@article{ART003271748},
author={kang ji-yeon},
title={The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut},
journal={The Research of the Korean Classic},
issn={1226-3850},
year={2025},
number={71},
pages={33-64}
TY - JOUR
AU - kang ji-yeon
TI - The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut
JO - The Research of the Korean Classic
PY - 2025
VL - null
IS - 71
PB - The Research Of The Korean Classic
SP - 33
EP - 64
SN - 1226-3850
AB - This study analyzes the process and effects of mourning performed in ritual by drawing on Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and the concept of ‘translation’. The purpose of the Muhon-gut is to console the deceased and enable the bereaved family and community to mourn the death. Focusing on photographic materials from a Jeju Muhon-gut held in 1981 and video materials from a Sewol Ferry Muhon-gut conducted at Jeju Tapdong Plaza in 2014, this study examines the translation of mourning and its effects within the relational networks formed by human and non-human actors.
From the ANT perspective, the world always exists as a hybrid world composed of humans and materials. From this ANT perspective, shamanic rituals contribute to dynamically understanding the form of the gut as multiple heterogeneous actors form networks. In the Muhon-gut, human actors include the shaman (somi), musicians, and shamans (simbang) who perform or support the gut's progression, as well as the bereaved families and villagers directly participating in the gut, and the photographers and participants documenting the ritual site. Moreover, the diverse materials used in the ritual not only represent the presence of the deity but also, in conjunction with all actors, reveal the network of the ritual itself. Thus, in the spirit-less ritual, the practice of mourning is continuously generated and reconfigured through the interactions of various actors, ceaselessly creating new mourning subjects.
The mourning practiced within the network of the Muhon-gut can be understood not as a temporary feeling or experience, but as a dynamic process and relational practice. First, the Muhon-gut evokes affective effects within the process of interaction among actors possessing different natures and attributes. This affect is practical in that it transforms the emotions of despair and grief into a will for new life. Second, the Muhon-gut's network translates the incomplete death of ta drowned person into a mournable event. Thus, the deceased's existence is salvaged, summoned, and reconstituted as a being to be guided to the afterlife within the ritual. Third, through the connection of technical non-human actors, the mourning of the Muhon-gut is inscribed into media environments like online platforms. This network not only captures and stores mourning within the medium but also materializes it, rendering it a sensuous entity.
In the Muhon-gut, mourning manifests not as a simple act of recollection to remember the deceased, but as a relational practice that seeks to reconstruct and sustain the relationship with the deceased. The Muhon-gut's network holds significance as a practical act that forms a new order connecting life and death, reconfiguring the mode of existence of the deceased.
KW - Jeju Muhon-gut;Sewol ferry Muhon-gut;Actor-Network Theory;translation;mourning;affect;inscription;materiality
DO -
UR -
ER -
kang ji-yeon. (2025). The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut. The Research of the Korean Classic, 71, 33-64.
kang ji-yeon. 2025, "The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut", The Research of the Korean Classic, no.71, pp.33-64.
kang ji-yeon "The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut" The Research of the Korean Classic 71 pp.33-64 (2025) : 33.
kang ji-yeon. The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut. 2025; 71 : 33-64.
kang ji-yeon. "The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut" The Research of the Korean Classic no.71(2025) : 33-64.
kang ji-yeon. The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut. The Research of the Korean Classic, 71, 33-64.
kang ji-yeon. The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut. The Research of the Korean Classic. 2025; 71 33-64.
kang ji-yeon. The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut. 2025; 71 : 33-64.
kang ji-yeon. "The Performance of Jeju Muhon-gut and Mourning Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) -Based on the Case of Jeju and Sewolho Muhon-gut" The Research of the Korean Classic no.71(2025) : 33-64.
