The namsadang represent a professional class of traveling entertainers that flourished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Korea. With deep roots in ritual practices and itinerant troupe performance culture, the namsadang in many ways served the role of mass entertainment for their rural, pre-modern Korean audiences. These artistic troupes were composed exclusively of males, and during the height of their activity they featured performances of percussion music and dance, bowl spinning, acrobatics, tightrope walking, mask dance, and puppetry. Although the namsadang were mistrusted and despised by the ruling elite, they were largely embraced by the commoner classes who eagerly awaited their visits to the countryside. The namsadang as an institution came to a close in the mid-twentieth century, under the pressures and other contingencies of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. A revivalist movement, however, took place beginning in the 1950s with the help and concerted efforts of the activist and folklorist Professor Sim Usŏng. His academic and administrative work helped shed light on the poorly documented past of the namsadang, at the same time elevating their status and appreciation among a modern South Korean population. This article provides a critical translation of the first chapter of his seminal book on the topic, Namsadangp’ae yŏn’gu (A study of namsadang troupes). The translator would like to thank the Korea Foundation for a fieldwork grant that helped support the research necessary for this article.
목차
TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: THE FORMATION OF NAMSADANG TROUPES Background Organization Performance Arts Bowl Spinning (pŏna) Acrobatics (salp’an) Tightrope Walking (ŏrŭm)18 Mask Dance (tŏppoegi) Puppetry (tŏlmi) The Present Condition REFERENCES
키워드
NamsadangSim Usŏngfolk entertainment groupitinerant troupe performance culturep’ungmul
저자
SIM USŎNG
NATHAN HESSELINK [ Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of British Columbia ]
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한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.