ri village on April 19th.
🔸Lecture on Religious Rituals for Social Healing:🔸
The workshop will invite an ethnologist who has studied shamanism and rituals on Jeju Island to gain more contextual understanding of the social healing practices related to past atrocities.
🔸Ethics in Visual and Sensory Methods Training and Practices:🔸
As a pre-ethnography program, the workshop will feature a series of lectures on visual and sensory methods, along with ethical guidelines for participants, many of whom will be graduate students and early-career scholars.
Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ivsa-40th-anniversary-activity-ivsa-kr-visual-ethnography-in-jeju-tickets-1983431909233
Image: Jeju Studies Archives
