“Digital Humanities” as a Method for Studying Pre-modern Korean Culture

EALC Lecture Series

In this talk Maya Stiller will discuss the Digital Humanities component of her book, Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan: Elite Graffiti in Premodern Korea, which establishes the importance of site-specific visual and material culture as an index of social memory construction. Stiller argues for an expansion of accepted historical narratives on travel and mountain space in pre-modern East Asia. Rather than studying Asian pilgrimage routes as strictly religious or tourist, in the case of Kŭmgangsan, they were also a method of constructing social memory. Kŭmgangsan is one of the most prominent sacred mountains in Korea. Embarking on a journey to Kŭmgangsan to view and contribute to its sites of memory was an endeavor that every late Chosŏn (ca. 1598-1910 C.E.) Korean hoped to achieve in their lives. Kŭmgangsan became not just a destination for religious pilgrims and tourists, but an important site of social engineering. Carving Status is the first historical study in a Western language to examine this practice.

Maya Stiller is an Associate Professor of Korean art history & visual culture at the University of Kansas. She earned a B.A. and M.A. with double majors in Korean Studies and Art History from Humboldt University, a doctorate degree in East Asian Art history from Freie Universität Berlin and a Ph.D. in Asian Languages & Cultures from UCLA. Her most recent articles have been published in the Journal of Asian Studies and the Journal of Korean Religions. In 2021, her book Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan: Elite Graffiti in Premodern Korea was published by University of Washington Press.

Registration is required to attend lecture. Once registered you will receive the Zoom link.

Sponsored by East Asian Languages and Cultures