Resilience of Korean Slavery: Tyrannical Owners, Resourceful Slaves, and the Equivocal State

Abstract

abstract:In this article, I seek to understand the longevity of Korean slavery, the social and economic foundation of Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910). The tension of the competing economic needs of the state and yangban elites versus the state’s ideological commitment to benevolent governance led the state to formulate pliable policies on slavery. Legal cases concerning slaves’ oppression by slave owners reveal that owners exercised tyrannical power over their slaves. Yet laws also restrained slave owners in their dealings with slaves. Slaves, though subject to constant exploitation and unjust social conditions, took advantage of their economic, social, and familial resources as well as their legal rights in managing their precarious lives. This structural malleability enabling slaves’ agency created a form of slavery in Korea that endured for centuries.초록:이 논문은 조선왕조의 사회 경제적 근간을 이룬 노비제도가 장기지속된 원인을 노비들이 자신들이 갖고 있는 사회 경제적 자원과 법적 수단들을 이용 하여 자신들의 삶을 주체적으로 영위해 나갈 수 있게 한 구조적 유연성에서 찾 는다.