Investigating the students awareness of how aspects of Shamanism play out in South Korea today?

Shamanism in Contemporary Korea

South Korea today is characterized by a blend between modernity and tradition . When the country opened up widely to the world since the 1988 Olympic Games and due to the subsequent policy of the government on globalization , the so-called Western wind ' known so much to most Koreans , has swept the whole country . But the society , as well as the Korean people , decided strongly on maintaining certain traditional aspects of the culture while assimilating Western influence . The result is a dynamic and somewhat comfortable balance between tradition and

modernity . The cultural traditions that have been preserved intentionally or unintentionally , can be seen in the beliefs and practices of the modern Koreans

In this , I intend to describe and analyze certain aspects of Shamanism as they are demonstrated in the practices of Koreans . I will describe the history of Korean Shamanism , discuss the modern version of Korean Shamanism , discuss the role and purpose of the shaman , and compare Korean shamanism to those of Japan and China

History of Korean Shamanism

Shamanism is claimed to represent the original human religion and has been practiced all over the world since archeological findings of implements used in shamanistic rituals attest to this (Brown , 1997 ) A shaman is a person who mediates the relation between the natural world and an animated supernatural world for the purpose of gaining some control over or knowledge of natural events ' Korean Shamanism is believed to have originated in Northeast Asia , specifically Siberia where the word...