@article{ART002674121},
author={Youm, Wonhee},
title={The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales},
journal={DONAM OHMUNHAK},
issn={1229-2117},
year={2020},
volume={38},
pages={109-140},
doi={10.17056/donam.2020.38..109}
TY - JOUR
AU - Youm, Wonhee
TI - The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales
JO - DONAM OHMUNHAK
PY - 2020
VL - 38
IS - null
PB - The Donam Language & Literature
SP - 109
EP - 140
SN - 1229-2117
AB - This study set out to examine the patterns of issues around childbirth and discuss their cultural meanings based on childbirth-related tales by reviewing tales about conception dreams, wish for a son, taboos during pregnancy, and hard labor in the Comprehensive Collection of Korean Folklore Literature. Tales about conception dreams and wish for a son project desperate wish for pregnancy, addressing a wish for a son. In the end, however, they contain an intention to solve the issue of uncertain possibilities of pregnancy. Tales about taboos during pregnancy serve as norms that should be kept during pregnancy and reveal the traditional society’s ambivalent and subversive consciousness of women and childbirth. These tales depict pregnant women being subordinate to their fetuses under the regulation that they should be careful about all of their acts for their fetuses. This is also found in tales about hard labor, which present mothers, the subjects of pain, as tools of childbirth. It is male family members that express how sorry they are about mothers’ hard labor such as their husbands and fathers-in-laws. The mothers themselves are excluded from this. Hard labor also functions as a task to display a superb doctor’s talent. The present study looked into childbirth tales and found that the issues of women’s anxiety about pregnancy, pain of hard labor, and the alienation of mothers that were subjects of pregnancy had continued till today. The establishment of the right childbirth culture is expected to understand continuity from the traditional childbirth formalities to modern medicine for childbirth.
KW - childbirth culture;childbirth rituals;maternity medical care;Tae- mongdam;Gijadam;taboos on pregnancy;hardships
DO - 10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
ER -
Youm, Wonhee. (2020). The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales. DONAM OHMUNHAK, 38, 109-140.
Youm, Wonhee. 2020, "The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales", DONAM OHMUNHAK, vol.38, pp.109-140. Available from: doi:10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
Youm, Wonhee "The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales" DONAM OHMUNHAK 38 pp.109-140 (2020) : 109.
Youm, Wonhee. The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales. 2020; 38 109-140. Available from: doi:10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
Youm, Wonhee. "The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales" DONAM OHMUNHAK 38(2020) : 109-140.doi: 10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
Youm, Wonhee. The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales. DONAM OHMUNHAK, 38, 109-140. doi: 10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
Youm, Wonhee. The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales. DONAM OHMUNHAK. 2020; 38 109-140. doi: 10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
Youm, Wonhee. The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales. 2020; 38 109-140. Available from: doi:10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
Youm, Wonhee. "The Patterns and Meanings of Childbirth-Related Tales" DONAM OHMUNHAK 38(2020) : 109-140.doi: 10.17056/donam.2020.38..109
