Understanding modern Korea through oral testimonies

Abstract

The story of a people’s lives can be read as the story of the place in which they live. In April 2012 I conducted research in the cities of Seoul, Gwangju, Mohyeon and surrounding areas in South Korea. I collected personal narratives from the residents of these areas in an effort to understand how Korea has been and is ruled, and the social ordering of the South Korean society. This paper argues that oral testimonies are an invaluable source of information on a society and that the collective autobiograp hies of a people can be translated into the biograp hy of their nation. I show that the narratives of the people of South Korea offer insightful reading into the development of the nation over the years and are an important archive of the social history of this society