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Roots of Korean Shamanism: Colonial Images of the Mutang Menace
Merose Hwang
(캐나다 토론토대학, 동아시아학)
[한글요약]
‘샤머니즘의 기원: 위협적인 무당의 식민주의 이미지’
이 논문은 일제시대에 무당의 이미지가 비민족적이고 바람직하지 않은 실체로서 자리잡게 되는 과정을 논구한다. 이러한 안티-무당론은 근대성이 도전을 받는 역사적 시기에 형성된 것으로서, 무당은 나라를 위기에 빠뜨린 존재로 인식된다. 소위 근대문명론자들은 자신들의 자아를 극복하고 이들이 예견하는 근대국가의 건설에 필요한 새로운 자아 유형을 창조하는데 있어서, 근대화의 미션에 장애가 되는 ‘타자’를 무당에게 투사하였다.
Introduction
In this paper, I will be looking at the ways in which mutang were posed as un-national undesirable subjects during the colonial period. This anti-mutang argument will be examined within a historical moment where the modern was challenged. During this historical moment, the mutangwere subjects that put the country at risk. The dialogue was internal. These writers were connected to their subjects, raising the stakes in the mission to 'other' these subjects. They lambasted these subjects in order to overcome their selves, to create newer selves for a foreseeable modern nation.
If one was to explore the historiography of shamanism in Korea by studying the ways in which mutang were discussed during the colonial period, it would be apparent that mutang were a menace to the nation. The subject in peril was located in words such as kukka, urinara, urikukmin, choson, etc. These terms were used interchangeably and were not explicitly problematized. All of these words represented an early twentieth century concept of nation. The nation retained agency insofar as it was a subject that could be afflicted.1) The adversary to the nation was the mutang.2) These words were not concepts that deserved discussion in the colonial period. The mutang explicitly antagonized the nation. The mutang was the anti-nation. And in the most popular and political sense, the mutang was presented as upsetting the nation's well-being. The mutang generated and spread diseases, illnesses, depleted national resources, wrecked social havoc, and was generally a danger to public health.
The notion of the modern was not as explicitly and frequently stated but is an important notion to consider. During the colonial period, the modern was depicted as working in conjunction with the nation. If it was not explicit, it was always of inherent importance.3) The modern was identified in the kundaesahoe and hyondaesidae. It was also seen implicitly through notions such as munmyong (civilization), and yamanin(uncivilized people). A good example of this is found in an article in the Daehan maeil sinbo, where a Japanese man was alleged to have requested permission from the government to worship mutang. In a later article, the same man was alleged to have encouraged the works and worship of mutang. The paper suggested that this was unthinkable in Korea because Korea was a more civilized (munmyong) country than Japan a country of evil spirits (makwi). 4)
Mutang did not so much terrorize the modern, as they were a reverse to the modern. The threat was not so much to the modern, but rather, to the people and the nation. It was as if the modern circumvented the nation and the people but did not actually saturate or wholly penetrate the nation. What is crucial here is the notion that the people made up the nation. When people were vulnerable, so was the nation. Therefore, if the people were contaminated, then the nation was likewise. There was a push for the minkukto become modern and to do this by severing themselves from a part of themselves the part that supports mutang. And treating the mutang subject as a threat justified the necessity to overthrow or suppress them.
Many of the sources that touched on mutang during the colonial period were those dealing witha larger problem of misin or what has been most closely translated as 'superstition.'5) Mutang were the material subjects of misin. Like the concept of superstition, misin was an abstract phenomenon that permeated society. The work conducted by mutang and the clients that supported them were dissuaded through public pressure, re-directed through faith conversion, or oppressed outright through police force. Most of the literature from this colonial period revealed a common desire to eliminate mutang. Knowing this then, the question must be, 'why were mutang so dangerous?"I have found three general topics in which mutang threatened the modern nation. They were a threat to (A) hygiene/health, (B) economy, (C) and public order.
Hygiene and health issues ran through many of these mutang discourses. This argument was that mutang were inherently dirty, foul, or otherwise unclean and unhygienic. This discourse was a common way of depicting the un-modern. One type of discourse was conducted through Christian journals, such as the Kyonghyang chapchi, where the backward and non-believing mutang subject was juxtaposed against upright Christian believers. 6)
In one such article,7) there was a story of a mutang who kept two bibles in her toilet stall, when she stumbled upon a Christian proselytizer who asked for them. There was no mention of why the mutang kept the bibles in the toilet but one can conjecture that these bibles were not only being neglected, they were being misused. Kept in the foulest part of the mutang's residence, the bibles were defamed in the foulest way, making her actions and herself, not only sacrilegious, but also altogether contaminated. By keeping the bibles in her toilet stall, the mutang was an oracle of defecation and her sanctuary was a space that collected bodily waste.
This article went on further to mention that, after the Christian man received the bibles, he was baptized. Then, he converted several members of his family. Once the Christian man had the bibles out of the mutang's possession, they were saved from defilement and destruction. Furthermore, not only were the bibles not wasted (figuratively and literally), they were constructively used to create new spiritual beings. The rightful, wholesome bearer was able to recover the bibles' productive potential.8)
This type of portrayal of the unclean, unhygienic mutang worked in conjunction with the mutangwho created an environment of physical danger. Health issues, such as preventative medicines/practices, potential diseases, deaths, epidemics, and even innocuous uncleanliness were topics that were pervasive throughout the early twentieth century. The basic argument was this: that believing and participating in services provided by mutang was a liability to public health. In a Taehan maeil sinbo article, it stated, " when ones family is ill, they wander about not taking medicine until it becomes serious, and they go find mutang and p'ansu and buy ginseng medicine."9) Mutang were an adversary to proper health care.
The assumption was that mutang were opposed to 'modern' forms of medical science. This co-existed with the notion that they were superstitious and propagated 'non-scientific' remedies for peoples' ailments. They were thought to spread wrongful and harmful information about preventative and curative procedures/medicines to the masses. One report in Kyemyong stated:
when a superstition believer comes down with an illness, despite their symptoms, usually they first plead and ask the mudang or p'ansu, and after that process, go to get medicine. The fact exists that severe cases, that should be caught in the nick of time, are delayed, and innocent lives are lost We gravely regret these supposed medical cures' ill effects that secretly seem not to cure people's illnesses and obliterates people's notions of science.10)
This article also unambiguously stated that practices, such as the above, threatened Choson's kwahakui mummyong(scientific civilization) from developing. It blamed the pervasiveness of ignorance on an estimate that seventy percent of Chosonin were illiterate. In other words, illiteracy kept people ignorant. And ignorant people blindly followed such 'superstitious customs.' So, the blame was not placed on the people that sought out or supported mutang, but rather on the mutang themselves. The underlying assumption was that because the ways in which the mutang practiced healing were not scientific, they hindered the advancement of civilization and were treacherous to the nation's health.
The mutang were never blameless. They were seen as having a motive for their misdeeds. Their motives were economically driven. In this same Kyemyong article, it stated, " mutang wished on outcast people's good or bad fortunes, to swindle them out of their money."11) Although the masses were sometimes blamed for being foolishly greedy, the mutang were the ones that were singled out. The clientele was there because mutang made illogical promises of wealth. These ignorant masses were seen as falling under mihok12) (confusion, bewilderment, delusion, infatuation) as reason for following and supporting mutang. These supporters were never described as being fully coherent, willing participants. If they supported mutang on their own volition, it would destroy any basis for criminality or wrong-doing. So, the Choson masses were typically victimized.
The Taehan maeil sinboonce accused Prime Minister Lee of wasting away his public service and personal life on mutang.13) This newspaper also traced the wasteful life of a mutang by the name of Suryun. And in one instance, the editor implies that Suryun continued to throw away her money on mutang activities while he was, "left eating cold rice."14) The Kyemyongsibo estimated the total amount of money lost to the mutang, based on an article that was printed in the Asahi newspaper in 1934, that stated that there were about 18,000 mutang in Choson. The estimate concluded that over 4,471 schools could be built in the amount that was wasted on mutang. This article mentioned that while rice was scarce, so much of it was being wasted on and by mutang.15)
The conclusion here was that the economy that circulated around the mutang was a useless and calamitous burden on the nation and its people. The waste of rice often arose in these arguments, not only to recall the tax burden issue in people's minds (as seen in the Kyemyongsibo article above), but, it was often used metaphorically (as illustrated in the Taehan maeil sinboarticle above) to provoke a sense that the nation and its people were being starved out in order to feed mutang.
The solution to this problem was to criminalize mutangin order to suppress and eventually eliminate their activities. This was done through social propaganda, political campaign movements, and police action. The vast majority of newspaper articles between the late ninteenth and first half of the twentieth century, that mentioned mutang, were reports of mutang, imprisoned for criminal activities. Most of these reports stated that the mutangwere charged for lying, swindling or otherwise stealing money from people rather than for directly conducting mutang-related ritual activities. It is important to note that the suppression, or at least, animosity towards mutang, was a pervasive attitude that was not bound to the colonial period. It can reach from the Taehan cheguk era through the larger part of the twentieth century and remains ever present in some arenas throughout Korea today.
Conclusion:
This paper has dealt with the movement to expel shamanism in Korea during the colonial period. My goal was to raise issues that would problematize how shamanism became a cultural asset. While shamanism can be an alluring image that represents national pride (primordial, indigenous mother), Korean shamanism also has a history of being an abhorred image that represented a national threat (evil, dirty, irrational, wasteful women). Mysteriously, the mutang were subversive bodies that needed to be erased. This issue is a phenomenon that is disappearing, effectively eliminating any sense of ideological contradiction in its path. In place of these subversive mutang, the national cultural asset of shamanism continues to gain currency. Currently, it is popular to look at works by colonial era scholars such as Son, Chin-tae, Ch'oe Nam-son, and Sin Ch'ae-ho, that talk about shamanism as a philosophy, epistemology, or even a national legacy. But the fact is that an anti-shamanism (mutang contaminate) debate was a far more pervasive issue in the late nineteenth century and through the larger part of the twentieth century.
What I have not been able to do in this paper is to show how this unclean body has become purified into what it is today. This is necessary in order to help us gain further insight into modern Korean history. On a broader level, it would also help us understand when and why subjects are targeted to vilify or glorify a nation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chonjosonui mutangi sipp'alchonsokul mokoopse: ilnyonkanui t'onggye (Choson's mutang consume 180,000 sok of rice: statistics over one year). In Kyemyongsibo, vol. 6. Jul. 1934: 6.
Ilinchyungmok iranchyanun (A japanese person by the name of chungmoku). In Taehan maeil sinbo. Feb., 19, 1910: 2.
Isipsyegui somun (Twentieth century nation). In Taehan maeil sinbo, editorial. Feb., 26, 1910: 1.
Kim, Tae-kon. Korean Shamanism Muism. Seoul: Jimoondang. 1998.
Kyongdyech'yocha pyonginamyon (When one's family becomes ill). In Taehan maeil sinbo, editorial. Aug., 30, 1908: 2.
Misin'guk mikuk (America the superstitious country). Pyolgangon chapchi. Jul., 1, 1933.
Misinpangmyongui undongul ch'okham (Demand for movement to exterminate superstition). In Kyemyong, vol. 15. May, 1935: 1.
Mutang syongkyochaekul chonhayok: tyonchu kyohoeb (A bible that was given to a mutang: roman catholic church report). In Kyonghyang chapchi, vol. 9, no. 326. May 1915: 221.
Mutang yomul syuryuni (Suryun, a wicked mutang). In Taehan maeil sinbo. Mar., 10, 1910: 2.
Pak, Sa-chik. Ch'omisinchok youi chonggyokwan (The religious view of transcendental superstition). In Chondokyo h oewolbo, vol. 179. Aug., 1925: 5-8.
Takchitaesin koyonghuinun rich'ongriui kyongsyangpoko (The finance minister, ko yong-hui, saw prime minister's affliction). In Taehan maeil sinbo. Jan., 13, 1910: 2.
"Roots of Korean Shamanism: Colonial Images of Mutang Menace"에 대한 토론문
이영진(서울대, 인류학)
Hwang의 발표문은 19세기 말부터 식민지기를 거치면서 형성된 무당 및 무속행위에 대한 스테레오타입의 특징과, 특히 그 과정에서 당대 조선의 식자층에게 엄청난 영향력을 행사했던 문명 담론의 역할에 초점을 맞추고 있다. 조선사회에서 무당의 굿을 비롯한 ‘전근대적 미신’은 1912년에 시행된 《경찰범처벌규칙(警察犯處罰規則): 총독부령 제 40호》에 의해서 본격적인 탄압의 대상이 되지만, 이미 19세기 말부터 反무당 논쟁(anti-mutang debate)등 무속에 대한 비판적인 논설들이 신문 및 잡지 등의 공공영역에서 하나의 이슈로 자리잡아가기 시작했다. 새로운 근대국민국가를 수립하고자 열망했던 당대의 지식인들에게 무당은 전근대의 야만을 상징하는 존재이자, 문명의 질서를 위협하는 주범으로 간주되었을 것이다.
개화기부터 구한말에 걸쳐 조선사회에 거세게 밀어닥쳐왔던 문명화의 파고와, 그 급박한 상황에서 이를 내면화해온 조선의 지식인들이 무속을 비롯한 한국사회의 ‘전근대적 미신’ 행위에 대해 어떤 시각을 견지하였으며, 그 시각들이 어떤 관념들에 의해 정당화되었는지에 대해서는 현재 한국사회에서도 많은 논의가 이루어져 왔으며, Hwang의 논문도 그 연장선상에서 이해할 수 있다고 생각한다. 토론자 역시 그 논의들에 입각해서 몇 가지 측면만을 간략하게 지적하고자 한다.
먼저 무당의 굿을 비롯한 무속 행위는 조선시대에도 식자층(양반) 사이에서 금기시되어온 관습이었음을 지적할 필요가 있다. 양반 남성들의 공식적 유교문화는 이를 음사로 간주, 배척했으며, 따라서 굿 행위는 대개 집안의 여성들에 의해 받아들여지고, 명맥을 유지해왔다. 물론 무속에 대한 이런 편견의 시선은 개화기-구한말에 형성된 무속에 대한 스테레오 타입[非문명, 원시성, 前근대]과는 질적으로 다른 것이다. 낙후된 조선사회를 개혁하는 처방전으로 제시된 문명을 받아들인 지식인들에게 무속은 무엇보다 조선 사회의 진보를 가로막는 장애물/적으로 인식되었다. 그리고 이러한 배척은 합리성, 위생 담론, 근대적 경제의식 등 ‘과학’이라는 이름 하에 정당화되었다. 발표문에서도 대한매일신보나 기독교 계통의 경향잡지(1915), 그리고 계명(1935, 5) 등의 잡지에 나타난 기사/논설 등을 통해 그 배제의 논리를 재구성하고 있다.
여기에 한 가지를 덧붙인다면, 개화기 이후 수입되기 시작한 문명화 담론과 특히 ‘문명종교’로서의 기독교의 논리에 대한 당대의 지식인들의 수용 태도가 상당히 ‘무비판적’이었다는 사실이다. 사실 무속 및 민간신앙에 대한 토착 지식인들의 시선은 당대 조선을 여행했던 서구 관찰자(특히 선교사)들의 시선과 너무나 동일하며, 그들 사이에 이루어진 수많은 ‘베껴 쓰기’ 과정은 무속에 대한 스테레오 타입을 공고히 하는데 기여했다. 이러한 논설이 무속 및 민간신앙에 대한 통치당국의 탄압이 자행되었던 식민지기에도 여전히 계속되었다는 사실은 문명이라는 보편적 규준에 대해 통치당국과 토착 지식인들이 서로 共感[나아가 共謀]하고 있었다는 점을 시사하는 것이기도 하다.
그러나 여기서 논의를 끝내버린다면, 발표자도 결론에서 지적한 것처럼 무속에 대한 새로운 시각들[특히 무속을 한국 고유의 믿음체계로 격상시킨 ‘조선문화론’의 입장들]이 왜 갑자기 출현하게 되었는가 하는 물음에 답하기 힘들어진다. 구한말과 식민지[특히 1920년대 이후]라는 시기를 구분할 필요성이 제기되는 이유는 이 때문이다. 사실 무속 및 민간신앙을 조선사회의 가장 큰 병폐로 인식했던 구한말의 논설들은, 당대 조선사회를 관찰했던 서구인들[특히 선교사들]의 작업들과 커다란 차이가 나지 않는다. 이는 약육강식의 시대에 강자의 권리를 인정하면서도 동시에 자기방어의 방책을 제시해야 했던 조선 지식인들의 문명에 대한 무비판적 내면화의 소산이라고 해야 할 것이다. 亡國의 나락으로 떨어질 위기에 직면한 구한말의 상황에서 문명은 하루라도 빨리 모방해야 할 처방이었고, 그 처방의 내면화는 동양의 전근대에 대한 서구 오리엔탈리즘의 내면화이기도 했다. 문명화의 이름으로 수행되는 식민지 일본의 정책에 대해 1910년대 조선의 지식인들이 그 논리를 수용할 수밖에 없었던 것도 이 때문이다.
하지만 1920년대가 되면 최남선을 비롯한 논자들 사이에서 무속에 대한 새로운 시각들이 출현하게 된다. 그러한 전환이 이루어진 이유는 무엇인가? 토론자는 그 이유를 1920년대부터 본격화되기 시작한 무속 및 민간신앙에 대한 [인류학적인] 조사 작업이 만들어낸 공론장(public sphere)에서 찾은 바 있다. 사실 이 조사들은 식민지 조선에 대한 보다 효율적인 통치를 위해 기층 민중들의 삶을 이해하고자 하는 통치당국의 욕망의 결과물이었다. 그러나 조사 작업이 만들어낸 결과물들은 조선사회의 성격에 대한 보다 깊이 있는 논의의 장을 제공했고, 그 장에 끼어든 일본의 지식인들[무라야마 지쥰, 아키바 다카시, 아카마쓰 지죠우 등]과 토착 지식인들[최남선, 손진태 등]의 경합의 장에서 샤머니즘은 한국 문화의 본류로 격상된다. 물론 이 場에는 日鮮同祖論을 비롯한 여러 식민주의 이데올로기, 그리고 식민지 조선에 대한 통치 당국의 여러 정책(그 한 예로 1930년대 중반 心田開發政策)들도 개입된다. 다시 말하면 무속에 대한 또 하나의 정형화 담론이 출현하게 된 이유를 고찰하기 위해서는 단순히 문명화론만이 아닌, 식민지기의 여러 권력 장치에 대한 논의가 아울러 이루어져야 한다는 점을 여기서 지적하고자 한다.
둘째, 오늘날 한국사회에서 무속에 대한 시각은 한국 고유의 전통문화라는 입장과 여전히 전근대적 미신이라는 입장이 혼재하고 있는 것이 사실이다. 하지만 이러한 차이는 무속에 대한 질적으로 다른 상이한 시각이라기보다는 대상의 어떤 측면을 바라보는가에서 기인하는 것이라고 보는 것이 타당하다. 실제로 오늘날의 종교학이나 민속학에서 다루는 무속은, 그 실천이 직접적으로 이루어지는 장에 대한 고려 없이, 한국인들의 믿음체계라는 종교적 철학적 원리에만 집착하는 경향이 강하다. 물론 이를 과학이라는 지식체계 안에 무속이라는 대상을 위치지음으로써 보다 세련되게 무속을 sanitize하는 방식이라고까지 이야기하는 것은 너무 지나친 감이 있지만, 이러한 연구들이 사람들의 경험 수준에서 무속이 어떻게 작동하고 있는지를 파악하지 못하고 있다는 점은 분명하다. 무속에 대한 근대적 지식이 출현하게 되는 상황을 추적해나가는 지식사회학적 접근과 아울러, 기나긴 세월 동안 조선 민중들의 삶의 애환을 담아낸 무속의 실천적 속성에 대한 실증적 연구가 함께 이루어질 때 한국사회에서 무속이 갖는 위상에 대한 보다 정치한 논의가 가능해질 것이다.