Exploring Sensory Anthropology: Development, Limitations, and Its Introduction to Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Understanding bodily perception and sensory experience has come to play a significant role in contemporary anthropology following Merleau-Ponty’s recognition of phenomenology as a mode of analysing and experiencing the ethnographic world. As the need for investigation of the senses is indicated, this paper examines the development of sensory anthropology, which began with criticisms of ocular-centric anthropology. Reviewing the recent trend in this field, this paper gives an overview of theoretic al f rameworks on the body, pec uliar sensory phenomena in each society, bodily praxis in a given occasion, embodied memories, k inaesthetic learning, a nd s patio-temporality. Y et, whilst academic interests in sensory anthropology have become heightened in recent years, research on the senses and bodily experiences is still scarce in non-Western cultures, especially in Korea. Thus, this paper touches upon why it is necessary to introduce sensory scholarship into Korean anthropology. Hence, the paper further discusses the representational limitations of sensory anthropology and suggests that state-of-the-art technologies may serve to encompass and represent a broader scope of sensory phenomena. In conclusion, this study seeks to discover the potential of sensory anthropology, why it needs to be widely used in the anthropology of Korea, and how it goes beyond its representational limitations.