Birth of Neo-Nomadism in Korea

Abstract

Recently quite a few scholars and social critics argue that a sort of nomadic culture reappears as communication and transportation technologies advance. Korea is arguably one of the countries which have highly-developed communication and transportation systems in the world. This paper discusses nomadism in the modern (or post-modern) context and analyzes major arguments empirically with the Korean case. A thesis of the rebirth of nomadism is supported by the analysis. The strong propensity to movement and actual mobility was found. The mobility seems to be unfolded in both real and cyber spaces. The strong inclination to change is also confirmed. The absolute majority of Koreans favor change or at least do not resist it. Evidence for the deconstruction of borders is also found. The data indicate that a lot of Koreans are quite liberal in sex life as well as eating patterns. Cyber-tribalism, a part of the nomadism, was also found. The paper concludes that post-modern nomadism became one of the determining factors in culture in Korea.