@article{ART003313491},
author={LEE TAEJUN},
title={Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store},
journal={Journal of Humanities},
issn={1598-8457},
year={2026},
number={100},
pages={557-598}
TY - JOUR
AU - LEE TAEJUN
TI - Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store
JO - Journal of Humanities
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 100
PB - Institute for Humanities
SP - 557
EP - 598
SN - 1598-8457
AB - This paper reconstructs memories and oral histories to define the Sampoong Department Store disaster as a social catastrophe with a particular focus on analyzing its gendered dimensions. Families of the missing confronted a disaster site where initial response efforts were inadequate. They took collective action to find their loved ones. The bereaved families engaged in a struggle for political mourning. At that time, female members of bereaved families, dressed in mourning attire, came to the fore.
Female bereaved family members have been marginalized in family discussions over mourning. The differing experiences assigned according to gender are rooted in the perception that “women are weak” and in the bereaved male family members’ “distorted attempts to protect female relatives.” Meanwhile, the victims experienced disruptions in mourning under the norms of patrilineal descent and heterosexuality.
A mother who participated in the Disaster Victims Network interpreted her own suffering within the genealogy of social disasters and became an agent of solidarity with other disaster survivors. Meanwhile, another mother practiced mourning by cleaning a memorial tower. For the public commemoration of the disaster, the government must institutionalize the maintenance of the memorial tower. Furthermore, society must listen to the memories of the Sampoong disaster to facilitate collective mourning.
KW - Sampoong Disaster;Bereaved Family Movement;Gender;Vulnerability;Social Mourning;Maternal Thinking
DO -
UR -
ER -
LEE TAEJUN. (2026). Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store. Journal of Humanities, 100, 557-598.
LEE TAEJUN. 2026, "Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store", Journal of Humanities, no.100, pp.557-598.
LEE TAEJUN "Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store" Journal of Humanities 100 pp.557-598 (2026) : 557.
LEE TAEJUN. Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store. 2026; 100 : 557-598.
LEE TAEJUN. "Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store" Journal of Humanities no.100(2026) : 557-598.
LEE TAEJUN. Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store. Journal of Humanities, 100, 557-598.
LEE TAEJUN. Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store. Journal of Humanities. 2026; 100 557-598.
LEE TAEJUN. Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store. 2026; 100 : 557-598.
LEE TAEJUN. "Bereaved Families’Movement and Gendered Memory of the Collapse of Sampoong Department Store" Journal of Humanities no.100(2026) : 557-598.
