Stepping in the Madang: Embodying Space and Place in Korean Drumming and Dance

The aim of the proposed research and book is to address the critical role of the spatialization of culture in Korean drumming and dance. Here, I focus on the concept of the madang, a cultural space that was revived in opposition to the Western stage in South Korea. While the madang can best be visualized as a village courtyard, it can also refer temporally to an occasion in time or socially to a sense of embodied communal participation. While some studies have focused on the materiality of the madang, I approach it more as a philosophy of interacting in space and place, focusing on the ways in which the madang has helped to bring folk culture back into the spaces of actual, everyday life, thereby opening up modes of social engagement that are more meaningful and relevant for participants.