Revitalizing Confucianism

This week, I am in Ireland to present a paper on the ajumma (middle-aged Korean woman) and Confucianism as an existing instance of Confucian potential for South Korea and for more general understanding. The University of Cork’s Korean studies program offers an example of how Korean civilization continues to evolve and develop in the world. Professor Kevin Cawley and his students learn Korean languages translate and analyze Korean texts and develop comparative analyses for the good of Irish, European and other audiences.

Recently, I have pondered the meaning of John Tavener’s wonderful hymn to creation and evanescence, "Eternity Sunrise.” With wonderful music and lyrics drawn from William Blake, it celebrates how one can see eternity in a grain of sand or wildflower. We are surrounded by many things that take us away from the joys and mysteries of creation. Tavener’s song rings true to me as I walk and view Ireland’s beaches, streets, walks, gardens and farms in autumn. While many preparations for Halloween are evident, so too are those represented by the days of saints and souls that accompany this period of harvest festivals. If and as we can see the eternity in a day’s sunrise and the life its warmth brings and illumines, we can laugh a bit at the forces of death, all too prominent in this world.

To see the working and main group of Korean women prosper more, Korean men must see the interests of the ajumma as bound up with the eternity represented by their life-giving actions. These begin in childbirth but extend to all manner of life’s contexts. Fathers, husbands, sons, teachers and elders must reverse their self-prioritizations to include the needs of the ajumma to a much greater extent. There is every reason to do so within the Confucian ethics of mutual self-development for family harmony. The democratic vector of South Korea’s ongoing development demands it as well.

The footprint of a different spirit is present in a society where many women disavow marriage, and young men do so too. The national birthrate is low. Korean society sees too many grandmas and grandpas abandoned or left to loneliness. If we took better care to equalize opportunities and outcomes for women, beginning with the ajumma, their daughters and their granddaughters, Korea’s sun will see another zenith or apex. To ignore this call represented by the ajumma would be a significant failing. A democracy that does not extend its horizon invites entropy. The "han" of the nation is reinforced by inequality and hierarchy against the injunction of Confucius to develop mutually and in community. The disengagement from marriage and childbearing is not limited to South Korea but is a signal threat to face for what lies behind it across many nations.

While succeeding administrations look to other priorities, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family languishes in relative neglect. Too little legislation targeting the needs of women advances. There is much work to be done.

Confucian revivals have tended to be coopted by conservative forces in China. They serve reactionary purposes when merely reinforcing the obediences in archaic or staid forms. Likewise, cultural festivals, Confucian ceremonies or traditional music are all valuable. But viewing classical and ancient rites, songs, manners of dress and the like also can co-opt the progressive potential of the Confucianism of the ajumma by limiting contemporary receptions of it to artifacts, food, folks and fun. In China, meanwhile, Confucianism is being adapted as a series of ethical possibilities for community and advancement. Look at the many professors, scholars and proponents of Ruxue schools today! Korea is not China, but surely there is analogous potential to enliven the practice of contemporary Confucian understands in Korea today and tomorrow.

The elan of the ajumma is evident in their life force for their families. They can’t afford to stand by or wait. They act in the world of work for survival, for their children and families. And yet, their agency is characterized by energy, vitality, and abundant action for the good of themselves and others. They are not scholar-bureaucrats or professors, but they are a kind of sage. As Lee Un-sun of Sejong University notes, they exhibit "saengmul," life-giving care for others, that extends the energies of life and build life chances and opportunities. It can’t be wise to disavow a more serious exploration of those Koreans who account for half or more of all consumer household spending. These stigmatized, stereotyped and caricatured human beings are at the core of present Korean society. Beyond whatever changes in favored terms of reference that may occur, as a social class, they will continue to shape Korea, and their lives and livelihoods will continue to track much of the Korean path of progress.

Bernard Rowan is professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of The Korea Foundation and a past visiting professor of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Hanyang University. He may be reached at browan10@yahoo.com.