This past November, I gave a TEDx talk on Jeju Island, where I’ve been documenting shamanic shrine culture for the past five years, as you well know if you follow my blog. I talk about my video and photography work and the importance of preserving sacred spaces, many of which are in danger on…
Tag: Anthropology
* visiting Jeju w/ daniel paul marshall
Originally posted on The Influence:
photo by Joey Rositano This week’s post features a poem by Daniel Paul Marshall. Marshall writes about the Haenyeo, female divers from the Korean province of Jeju. The Hangul for the word, (해녀)roughly translates to sea women, and serves as the title for this poem. When I informed Marshall I planned…
Field Notes #2: Saewa Village’s Shamanic Shrines Were Burnt to the Ground
During the Anti-Superstition Movement of the 1970s, over one hundred of Jeju Island’s shamanic shrines were burnt, along with many holy relics. President Park Chung Hee’s government had implemented the misin-tapa as part of the movement for the modernization of South Korea. The aim of the misin-tapa was to eradicate traditional religion from rural communities, replacing it…
Field Notes #1: “Solstice.” (Video)
My documentary on Jeju Island’s shamanic culture (Sprits: The Story of Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines) will debut this September. I’ll be sharing plenty of extras on my youtube channel . I’ve been researching and filming the project for five years, so there is plenty to come. This clip is from a series I’m calling ‘Field Notes’. In…
Year Ender
A brief post on some accomplishments of the last year and future plans for the blog and upcoming projects. THIS YEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS -Sulsaemit Shrine: One of this year’s highlights for sure, helping break the news about former Jukseong Village’s desecrated Sulsaemit Shrine. I helped form a group with the mission to restore the shrine…
Indigenous Islanders are Employing Shamanic Symbolism to Resist Jeju Island’s Proposed 2nd Airport.
Indigenous residents of Jeju Island’s southeastern region are employing traditional shamanic culture to protest the airport that is slated to displace the populations of five villages. So far, the mainstream media outside of Jeju has done little to document resistance to the project. The new airport is opposed by the majority of residents in the…
Jeju’s Shrines Under Attack #2/ Yerae
Check out the first post of this series HERE: Jeju’s Shrines Under Attack #1/ Tears in Seongsan Village After writing the above post on the shamanic shrine that was destroyed in Seongsan Village, an act which left Jeju Island’s famed women divers without a sanctuary in which to pray, I come across yet another disappeared shrine. Like…
Bijinangkae Shrine
Bijinankae Shrine Legend “In Daejeong County you’ll find Bijinanggae Shrine, seated below a great tree, is the shrine Grandmother Goddess. She’s a Grandmother you visit on the 7th day of the Lunar month, come with a pure heart and clean of all taboo. Ask for fortune for your children, if you hold a ceremony here,…
Jeju’s Shrines Under Attack #1/ Tears in Seongsan Village
In the winter of 2013, Sulsaemit Shrine, a traditional place of worship for followers of Jeju Island’s native shamanic religion, was deliberately desecrated at the hands of unknown culprits. I have written about our group’s (the Senjari Rangers) efforts to restore this natural sanctuary where people in the area have worshipped for some hundreds of…
Jeju Island’s Deities #5: Who is the Highest Goddess in the Land? Myoungjinguk Grandmother Goddess, Giver of Life.
“Who is Myoungjinguk Grandmother?” Great Shaman Im looked at me like I was dense. “Myoungjinguk Grandmother,” she said, incredulous, “is the grandmother goddess who came from the sky, the highest grandmother there is. She’s the grandmother who is above everyone on Jeju Island, in Korea, America–she’s the highest in all the world.” I actually hadn’t…
Where Do We Go When We Die? (part 1)/ Jeju Island’s Deities 4: Gangnim, Messenger of Death
The first in a series of posts about Jeju Island’s death deities. Here I present the basic plot points of the Chasa myth. As with all oral myths on the island, a slightly different version is told in each village. These posts are intended to be expanded upon and will eventually contain transcriptions and video…
Spirits: Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines, the Photobook–Ready for Order from Jeju Island
Spirits: Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines, my photobook on Jeju Island’s shamanic shrines is out. I spent four years documenting shrine worship and shamanism on Jeju Island as part of my documentary project Spirits. The photobook features over 220 color photos from the more than 10,000 that I shot during the filming of the documentary. The…
pagans we are 