갑오 농민 전쟁과 민중 의식의 성장 = The Rise of Minjung Consciousness in the Tonghak Peasant War

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper intended to examine the meanings that the minjung attached to their action, their aspirations, and the ways by which the minjung negotiated and (re}constructed their self-consciousness and their relationship with the world through participating in the peasant war. Participation of the minjung in the peasant war was first manifested as participation in the public sphere. The minjung aspired to engage in the public sphere through new ideologies, demands for legal and institutional reform, and transformation of the power structure. But mobilization of the minjung was possible because of the building of local social networks that neutralized the influence of local power-holders and that enabled them to construct of a new public sphere of their own. Underlying the process was the conscious effort made by the minjung to challenge the given hierarchy and to build new social relations based on the notion of equity. Another way through which the minjung participated in the peasant war was based on religious participation. Through participating in Tonghak, the minjung could establish themselves as active negotiators, interpreters, and the agents of God. Through religious rituals, the minjung was able to reinforce the belief that the Tonghak Heaven would come true with the peasant war.