조선시대 제주도 풍속을 둘러싼 이념과 정책

Abstract

In this paper, I examine how the intellectuals of the Joseon Dynasty accounted for the customs of Jeju Island and attempted to improve it. First, Joseon Dynasty intellectuals termed the superstitions, funeral rites, married priests, incest, polygamy, remarriage, buying or selling one’s family members, the physical exposure of women, and other practices found on Jeju Island as evil customs. Following Confucian ideology, these customs were prohibited. Second, the Joseon intellectuals assessed Jeju customs in a different way, through a one-sided comparison with a mainland Confucian frame. These assessments were standardized and reproduced in Chinese literacy, and they created the Joseon image of Jeju Island as a fixed culture. Third, during the Joseon Dynasty, the indigenous rulers of Jeju Island intervened heavily in policies to improve customs, and they sought balance between the mainland and Jeju while maintaining their own vested rights as an intermediate zone of cultural and linguistic significance. These policies of improvement of customs were inherited as legends with certain motifs, accompanied by the names of the regional ministers. In such legends, customs improvement policies and shamanism were characterized in a confrontational way, and the permeation of the customs of mainland and resistance to them were absorbed into collective memory. This indicates the meaning of the customs improvement policy for the people of Jeju during the Joseon Dynasty.