This study aims to concretize the content and methods of reading education for Shamanistic Epics centered on the narrative analysis tool known as the motifeme. Accordingly, focusing on the Jeju Island special shamanic origin narrative Woncheongang Bon...
This study aims to concretize the content and methods of reading education for Shamanistic Epics centered on the narrative analysis tool known as the motifeme. Accordingly, focusing on the Jeju Island special shamanic origin narrative Woncheongang Bonpuri, this study seeks to propose an educational approach that enables learners to read Shamanistic Epics structurally and proceed toward in-depth interpretation of meaning.
Although the educational value of Shamanistic Epics has been widely recognized, they have thus far been treated as a minor component within myth education and have mainly been presented as written texts. In addition, as educational emphasis has been placed on the modern transformation of Shamanistic Epics, approaches to their essential aspects—such as the meanings of divine office and sacredness—have remained insufficient. Starting from this critical awareness, this study seeks to expand education on Shamanistic Epics while simultaneously exploring a form of deep reading education that combines an understanding of form and content with meaning interpretation.
The motifeme is a useful narrative analysis tool for closely reading narratives and exploring their meanings. Centered on the core unit of “lack–liquidation of lack,” motifemes represent the fundamental characteristics of the genre of Shamanistic Epics, as Shamanistic Epics depict the process by which an incomplete being resolves a lack and is enthroned into a divine office. Furthermore, the number of motifemes intervening between motifemic units forms what is termed motifemic depth, and the deeper this depth is, the more the corresponding motifemic unit is intensified and emphasized. Accordingly, identifying the depth of the “lack–liquidation of lack” motifeme related to the acquisition of divine office can lead to an exploration of deeper meanings.
In this study, after establishing the principles of motifeme-centered reading of Shamanistic Epics based on the characteristics and components of motifemes, these principles were applied to an analysis of Woncheongang Bonpuri. First, based on the oppositional structure that constitutes the basic principle of motifemes, one “lack–liquidation of lack” motifemic unit and thirteen “task–task completion” motifemic units were identified. Next, the sequential arrangement of motifemes within the Shamanistic Epic was examined to determine whether the motifemes composing a single motifemic unit appear consecutively or are arranged discontinuously. Subsequently, the meanings of each motifemic unit were interpreted according to motifemic depth. Task motifemic units with shallow motifemic depth—such as the “finding the way” type, “granting the requests of maidservants,” and “persuading the gatekeeper”—are immediately accomplished before reaching Woncheongang, showing the process through which Oneuli manifests inner sacredness. In contrast, task motifemic units with deep motifemic depth—such as “meeting the parents,” “granting requests,” and “acquiring identity”—are achieved after being delayed at Woncheongang or upon returning to the earthly realm, revealing the expansion of sacredness and the enthronement into divine office.
In order to determine the meaning represented by the “lack–liquidation of lack” motifemic units positioned at the beginning and end of the narrative, the relationships between the core unit and subsidiary units were closely examined, and through this process the meaning indicated by deep motifemic depth was derived. In Woncheongang Bonpuri, the “absence of parents,” which appears prominent on the surface, corresponds to a subsidiary motifemic unit that deepens the depth of the lack motifemic unit. It was confirmed that the protagonist’s fundamental lack that penetrates the lack motifemic unit is not “absence of parents,” but “ignorance.”
Based on a theoretical examination of motifemes and the analysis applied to Woncheongang Bonpuri, learners’ actual reading practices were investigated in order to confirm the educational potential of reading education for Shamanistic Epics, and instruction was designed based on these findings. The investigation was conducted through a preliminary survey, first-session and second-session classes, and a third-session interview. The instruction consisted of appreciation of oral performances of Shamanistic Epics, structural reading using motifemes, and activities for identifying motifemic depth and exploring meaning. Through the preliminary survey, the usefulness and potential of using motifemes as an analysis tool for Shamanistic Epics were examined; in the first session, concrete motifeme-centered reading practices were examined; and in the second and third sessions, patterns of meaning exploration using motifemic depth were examined.
Based on the key points derived from the above investigation, educational goals for motifeme-centered reading education of Shamanistic Epics applicable to school settings were established, and teaching and learning content and methods were presented. These include acquiring knowledge of motifemes through concept learning, sharing the results of motifeme-centered structural analysis of Shamanistic Epics by group, identifying motifemic depth using graphic organizers, and exploring meaning and deriving themes through literary dialogue activities among learners. Through this, the present study holds literary-educational significance in that it proposes a reading method that enables precise reading of the structure of Shamanistic Epics and analysis of meaning based on objective evidence.