Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance
Site-specific expressive ecologies sustain Korean folk culture in a globalizing world

The madang is a key space and concept for Korean drummers and dancers. Literally a village circle, the madang is also a metaphor for an expressive occasion or cultural space of embodied participation. Korean performers step in the madang as a means of bringing their bodies into purposeful contact with the particular time and place of performance. Kwon contends that the participatory way of being that is cultivated in the madang counteracts the fossilization of tradition by bringing folk practices more fully into the embodied present, even if in an idealized fashion. The madang draws attention to the body; it increases one's awareness of space and place; and it creates open-ended performances that are conducive to a more dynamic range of social interactions. The book starts with a study of a Korean p'ungmul group that maintains a vibrant, expressive ecology in rapidly globalizing Korea. Kwon documents how historical trends, transmission practices, communal labor, and performative ritual all support this expressive ecology. The book then examines how these practices inspire meaningful, site-focused expressions of folk culture in regional, national, and transnational spaces.

1144701308
Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance
Site-specific expressive ecologies sustain Korean folk culture in a globalizing world

The madang is a key space and concept for Korean drummers and dancers. Literally a village circle, the madang is also a metaphor for an expressive occasion or cultural space of embodied participation. Korean performers step in the madang as a means of bringing their bodies into purposeful contact with the particular time and place of performance. Kwon contends that the participatory way of being that is cultivated in the madang counteracts the fossilization of tradition by bringing folk practices more fully into the embodied present, even if in an idealized fashion. The madang draws attention to the body; it increases one's awareness of space and place; and it creates open-ended performances that are conducive to a more dynamic range of social interactions. The book starts with a study of a Korean p'ungmul group that maintains a vibrant, expressive ecology in rapidly globalizing Korea. Kwon documents how historical trends, transmission practices, communal labor, and performative ritual all support this expressive ecology. The book then examines how these practices inspire meaningful, site-focused expressions of folk culture in regional, national, and transnational spaces.

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Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance

Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance

by Donna L. Kwon
Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance

Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance

by Donna L. Kwon

Hardcover

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Overview

Site-specific expressive ecologies sustain Korean folk culture in a globalizing world

The madang is a key space and concept for Korean drummers and dancers. Literally a village circle, the madang is also a metaphor for an expressive occasion or cultural space of embodied participation. Korean performers step in the madang as a means of bringing their bodies into purposeful contact with the particular time and place of performance. Kwon contends that the participatory way of being that is cultivated in the madang counteracts the fossilization of tradition by bringing folk practices more fully into the embodied present, even if in an idealized fashion. The madang draws attention to the body; it increases one's awareness of space and place; and it creates open-ended performances that are conducive to a more dynamic range of social interactions. The book starts with a study of a Korean p'ungmul group that maintains a vibrant, expressive ecology in rapidly globalizing Korea. Kwon documents how historical trends, transmission practices, communal labor, and performative ritual all support this expressive ecology. The book then examines how these practices inspire meaningful, site-focused expressions of folk culture in regional, national, and transnational spaces.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780819501400
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Publication date: 11/05/2024
Series: Music / Culture
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

DONNA LEE KWON is associate professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky and the author of the book, Music in Korea: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (2011).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: Local Transmission and Ritual Performance

Chapter 1. 'In the Actual Cultural Space of Life'

Chapter 2. 'Becoming One' Through Site-Specific Intermodal Transmission

Chapter 3. Cultivating the Village, Preparing for Ritual

Chapter 4. 'Abundant Kut, Abundant Life': The Place of Ritual P'ungmul

Part II: Articulating Regional, National and Transnational Connections

Chapter 5. The madang on the Move

Chapter 6. Creative Korean Performing Arts: Attuning to the Deviating Rhythms of National Urban Spaces

Chapter 7. The Politics of Sounding Space in the Korean American Community

Conclusion

Bibliography

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