For Whom the Line is Drawn: Korean Indigenous Conceptions of Boundary in the 19th Century and Changes in the Colonial Period
Presented by Dr. Sora Kim
Curator & Researcher, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University
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Modern law treats land as real estate, subject to rights of ownership. Land must be immobile and clearly partitioned. Pieces of land are described on cadastral maps, with a link to a unique and permanent location. Yet, before the advent of modern law, how did people recognize each piece of land? The Joseon dynasty made numerous maps and conducted various land surveys. However, there was no sense that land should be divided by drawing lines on paper. Beyond a mere object of ownership, land was considered a basis for feeding humans. Hence, conceptions of land existed in by-play with human activity. Boundaries could not be drawn without consideration of local conditions such as the status of cultivation. This paper will demonstrate the Korean indigenous senses of boundary in the nineteenth century. The Gwangmu Land Register will be compared with land registers and cadastral maps from the Japanese colonial period to reveal key characteristics of late Joseon conceptions of land demarcation. I will show how boundaries shifted between humans and land, among plots, and within Korean society. Moreover, I highlight how new types of land demarcations in turn separated humans from their environment and reconceived land as immovable (real) estate.
Kwangmu 光武 Land Register. In the second row, information of the four neighboring plots is recorded.
Source: Chungcheongnam-do Hansan-gun Yang’an 忠淸南道韓山郡量案 (奎17672 vol. 9). Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies.
Map Matching Process Using JigsawMap Software
Sora Kim (Ph.D. Seoul National University 2021) is a Koreanist who explores the socio-economic history of Joseon Dynasty. She is trying to interpret historical phenomenon from the perspective of the people who lived at the time. Land Registers after the eighteenth century are mainly analyzed via comparative methodology with modern registers using specially developed software. She is specialized in land taxation mechanisms and principles in the late Joseon Dynasty. Also, uncovering the meaning of land itself and the perception of space of the people in the dynasty are important research topics. She is currently working as a curator & researcher (학예연구사) at the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University.