조선후기 오천정씨(烏川鄭氏) 가문의 전통 발견 - 정습명(鄭襲明) 묘단(墓壇) 설치를 중심으로

Abstract

One of the research topics related to the local community movement during the late Choson period that can be further explored is the clans’ activities in their respective country districts in Korea. These activities have been analysed as methods through which exercises were developed to alleviate the social hierarchy that had developed among the different clans. However, when it comes to hegemony and tradition, this research frame may also be applicable to Hobsbawm’s structure. His key concepts related to tradition and invention cope with how to figure out hegemony and power relations and contain both political and social aspects. For this reason, the case of Korea has been examined to employ the invention of tradition in the case of the Ohchǒn-Jung clan . The founder of the Ohchǒn-Jung clan was Jung Seup-Myung (鄭襲明); his clan worked to carry out the clan’s unique priority compared with that of the other Jung clans which were founded by others. They established the Ohchǒn Sǒwon (烏川書院) with the founder’s spirit tablet and periodically held memorial services during the 17th century. Furthermore, they also built the founder’s ancestral shrine, as the burial sight was not clearly identified. This event took place at the next centenary. The Ohchǒn-Jung clan invented their tradition with a heavy emphasis on loyalty; Ohchǒn (烏川) was the place of their origin. Loyalty was one of the core concepts of the neo-Confucianism that became the national institutional policy, and Ohchǒn was a social differentiation campaign that distinguished this clan from the other Jung clans. These traditional concepts are also associated with Jung Mong-Ju (鄭夢周), as he was regarded as the author of many of the tenets of neo-Confucianism; he was also the descendant of Jung Seup-Myung, who lived in Ohchǒn. In conclusion, the Ohchǒn-Jung clan invented their tradition and implemented their system of political and social hegemony as a reflection of these events and concepts.