12 Oct 26 – Restorative and Reflective Nostalgia
Anti-US beef candlelight demonstrations held at the Cheonggyecheon Stream in 2008.
- Svetlana BOYM, “Nostalgia and Its Discontents,” 7-16
- Hong KAL, “Flowing Back to the Future: The Cheonggye Stream Restoration and the Remaking of Seoul,” 1-22
- Arirang Issue, “4 Angles-Ten Years After the Restoration of Cheonggyecheon Stream”
- Arirang News, “Hanbok Trending among Young Koreans,” 2017
- Jieun CHOI, Korea Exposé, “Euljiro: A Hub of Innovation Under Threat of Destruction,” 2019
This class provides an overview to an intriguing area of cultural memory: nostalgia. It sets the basis for the film that we will view for Thursday’s class, Miss Granny. In addition, for the group projects, it is likely that nostalgia will be an aspect of the film that your group works on. If you choose to delve into the theme, then today’s class will equip you with a framework for you to analyze nostalgia.
Note: Homework 6 was previously assigned for Monday, 10/25. However, I am pushing it back to Monday, 11/1.
The opening essay is by Svetlana Boym, a scholar of culture and literature who, before her untimely death, specialized in eastern Europe. Boym’s essay provides a brief history of the concept of nostalgia, followed by a discussion of “restorative nostalgia” and “reflective nostalgia.” Restorative nostalgia is tied to national identity and the “master commemorative narrative.” With regards to South Korea, we examined restorative nostalgia last week, through our exploration of the “Park Chung Hee Syndrome.” Restorative nostalgia manifests itself in a nation-centered triumphalist narrative that proposes to “Make (South) Korea Great Again.”
On the other hand, reflective nostalgia does not tie into a master narrative. It often exhibits different sensibilities, such as humor and irony. Reflective nostalgia tends to bring to light different possibilities that are left out of master narratives; they may even have a subversive dimension. As you read the Boym excerpt try to grasp her distinction between restorative nostalgia and reflective nostalgia. Also, keep in mind that these two forms of nostalgia are not hard and fast concepts: restorative and reflective nostalgia can co-exist in the same cultural work. The distinction is useful because it can help us tease out and think about nostalgia in more variegated and productive ways.
The Hong KAL article provides a good overview of cultural nostalgia in contemporary Seoul. Kal, an art historian, examines the South Korean memoryscape as it is embodied in the center of Seoul, especially the key side of Cheonggyecheon Stream. Keep your eye out for how the remaking of the stream in the early 2000s was a project of restorative nostalgia. Also, pay attention to how it is/was a site of contending memories/nostalgias.
The first Arirang video complements the Kal essay. I assign it to help you visualize what Kal is writing about, especially for those of you who have never visited the site. The next two videos, one from Arirang News and the second from Korea Exposé, provide glimpses into different examples of nostalgia that is lived and experienced in contemporary Seoul. Note that the area of Euljiro covered in the final video is just adjacent to the “middle zone” of Cheonggyecheon, covered in pp. 13-15 of the Kal essay.