4ㆍ3 홀어멍의 “말하기”와 몸의 정치 (The Politics of the 4ㆍ3 Holomong Bodies: ‘Speaking’ and the Emotion as Embodied Language)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국문화인류학회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국문화인류학 / 49권 / 3호 / 313 ~ 359페이지
· 저자명 : 김은실

초록

본 논문은 4ㆍ3 당시 남편을 비롯해 수많은 죽음을 목격하고, 그 과정에서 죽음에 가까운폭력과 공포를 경험했던 여성들(홀어멍들)이 “말할 수 없는” 자신들의 목격과 체험을 기억하고 표현하고 살아내는 방식을 다룬다. 특히 본 논문에서는 생존자 여성들이 말할 수 없는‘칭원’(슬픔), 두려움 그리고 억울함을 어떻게 체현하면서 홀어멍으로서 자신의 정체성을 형성해가는가 그리고 홀어멍은 어떻게 자신이 경험한 ‘시국’으로서 4ㆍ3의 시간과 공간을 신체화하는가에 초점을 둔다. 4ㆍ3 생존자 여성들의 역사적 삶의 경험을 사회 공동체가 함께 공유하고 그것을 치유하기 위해서는, 진상규명의 틀 속에 포획되지 않는 피해자의 ‘침묵’, ‘말할 수 없음’, ‘재현불가능성’, ‘몸에 붙어버린 느낌이나 감정’과 같은 경험에 접근할 수 있는새로운 인식론이 요구된다. 본 논문은 새로운 인식론을 모색하는 하나의 과정으로서 민족지적 자료를 깊이 있게 질문하고 검토하는 시도를 통해 ‘말’ 중심의 인식 및 해석체계를 넘어인식 불가능한 현실을 경험한 피해 생존자들의 트라우마적 주체성에 접근하고자 한다. 이는4ㆍ3 이후 자식들을 키워내고 마을을 재건해낸 여성들, 즉 홀어멍(홀어머니)들의 트라우마적삶의 경험을 공적 영역 이슈로 드러내기 위한 하나의 시도이다.

영어초록

The 4ㆍ3 Incident refers to one of the most tragic events in modern Korean history in which approximately 30,000 residents of Jeju were killed over a period of 6 years and 6 months from April 3, 1948. Although it has been estimated that one ninth of the entire Jeju population was killed in this incident, it has remained an unspoken topic. This article is based on ethnographic research addressing how the April Third (4ㆍ3) Incident is remembered, represented and understood by the holomongs (widowed mothers) of Jeju Island, who after having witnessed countless deaths in the incident and having lost their own husbands, brought up their children and reconstructed their villages which were destroyed during the suppression of the incident. The holomongs ascribe the incomprehensibly violent and uncontrollable time and space of 4ㆍ3 to the political situation of the time.
Their way of dealing with the incident has been to push it outside of their sphere of awareness in their lives. Since the 4ㆍ3 Incident, they have locked up their memories and experiences within their bodies in order to survive in a world where a person’s association with 4ㆍ3 signifies that the person communism, the dominant view of 4ㆍ3 has been that it was a riot led by communists, and the holomongs have refrained from talking about their memories of their husbands’ deaths out of fear that it might bring harm to their sons. In this research, I regard the testimonies and oral accounts given by the women who are both victims and survivors not just as descriptions of certain events, but also as voices for themselves and their experiences.
I argue that the witnessing of brutal and horrifying events has turned these women into tainted and abject beings who are unable to speak of their loss and pain, not to mention the truth. I try to show that the way the narrative of the 4ㆍ3 holomongs is told and represented makes it elusive to language– centered interpretation, and that the key to figuring out the narrative may lie in the cultural norms and social circumstances surrounding the women and the politics of the body, since it is the body upon which their personal experiences are inscribed. The body not only conveys meanings that are subordinate to language, but also actively generates and/or reinforces meanings in its encounters with different cultural practices and political circumstances; hence, the body serves to carry and call out certain emotions.
Therefore, to understand the historical experiences of the women who have suffered brutality, horror, and deep sorrow due to the 4ㆍ3 Incident and furthermore to share and heal their pain within the state and the community, it is crucial to pay attention to the ‘silence,’ ‘unspeakability,’ and the ‘feelings and emotions beyond words’ of the victims, that evade the grasps of ‘facts’ and ‘political truths;’ this can be approached by trying to empathize with their bodily experiences.

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