(Research has been funded by the DAAD)

In Korea, a newly-industrialized nation with a rapid developing IT-technology, shamanism is enjoying a revival as a uniquely Korean cultural heritage. The new presence of shamans in TV, World Wide Web, on stage and the public practice in urban districts, national shrines, mountain areas or village festivals reflects significant legal and social changes in Korean society's attitude toward its own widespread shamanist traditions.

The ethnographic research examines the place of shamans within contemporary society, exploring shamanism as a cultural practice in which people and shamans make use of shamanic ritual and construct a new collective identity, popular culture and, in a more artistic context, performing arts.

Particularly, with regard to the self-portrayal of shamans in the World Wide Web an analysis of modern shamanism necessarily requires a research about self-conceptions and the concepts of public relation.

The question if Korean shamanism is part of the global phenomenon of the revival of ethnicity and cultural nationalism or just a phenomenon of cultural conservation that is used for tourist purposes or visual art, demands an answer that investigates the relation between shamans and clients, shamans and the new developed ritual industry in urban contexts and shamans and their media skills.

Supervisor: Susanne Schröter
Researcher: Dirk Schlottmann

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