Spatial Construction of Etiquette Spread in the Yeongnam Region During the Joseon Period

Funding:

• The Korea Foundation 2018 Fellowship for Field Research program 
  KRW 12,000,000

Introduction:

• Etiquette spread must take place in space through the actual venues of ritualistic practices. The success of spreading is predicated on the appropriateness of the physical location, thus the close-knittedness between etiquette spread and its spatial setting. Such settings are in turn determined by factors of historicity, climate and geography, the degree of literacy and civility, architecture and culture, all of which interweave to form the ‘space’ that provides foundation for preservation of ancient civilities and rites. In reviewing scholarly works on Joseon Dynasty, Gyeongsang-do’s advantage for etiquette spread is to be found in the general suitability of its spatiality for spread and practice. My research proposed to analysis why Gyeongsang-do, also known as Yeongnam have been most successful in etiquette spread, with greatest acceptance of Confucianism among the eight provinces and how did the people of Joseon create this space that facilitated etiquette spread. I will study the historical venues and architecture that underlined ritual importance in Gyeongsang-do, for example, county schools, Confucius temples, rain-praying shrines, temples of guardian deities, archery ranges and ghost altars, etc.