Interview about "Sketches of Korea" on Busan e-FM 90.5, "Inside out Busan", 1st of July 2015
Follow the link.

I am invited to speak about "Sketches of Korea" tomorrow Wednesday 20th May from 11:30 am on TBS Radio, 1013 Mainstreet Program.

And a new article on Korea.net, the official site of the Republic of Korea, has been released about it:

Follow the links for the different versions:
On the Blue House site (Cheonghwadae) :
http://english1.president.go.kr/korea/korea.php?srh%5bview_mode%5d=detail&srh%5bseq%5d=10684

In English:
http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/People/view?articleId=127413

In Korean:
http://www.kocis.go.kr/koreanet/view.do?seq=3941

NB : the reporter did a great job in this long article and she tried her best to catch what I was explaining in my poor Korean! Here are few misunderstandings though:
- concerning the white clothes, I tried to explain that the situation during the Joseon era was more complicated than what we are usually being taught. At times, commoners were forbidden to wear white cloths, but at the same time it is said that colors were forbidden for most social groups except for the aristocracy and the officials. Children and elderly people could wear pastel colors. But then what commoners could be wearing if white and colors alike were forbiden to them? It is actually a question which need to be answered with precision, taking into account, the time, the place and the social group considered. The "white-clad folk" may have been a widespread reality only at the very end of the dynasty...
- "minhwa" is a term invented during the colonial times. It covers different types of paintings which belonged not to one genre, but to several genres in the past.
- "Though not understandable, however, there is one thing I see as pitiful": I think I understand this situation of lack of "yeoyu" or free time/leisure/space. I don't find it pitiful, I regret it.
- "If we cannot eat, it would be very painful": really? No comment...
- the French movement to rediscover "daily routine" that I was mentionning is the academic rediscovery of everyday life, like in Michel De Certeau works ("The practice of everyday life").