Getting Married in Korea: Of Gender, Morality, and Modernity (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I attended my first Korean wedding in 1970 as a recently arrived Peace Corps volunteer..." (more)
Key Phrases: family ritual code, ritual silk, gift box for sale, Righteous Town, Madam Ttu, Kim Eun-Shil (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This work explores what it means to be modern and what it means to be Korean in a culture where courtship and marriage are often the crucible in which notions of gender and class are cast and recast. Touching on a number of important issues--identity, romantic love, women's work, marriage negotiations, and wedding ceremonies--Laurel Kendall gives us a new appreciation for how Koreans have adapted this pivotal social practice to the astounding changes of the past century.
Kendall attended her first Korean wedding in 1970, soon after she arrived in the country with the Peace Corps. Years later, as a seasoned anthropologist, she began interviewing both working-class and middle-class couples, matchmakers, purveyors of dowry goods, and proprietors of wedding halls. She consulted etiquette handbooks and women's magazines and analyzed cartoons, photographs, and weddings themselves. The result is an engaging account of how marriage matches are made, how families proceed through the rites, how they finance ceremonies and elaborate exchanges of ritual goods, and how these practices are integral to the construction of adult identities and notions of ideal women and men. The book is also a reflection on what it means to write "Korea" in a complex and ever changing social milieu.

About the Author

Laurel Kendall is Curator of Asian Ethnographic Collections at the American Museum of Natural History. Her previous books include Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (1985) and The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman: Of Tales and the Telling of Tales (1988).

Product Details

• Paperback: 269 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (May 31, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520202007
• ISBN-13: 978-0520202009
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #498,609 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting Married in Korea, May 12, 2001

By A Customer

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to learn more about Korean culture in general or is looking for info spacifically on weddings. It is easy to read and understand the concepts. Despite being packed with information, the book does not overwhelm.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn about Korean society, July 3, 2004

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

An at times funny read of the intersection of two cultures. One is the modern consumerist culture, that has taken firm hold in South Korea since the 1980s. The other is a traditional Confucian morality steeped in centuries of lore.

Kendall studies this through the ingenious choice of marriages. Here, the Confucian traditions often appear in the form of arranged marriages. Yet she shows how young couples persistently try to sidestep this format.

Along the way, a non-Korean reader is also rewarded by many insights into Korean society. Things that an outsider who does not speak the language would simply miss.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting case study in sociology, not Korean culture, November 8, 2001

By A Customer

this book is not for someone who would be interested into a systematic and quick introduction to Korean wedding customs.

The elements presented are of the case study type, showing the evolutions over time of a Korean family sampled for a PhD thesis. interesting for another scholarly work, it isn't so much for someone interested in understanding Korean marriage customs. Bits and pieces can be collected and summarised by oneself. This book is about "sociology", not "culture" per se.