韓国民俗学の動向と課題

Abstract

韓国民俗学は西欧のfolklore概念が日本経由で植民地朝鮮に移入される1920年代にスタートする。そして解放後，1950〜60年代の中興期を経て1970年代に至り，韓国民俗学のフレームが整備される。その要点は，民俗は，一つの民族の基層文化であり，その外見は変わっても真髄は変わらない。だが，この基層の固有民俗が日帝植民地化と西欧近代化などの余波で湮滅の危機を迎えている。その風前の灯火の民俗事象を一日でも早く救済し，民族文化の本質と正体性（アイデンティティ），原型などを探求するのが民俗学の目的であり使命である，というものであった。このような本質主義的救済民俗学からの脱却が今後の課題である。本稿では，以下の4つの論争を整理することで，韓国民俗学の新しいフレーム設定のための踏み台としたい。一つ目は韓国の民俗学史，特に，日帝植民地期朝鮮民俗学の政治性につながる学問の思想的存立基盤。二つ目は韓国民俗学の目的を特権化してきた原型論と「民族文化学」の脱神話化。三つ目は民俗概念の脱構築に象徴される韓国民俗学の新しい対象設定の問題。四つ目は去る30年余りに韓国民俗学の研究法に広く引用されてきた「現場論」と歴史民俗学の虚実。

Korean folklore started in the 1920ʼs when the Western concept of folklore was introduced to colonial Korea through Japan. After the liberation, the frame of Korean folklore was established in the 1970s through the developing period of 1950s and 1960s. The point was as below: folklore was the basic culture of the people and its essence remained the same while its appearance might change. However, this base of indigenous folklore was in danger of extinction due to the aftermath of Japanese colonization and Western modernization. Therefore, it was the purpose and mission of Korean folklore to save the folk culture as soon as possible and to search for the essence, identity and original form of the folk culture. Now, the future challenge should be made to break away from such essentialist salvage folklore. In this paper, the following four arguments will be discussed as a springboard for setting a new frame for Korean folklore. The first is the history of Korean folklore, especially the ideological foundation of the discipline connected to the politics of Korean folklore during the Japanese colonial period. The second is the demythologization of archetypal theory and “ethnocultural studies” that has privileged the purpose of Korean folklore. The third is the problem of new object setting in Korean folklore, symbolized by the deconstruction of the concept of “folklore”. The fourth is the “field theory” and the falsehood of historical folklore that has been widely cited in the research methods of Korean folklore for the last 30 years.