with Dr. Chan E. Park
Associate Professor of Korean Language,
Literature and Performance Studies
Ohio State University

As part of The Korea Society's ongoing lecture & demonstration series, Dr. Chan E. Park will share her insights into the distinctive aspects of Korea's musical and narrative heritage with special attention to p'ansori, a form of story-singing. The exact origins of Korea's p'ansori tradition are unclear, but it's thought to have sprung from indigenous shaman chants. P'ansori proliferated throughout the nineteenth century, and in the 1960s was designated by the Korean government as an official intangible cultural treasure. In 2003 the art form was recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Content and Format

In her lecture, Park examines the social, aesthetic and performative existence of traditional music in contemporary Korea, giving special attention to the p'ansori story-singing tradition. To a discerning ear p'ansori is a living tradition capable of bridging the past and the present, its narrative reality waiting to be unraveled. The 90-minute program includes a lecture and demonstration followed by a question and answer period. A hands-on p'ansori mini-workshop can also be arranged as part of the program.

Dr. Chan E. Park has presented numerous lectures, seminars, workshops and p'ansori performances-locally, nationally and internationally. Her research focuses on the performance of p'ansori, particularly in transnational contexts, and on narrative/lyrical traditions in modern Korean drama. She has published extensively on the theory and practice of oral narratology, including her recent monograph, Voices from the Straw Mat: Toward an Ethnography of Korean Singing (University of Hawaii Press, 2003). She received her Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii and is currently an associate professor of Korean language, literature and performance studies at Ohio State University.

The Korea Society provides the basic presentation fee and covers the administrative expenses of the program as well as the cost of roundtrip airfare. Presenting institutions are required to provide one night's lodging in a hotel, meals on the day of the presentation and all local transportation. They also are asked to provide a fee of $800 to The Korea Society which will be used to offset the presentation fee.

For further information or to schedule a program at your institution, please contact Jennifer Kim, program officer for the arts and Korean studies, at (212) 759-7525, ext. 309 or  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Correspondence should be addressed to: The Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor, New York, NY 10022. For more information, please visit www.koreasociety.org.

• January 26, 2008 at the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA)
• January 31, 2008 at Trinity University (San Antonio, TX)
• February 10, 2008 at Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI)
• April 15, 2008 at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
• April 17, 2008 at the University of California, Davis (Davis, CA)
• April 18, 2008 at Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, CA)
• May 8, 2008 at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• February 3, 2009 at Union College (Schenectady, NY)