Famine Talk

Communication Styles and Socio-political Awareness in 1990s North Korea

Bibliographic Data

ID12799086
AuthorsSandra Fahy (University of Southern California, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume15
Issue4
Pages535-555
Publication date2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFood Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1552-8014 • E-ISSN: 1751-7443
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2752/175174412x13276629245920
OpenAlexW2318594928
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited22

This paper examines the articulation of individual and collective social suffering through oral accounts of famine survivors from North Korea. The 1990s famine, resulting from both economic and political factors, was the first time North Korea experienced a significant internal threat to sovereignty. Restrictions on talk about famine, hunger and starvation were so commonplace that these words were barely in use. Print media educated the population in acceptable ways to discuss the food shortage and this was reinforced through threats and violence. Despite these threats, oral accounts reveal that some free communication emerged. Grounded in original ethnographic research with famine survivors living in Seoul and Tokyo, the present paper explores these expressions and considers how individuals found a means of agency despite the regime's repression.Keywords: North Koreafaminesurvivalcommunication styles Additional informationNotes on contributorsSandra FahySandra Fahy earned her PhD in social anthropology from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies in 2009. She subsequently held a Korea Foundation post-doctoral fellowship in Paris at l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Le Centre de Recherches sur la Corée (2009–10). She is presently the Sejong Society Post-doctoral Fellow at the Korean Studies Institute of the University of Southern California (2010-2013). Korean Studies Institute, University of Southern California, 809 West 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA. 90089, USA ([email protected])

Agency (philosophy · Economic shortage · Ethnography · Famine · Food studies · Geography · Government (linguistics · Political science · Population · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Demography · Gender Studies · History · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law