The Story of Jeju, in Pictures

This is the story of an island called Jeju, in the Northern Pacific…

A place like no other, with several thousand years of human civilization in harmony with nature and today the first and only place in the world to receive all 3 UNESCO natural science designations…

And a place in the throes of modernization…

▲…where fields are still cultivated by hand, and labor is nearly always performed communally…not by ‘hired hands’ but villagers who help their neighbor today in the understanding that he or she will in turn be in their field tomorrow, in a system known as mutual aid…

▲…where farms are typically in the benign shadow of an ‘oreum,’ local dialect for the nearly 400 secondary cones that emerged when the central volcano formed this island some 200,000 years ago (last eruption: 1007CE)…

▲…where soil worked for many centuries is now black gold, volcanic soil that once represented hardship because of its stony content, stones cleverly–and laboriously–removed one-by-one to become low stone fences, protecting the soil and plants from the fierce winds that sweep the island–again, cleverly, as the space between stones reduces the wind to a gentle breeze as it passes through the field, and renders the stone wall nearly invincible…

▲…and more black gold at a giant’s feet…

▲…with some creative tilling, always by hand, horse, or hand-driven machinery in these small and often oddly-shaped fields…

▲…where a hiking trail on the ‘oreum’ is likely to require passage through a cow gate…

▲…and one’s trail companions might well be bovine…

▲…where the farmland below can often appear as a beautifully handmade patchwork quilt that tells the story of the people’s lives…

▲…where hiking, and nature, are a daily part of life and the relationship between humans and nature seamless…

▲…where the dead are buried near the living, the gravesite complete with guardians/servants and errand boys, the pillar–one of a pair of grave markers called ‘mangjuseok’ and representing two gates, one for the living and the other for spirit…

▲…an errand boy, one of a pair, called dongjaseok–and the least important of the markers…

▲…a guardian and servant to the deceased, also one of a pair–and the most important of the markers, called ‘muninseok’…

▲…second dongjaseok…

▲…second muninseok…

▲…and the official tombstone, covered in Chinese characters, telling the story of the deceased–identity, accomplishments, and most importantly, lineage, all not so much to memorialize as to introduce the deceased to the spirit world…

▲…and the view from the grave…

▲…and an altar at which to honor the dead…

▲…sometimes, though not often, two family members were buried together, always beneath a grave mound and always surrounded by a low stone fence…

▲…and  at Chuseok, an autumn harvest celebration, the family tends the grave in an annual rite known as bulcho, by cutting and cleaning away the grass and honoring the dead…

▲…and as time passed, the muninseok or guardian/servant was not always included and only the dongjaseok or errand boy and mangjuseok or doorway marker remained–but an errand boy cannot properly serve nor guard the dead…

▲…and in some cases, the dead are relocated to a more propitious site–or, in these modern times, more convenient for the family, and the original grave is left empty…

▲…even though the original site may have been most propitious indeed, with a grand view…

▲…leaving the gravestone, broken, as so much flagstone along a hiking path…

▲…the unsuspecting descendants below…

▲…with the dead overseeing it all…

▲…now with only errand boys and a lineage marker, missing their guardian/servants and the gateway markers of the passage points between the worlds…

▲…and we descend to the world below…

▲…where, sometimes, the trail companions are not bovine but equine…

▲…content, and at ease with humans, a true and faithful companion of Jeju people through the ages, with three varieties: the original Jeju pony; a squat and sturdy horse which is a legacy of the 100-year Mongolian occupation in the 13th century; and, today’s imported thoroughbred…

▲…a place of harmonious existence between human and horse…

▲…where, despite modernization at a breathtaking pace, the ubiquitous stone walls remain…

▲…stone walls that, whether surrounding fields or gravemounds, take some (literal and metaphor) interesting twists and turns…

▲…and, in very modern times, crisply manicured grave mounds all in a row looking sanitized–and segregated from daily life…

▲…inclusive of ‘guardians’ for the patriarch, though now only the decorative sort…

▲…where the fields yet remain rich and fertile…

▲…enriched by the minerals of the volcanic stone and ash…

▲…some graves with modern walls of stone+cement, the wind’s undeniable requirement of passage and the water’s need to breathe forgotten–thus cracking, as is to be expected…

▲…while the ancient techniques of building a stone wall prevail…

▲…and sometimes, though not often, the walls around a grave mound take on a sympathetic circular shape…

▲…a place where that circular shape so common in nature is sometimes reflected in the outline of the fields…

▲…where calves are born in abundance, but sometimes die, leaving the cow (like the one on the right) to bellow incessantly and sniff other nursing calf-cow pairs, in search of her own…

▲…and next to the dairy farm may be the family shrine…

▲…and where graves are typically found in the midst of the fields, sometimes several…

▲…and “crop circles” are merely a farmer’s creativity–and, sense of humor…

▲…where the grave may be the central feature of the field, precisely where a farmer should be laid to rest…and near his family…

▲…where new and old stone fences sometimes meet…

▲…and elaborate family markers are sometimes erected to the dead…

▲…where onions dry in the fields…

▲…and gardens are now sometimes manicured things…

▲…where small farms yet prevail, and garlic dries in mesh bags by the roadside…

▲…and potatoes rest in the field, waiting for the final gathering…

▲…and public schools are elaborate, even in the smallest villages…

▲…where quiet village life is still the norm…

▲…and life has modernized while retaining aspects of the traditional style…

▲…and life in the small village still revolves around the farming fields…

▲…with an occasional home fallen into disuse and utter neglect, reclaimed by nature…

▲…where village life remains behind low stone walls…

▲…and grandfathers spread red algae to dry in the sun, algae likely gathered by their haenyeo (free-diver) wives…

▲…with improvised storage facilities for garlic, potatoes, onions…

▲…and the “olle gil” or walking path found throughout the villages, now lined with cement…which cracks…

▲…a village like so many others on this island, tucked behind stone walls, next to both sea and farm fields, in the shadow of a benevolent giant…

▲…and the small truck used for every need…

▲…and modernized yet small houses retain the flavor of their stone, thatched predecessors…

▲…a place where field work is still done by hand, sometimes augmented by small machinery…

▲…a place where squid is hung on a line to dry, like so much laundry,  the squid boats with their high beams lining up on the sea at night like so many hydro-cars…

▲…and where, at low tide, people comb the seabed for mollusks…

▲…where red algae, a product valued for its medicinal properties, is often found being dried by the sea, in preparation for going to market…

▲…and life revolves around the sea, Seongsan Ilchulbong–a UNESCO-designated 5000-year old tuff cone–presiding in the distance…

▲…an island created by volcano, a world of natural artistry revealed at low tide, where algae and volcanic rock meet…

▲…the red algae sometimes exquisitely colored…

▲…and sometimes looking like a mass of red hair…

▲…with a rocky seabed which, when revealed at low tide, gives strong impression of the ancient lava flow that created this island…

▲…with colorful marine life on a backdrop of volcanic basalt…

▲…and many tiny gold ‘nuggets’, seemingly alive and pliant, which I have yet to identify…

▲…a lone basket left by a haenyeo diving with her ‘sisters’ at sea, her shoes and sundries inside…

▲…sand dunes an uncommon feature in this rock-formed island…

▲…and more mollusk-seekers combing the shallows…

▲…Seongsan Ilchulbong rising over all…

▲…the stunning coastline near Seongsan Ilchulbong…

▲…and a nearby abandoned (house? lookout facility?)…

▲…from which one might peer out to the east through its “eyes”…

▲…which Nature threatens to completely consume…

▲…the local Seongsan Village public shrine/altar, next to the small (house? lookout? altar-keeper?)–and, the sea…

▲…with dual altars inside–and the throngs of Seongsan Ilchulbong tourists kept out…

▲…and the rocky shoreline leading up to what was once a separate tuff cone or parasitic volcanic cone at sea, now connected by land bridge, the majesty of Seongsan evident in the “99″ peaks of her crown…

▲…and another haenyeo facility, just west of Seongsan Ilchulbong…

▲…where a grandmother haenyeo watches over drying red algae…or perhaps merely rests after her morning of diving…

▲…a watery pathway leading to the shore and haenyeo facility, a haenyeo diving in its waters, the ever-present cormorant resting nearby…

▲…haenyeo wetsuits drying in the sun…

▲…an island which includes many Buddhist temples, this one at the base of Seongsan Ilchulbong…

▲…a seaside, open-air, working haenyeo facility to the east of Seongsan Ilchulbong, on Gwangchigi Beach…

▲…unusual rock formations which emerge at low tide, the “gwangchigi” from which this beach derives its name, haenyeo diving in the background, and all at the foot of the queen…

▲…a “4.3″ memorial to victims of a 1948 (~’53) period of violence, a cultural wound yet unresolved…one of many mass graves, this one discovered at Gwangchigi Beach and mentioned by French-Mauritian author and Nobel Prize-winning (2008) J.M.G. Le Clezio, who has stayed on Jeju several times and published an article about the island in GEO, March 2009…

▲…site of 1948 massacre, or mass execution, depending upon one’s ideology…

▲…in nearby Seongsan Village, along a highway, a secret passage so low as to be missed entirely…

▲…a tree growing through it, requiring one to bend low–or, to bow–upon entry (the cement, however, a recent addition)…

▲…to be immediately met with the colorful banners of a small shamanic ‘dang’ or village shrine (aka, ponhyang, or ‘original village’), at which the gods, viewed as ancestors (chosang), are worshipped by the indigenous people (chason), their descendants…

▲…and the sacred tree, conduit between the worlds as in all shamanic traditions, a marriage of tree-and-rock so common on volcanic Jeju, with altar naturally at its base including a still-burning candle, indicating the use of the shrine by shaman (simbang) or devotee (dang-gol) that very day…

▲…the shrine nearly invisible to the public, hidden deep within as one of Jeju’s remaining secret places, garden before, modernity looming overhead, construction foremost…

▲…and the threat to Jeju’s past…and possibly, to its future.

***

This is the story of Jeju Island…

and the story of indigenous peoples and unique, sacred lands…

all over the world.

Women’s Empowerment: Jeju-style, Part 3

(For Parts 1 and 2, see previous posts.)

And so, we can view the 7 Women’s Empowerment Principles within the context of Jeju’s cultural heritage:

1. “Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality”: For Jeju, place emphasis on the traditionally matrifocal and egalitarian cultural principles, reviving and even modernizing the goddess mythology;

2. “Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination”: For Jeju, emphasize the traditional communal labor practices and reorganize them to fit modern society; also, support and increase the current peace and human rights initiatives;

3. “Ensure the health, safety, and well-being of all women and men workers”: For Jeju, expand upon the “eochongye” model of collective economics which also provides for the well-being of its workers, including retirees and those in need; and, provides support to those of lesser skill;

4. “Promote education, training and professional development for women”: For Jeju, continue to emphasize the Confucian value of lifelong education; provide a variety of business and leadership courses for women [such as a recent training course for female CEOs and entrepreneurs, provided by Jeju Small and Medium Business Administration];

5. “Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women”: For Jeju, this is also an expansion of the “eochongye” model, in particular as it relates to the diving women’s economic cooperatives and decision-making processes; additionally, emphasize Jeju women’s self-reliance and independence, and provide networking opportunities;

6. “Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy”: For Jeju, re-conceptualize the island-wide system of small villages with their local councils, applying ideas of “town hall” and “community” also to city life and provincial governance; secondly, make the best use of strong community bonds known as ‘kwendang’; thirdly, support relevant NGOs and similar structures, and develop new ones as needed;

7. “Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality”: For Jeju, utilize and perhaps even coordinate the island’s numerous research institutes [NGOs, private and public] and government initiatives.

**

Each principle can be supported by an existing or traditional feature of Jeju’s culture, if highlighted and enhanced for this purpose. This also reorders features of Jeju’s traditional culture in modern terms, which may serve the purpose of cultural preservation and encourage a renewed value of traditions.

There is no need to invent new ways of empowering women. Nor is it appropriate to import methods from another, remarkably different culture.

Rather, a strengths-based model such as this begins with an analysis of the culture within which women are to be further empowered, looking at both positive and negative features of that culture.

Then, for maximum results and cooperation among both women and men, we must creatively build upon that foundation – finding methods to strengthen women’s position in the society which draw from the attributes that women already have, and other methods to understand, decrease and ultimately eliminate those features which stand in their way.

The most important consideration should be the cultural features to be found in each region.

**

On Jeju, it has been said for some time that Seolmundae Halmang, the island’s giant, grandmotherly, yet all-powerful creator Goddess, is sleeping.

In the words of Korean scholar and mythologist Koh Hea Kyoung, from her nationally recognized 2010 book on Jeju’s creator goddess Seolmundae, “In the Beginning was the Goddess”:

“Discovering great goddesses from the beginning of the world and reviving them in today’s world is my dream as well as the path to a new era – when reason and emotion, humans and nature, and men and women can co-exist in true harmony.”

For the empowerment and equality of Jeju women, to the benefit of both women and men: it is time to awaken Seolmundae Halmang.

Women’s Empowerment: Jeju-style, Part 2

(For Part 1, see previous post.)

There are several dominant influences in Jeju society which must be considered in order to achieve true empowerment for Jeju women: Goddess mythology, Shamanism, Neo-Confucianism, collective labor practices, invasions and assaults, poverty and recent affluence.

The first consideration is the conflict between the relatively recent emphasis on a Neo-Confucian, patriarchal social structure and a much older heritage of Goddess mythology and shamanic practices. The latter, coupled with the labor tradition of the diving women, had once resulted in an egalitarian and even matrifocal traditional culture.

Jeju Island’s creation myth is that of a giant goddess, the grandmother of all, Seolmundae Halmang. Numerous other goddesses can be found in the mythology of Jeju’s traditional culture, indicating the psychological underpinnings of the Jeju woman’s strength.

In the Neo-Confucianism that took particular stronghold in Korea approximately 5 centuries ago, and on Jeju more recently, the woman is relegated to a secondary role in the society. The hierarchy of this social structure also carries over into the workplace, which keeps working women at an artificially lower status.

On the positive side, Confucian ideals support lifelong education, something valued quite highly throughout Korean society.

Communal labor methods in the villages, a requirement for survival in this once harsh landscape and climate, represent a second consideration. A variety of practices such as anchovy harvesting, fishing and diving, farming, millstone grinding, and more resulted in strong community bonds and required women to work side-by-side with men. With modern technology and the decrease in these practices, there is far less need for communal labor and economic cooperatives, though the legacy remains.

Korea’s emphasis on militarism since the war of the mid-20^th century, coupled with Jeju’s multiple historic assaults including mass executions in 1948~53 by Korean military forces, have exaggerated the insularity of this island community. It is valid to say that Jeju’s society is inwardly focused, somewhat resistant to outside influence, and self-reliant as a result. A powerful commitment to peace and human rights initiatives has also emerged.

In Korea, including Jeju, corporations and government are typically modeled after the military system to which all young men are conscripted and of which women for the most part have no knowledge or experience – a distinct disadvantage for women in the workplace.

Finally, Jeju has historically been an impoverished island, largely as a result of its isolation and harsh climate. In modern times, due to both industrial and technological advances as well as a shifting economic focus, this is no longer the case. The conflict between poverty consciousness and frugality versus relative affluence and comfort is another factor for consideration.

**

Several initiatives are underway to improve the status of Jeju women.

A women’s special committee has existed in Jeju government for several years. Since 2006, when Jeju became a more self-governing region, women have been appointed to five council seats out of the 44 in total. Recently, a women’s special committee has also been formed within the council. The Seolmundae Women’s Center, named for the island’s creator goddess, is a government-sponsored facility.

Jeju has a longstanding NGO women’s association which focuses on policy, and another which provides shelter and counseling to women in need. There is a center for single mothers with multiple supportive features. A branch of the YWCA provides many programs for women; a variety of private women’s organizations also exists, including a branch of BPW which places emphasis on the Women’s Empowerment Principles as designed by the UN.

One exciting new government initiative, the Jeju Women’s Governance Forum, includes members from a variety of sectors and is focused on education, research, networking, and policy determination.

**

(Part 3 to follow.)

Women’s Empowerment: Jeju-style, Part 1

I’d like to talk to you about Women’s Empowerment Principles, within the context of culture.

Women’s Empowerment Principles, known as WEP, were co-created by two United Nations organizations: UN Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM; and, UN Global Compact.

UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses around the world which base their economic principles on universally accepted standards of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.

UNIFEM is now a part of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, known as UN Women. The six focus areas of UN Women include prevention of violence against women, peace and security issues, leadership and participation, national planning and budgeting, economic empowerment, and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

The WEP were launched in March of 2010 on International Women’s Day, for the purpose of achieving economic equality for women across the globe. They are based on an earlier version known as the Calvert Women’s Principles, developed in 2004.

Many women’s organizations around the world have adopted these principles. One such example is Business and Professional Women International, known as BPW, an NGO which began in 1930 and now has member groups in 80 countries on 5 continents.

The 7 Women’s Empowerment Principles are:

1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality;
2. Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination;
3. Ensure the health, safety, and well-being of all women and men workers;
4. Promote education, training, and professional development for women;
5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women;
6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy;
7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

These 7 empowerment principles, however, while designed to be globally applicable, cannot simply be applied as is to each cultural setting. It’s imperative that they be made as culturally relevant as possible in order to achieve maximum success in outcome.

The principles can serve as goals. The objectives – the steps taken to achieve each of these goals – can and must differ from one location to the next.

Thus, as a so-called “western woman” living in Asia, as a professional with a keen interest in culture and how it affects the individual and societal psyche, I would ask each of you: when contemplating how best to achieve these very worthy goals in your country: how can you work within your own cultural matrix in order to effect change?

**

Jeju women have a longstanding reputation of strength. “The Strong Jeju Woman” is legendary. Feminists in Korea’s mainland point to Jeju women as an example of indigenous feminism. Words like “matriarchy” and “amazonian” have been frequently – if erroneously – employed.

On Jeju, scholars, feminists, and professional women question this identification somewhat.

It’s surely true that the women of this island – and, without a doubt, those of many societies that have endured hardship – share qualities of diligence, fortitude, and courage.

It’s also true that, within the societies of Jeju’s famed diving women, highly structured economic cooperatives and collaborative labor practices have long existed, and women have historically been the backbone of Jeju’s economy.

Thus, Jeju women value independence, individualism, strong will and a certain freedom of thought in ways that differ from their mainland counterparts.

As an example, Jeju women grow up expecting to work – and state that they feel they would be a disappointment to their parents, grandparents, and in-laws, if they did not. They also typically continue working well into their elder years. This is a marked cultural distinction from peninsular Korea.

Women within Korean society, and certainly in Jeju, also wield a great deal of power in matters of the household.

And so, to an outsider, this can look like economic equality. The diving women once represented a primary occupation of Jeju, their history stretching back approximately 2000 years. While it is very difficult and dangerous work, these women of Jeju nevertheless have historically enjoyed a good deal of economic equality and even superiority to men.

This, however, does not represent true equality.

Aside from the labor collectives, Jeju women have not yet attained substantial positions of leadership within the society. Indeed, even within those collectives known as “eochongye” which govern the work of fishermen and diving women and typically have more female than male members, fewer than 20% of the top leaders are female.

In Jeju society, there are also comparatively few female CEOs or top-level managers in corporations. In the several hundred villages throughout Jeju Island, women are also not made chiefs of the village councils.

In government, there are very few females in management positions. And no woman has ever actually been elected to public office, though Jeju legislation now provides for the appointment of five women to the Provincial Council.

Further, although Jeju women have historically contributed strongly to the economy of Jeju, today women throughout Korea are ranked in last position of OECD member nations for the status of women in business, in categories of gender-based wage gap, employment of women, and senior management positions held by women.

According to recent surveys, Jeju is ranked first for the greatest wage gap between men and women among Korea’s 16 provinces, and 10^th for the percentage of women in council or public administration.

Therefore, even for such strong women, there is still a great deal of progress to be made before it can be said that any true measure of equality and economic sustainability has been achieved. In actuality, as Jeju’s economy has shifted away from agriculture and fishery to one of tourism and industry, the economic power of Jeju women has diminished.

In the past two years, according to regional statistics, the percentage of Jeju women in the workforce has actually decreased.

And the daughters, the next generation of Jeju women? As the element of hardship and adversity decreases in this increasingly affluent and modernized, technologically driven society, mothers express concern that their daughters want easy lives and lack the strength of their forebears.

(Part 2 to follow.)