Jokbo: new approach for men and women

By Mark Peterson

Korea is in a new age, one that has discarded the old hierarchies and the old male dominance. True, much of male dominance still remains, but much is changing.

There is still a predominance of men in elected offices, but I recently had dinner with the consul general of the San Francisco consulate, with his political consul, and found out that women now comprise 70 percent of the incoming class of diplomats each year. We will soon have a corps of diplomats and ambassadors who are majority women.

I want to relate this to jokbo ― Korean-style printed genealogical books. Jokbo have been documents of male ancestry, but that might be changing. And Korea might look to the West for bilateral, male and female lines of ancestry, but it need only look into its own history to find evidence of a gender-balanced approach to genealogy and recording family history.

I've written elsewhere about the development of the male-dominant approach to Confucianism that transformed Korea in the late 17th century. The Korea that we think of today as the traditional Korea with inheritance by the males and primary officiating at the ancestor ceremonies by the eldest son and all the connected male-oriented Confucian society ― all of that only began in the late 17th century.

Prior to that, women inherited property, owned property, held marriages in the woman's village (jangga ganda) not just in the man's village (shijip ganda), took turns hosting jesa ceremonies and in many other ways held a balance of power in the household. Jokbo was among the things that changed with the adoption of the "bugye sahoe" ― the orthodox male-line family system of the last three centuries.

Jokbo used to be reckoned on both sides of the family, not just the male line. The classic format for the jokbo used to be the "palgojodo" ― the "eight great-great-grandfathers' chart." That is to say, you have one father and one mother, but you have two grandfathers and two grandmothers. You have four great grandfathers and four great grandmothers. And you have eight great-great-grandfathers and eight great-great-grandmothers.

The palgojodo lists all 16 of these ancestors. So, rather than saying, "I am a Gimhae Kim" looking only at your father's father's father's line, you say "I am descended from the Gimhae Kim line, and the Jeonju Yi line, and the Andong Kwon line, and the Indong Jang line and the Suwon Baek line" ― for 16 names of one's great-great-grandparents.

Family history research is the second-largest hobby in America today. And similarly, as soon as Korea leaves the male-dominant society behind, including the male-dominant jokbo, Korea can begin to pick up the hobby of research on all of one's family lines ― not just the father's line.

I see potential for this to happen. Why? Because Korea has changed in so many ways ― son preference which was a dyed-in-the-wool (or should I say pickled-in-the-kimchi?) aspect of Korea has changed. Daughters are preferred now. So, why should Korea continue to look at genealogy, jokbo, family history as only one line ― the male line?

It's possible, and even easy, to research the female lines, because Korea has the largest collection, per capita, of jokbo of any place on the planet. One only need look up one's mother's jokbo, and then the paternal grandmother's jokbo, and then the maternal grandmother's jokbo and on up the line.

Put another way, why should women in this new age think of themselves as members only of their father's line? Why should they not be members of their mother's line? And members of both grandmothers' lines. Scientifically, DNA, of course, comes through all ancestors, male and female.

The shape of the new jokbo (which is really the old jokbo ― the "palgojodo") is a triangle with the researcher at the bottom as the lines double with each ascending generation. Like a ― uh, tree? Yes, like a "family tree."

Old male-dominated jokbo are also in the shape of a triangle with the oldest ancestor at the top, with more and more members of the triangle fanning out as one comes down through time and generations.

It might take time but I am ready to predict that Korea will see a rebirth of interest in jokbo as society discards male dominance, and looks to a balance of gender in all things, including lineage. In Korea, too, family history research could become a great hobby, as it is in the West. Second only to birdwatching! Maybe second only to marathon running ― another hobby that has picked up in recent years in Korea.

Some people can't find their male jokbo documents. But if they look for the mother's and the grandmothers' they might find a goldmine of family history they would overlook if they only think of the one-dimensional jokbo, with one family name.

The potential for family history research, balanced jokbo research is tremendous in Korea. It's only a matter of women, and men, too, of course, tapping into all the source documents that are available. And who knows what you will find in your family tree, when you are looking in all the grandmothers' lines.

You might be descended from King Sejong, or Yi Sunshin, or Kim Yushin, or Pak Hyeokgeose, or Kim Alji, or King Kim Suro, or Queen Heo Hwang-ok. Happy researching. Join the millions of people worldwide who search out their ancestral roots, male and female.

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.