Alain DELISSEN (b. 1963)
Ancien eleve de l'Ecole Normale Superieure, agrege d'histoire, diplome
 de coreen
Docteur en histoire (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales,
 janvier
1994, directeur : M. Augustin Berque).
Present position : Researcher (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Subject :

  Seoul, Kim Sugun and the Space [Konggan] Group of Korea, 1960-1990:

                National identity and urban landscapes

- My field of inquiry was designed as a triptych encompassing the period
between 1960 and 1990:

        1. Nationalism and cultural identity in contemporary South
Korea, their origins, themes, icons and actors.

        2. A prominent Korean architect and the movement he founded,
Konggan, that was influential in both the realm of cultural-national
life and urban design.

        3. The urban landscapes and identity of modern Seoul and what
they may tell us about development processes and socio-cultural values.

- These three sub-topics formed the major sections in the dissertation,
the first and the third including a discussion of the pre-1960 Korean
culture and city life.

- Through Kim Sugun's elaborate set of ideas, embodied in spatial and
architectural icons that were borrowed from his own idealised conception
of Korean classical civilisation, I made a connection between nation and
city. Seoul, the six hundred year-old capital-city of Korea, was the
focal point of this interaction of symbols and landscapes.

- From this, I tried to offer new insights into:
        1. the function of cultural elites in the modernisation of South
Korea and the role of contemporary nationalism.

        2. my study portrayed an individual whose actions and ideas were
instrumental in shaping Seoul's identity.

        3. I reassessed the supposed disorder of city landscapes, which
cannot be simply conceived in terms of a "tradition Vs modernity"
formula.

Alain DELISSEN