가거도와 만재도의 갯밭공동체와 무레꾼 연구

Abstract

People of Islands Gageo-do and Manje-do call the coastal area of them with rocks gaetbat (a field along the seashore), where people gather sea vegetables such as sea mustard and Hizikia fusiformis. The coastal areas refer to a place where native people called Mureggun still work. Due to a close distance between two islands, they set up a marriage network and show a similar occupation distribution against the sea. However, a difference is shown between two islands in the characteristics and activity patterns of Mureggun, which raises intriguing questions. The main difference between Muregguns of Gageo-do and Manje-do is that they have created their own Mureggun culture while leading different activities depending on their ecological environment given. This brings about critical thinking on Haenyeo approaches to problems of Muregguns, which are conventional perspectives that mainly focus on Haenyeo in Jeju-do and seafood gathering. In particular, the fact that female Muregguns of Gageo-do gradually should work in deeper water due to change in external factors can lead to speculation on changed diving work gradually transformed from collaborative work between men and women into female work. Further, activities of Muregguns in both islands are a primitive form of diving that does not undergo modifications of nowadays’ commodity economy, which enables us to identify a value of Muregguns in the economic relations of the community. This research deserves attention in that it targets Muregguns as a research subject that has not drawn attention in existing diving labor research. In-depth preparation and research conducted on Ethnography reporting such cases will contribute to research advance on livelihood culture of fishermen who make a living on the sea.