Rice Landscape Ethnography

Preliminary Fieldwork at Gosung, July 2023

After I wrote about Gosung and the agricultural heritage Dumbung in the essay <Rice, Ritual, Spirits>, I visited Gosung and had a meeting with Gosung Agriculture Technology Center and received contacts of Dumbung conservation group.

First Fieldwork, June 2025

After participating in the Tidal Flat Ecology Workshop for Families by Gosung Ecology Center by the municipality (http://www.gsvulture.kr/main), the ecology guide introduced me to a Dumbung ecology guide, JongYeol Kim. Later, I had an interview with him at his farm next to three Dumbungs, where he shared many problems related to heritage conservation.

The next day, I visited the Hawon Maeul Community Center, where all female farmers gathered for a special event. I had a brief conversation with them and then had a longer discussion with the village headman at the pavilion next to the community center, where he showed me around another dumbung in the area.