Death and the Afterlife in Premodern Korea: What Can we Learn from the Ghosts that Haunt?

Death and the Afterlife in Premodern Korea: What Can we Learn from the Ghosts that Haunt?

Michael Pettid - Professor of Asian and Asian American Studies, Binghamton University

Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Room 05, Rosenkranz Hall See map
115 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Given the significance of death to humans, an understanding of how societies conceive of death, the afterlife, and what might occur to the dead can reveal a great deal of how a given society understands its place within the cosmos. Particularly interesting are those beliefs concerning the condition of the dead after death; specifically, the nature and function of ghosts. There are numerous accounts in the literature of the Koryŏ and early Chosŏn periods in Korea that feature encounters with ghosts or beings from beyond the human world.  While these accounts can be sometimes humorous or frightening, a more important value is the insight they offer into the way that the peoples of these times understood death and the afterlife. 

Sponsored by the Korean American Students of Yale, the East Rock Institute, and the Council on East Asian Studies
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Korea