A Study On The Formation Of The Elderly Life-Historical Sense Of Place In Urban Poverty

Abstract

Purpose Gamcheon Village is a hillside village where emerging religious believers lived in groups after the Korean War. It was named "Culture Village" and "Machu Picchu in Korea" after urban regeneration, which began in 2009. The village is evaluated as a successful urban regeneration model, but the number of residents decreases and the aging index increases. It has characteristic that it has elements of socioeconomic deficiency like an increase in low-income households and a lack of convenience facilities. This village is suitable for understanding identity of place formed during life cycle because there are many elderly people who have lived since childhood. The purpose of this study is to investigate ‘the sense of place' through the story of who have played a leading role in village affairs and to find out what personal and social meanings and conditions life in the village has changed during the life of male elderly people. Method Life history research is one of the research methods to explore social conditions through the story of an individual's life. Researchers analyzed the life history of five male elderly people who have lived in village since childhood and have undergone changes due to the external conditions of 'urban regeneration'. A preliminary survey was conducted for six months to secure the specificity of "living" and "urban regeneration plan and process", and to look at the village from Insider’s perspective. After, in-depth interviews were conducted from April to May 2022 by recruiting people in their 60s or older who went through childhood and growth in the village. Results and Discussion Participants went to elementary school and worked hard to earn a living, resenting and adaptation of being from poor villages. Although their hometowns are different, they believed in same religion and lived in a residential environment where they used houses, communal wells, and communal toilets side by side without walls. As a result, harmony was naturally achieved, resulting in the words "Gamcheon dialect" and "Gamcheon-man." This title was a symbol of a unique culture and a poor village. The village, which had undergone social exclusion, became internally consolidated with trends and blood ties, and had the locality of a community (Gemeinschaft). It is a place where I want to leave anytime if I have money, but social relations take place here even if I move to a place where I return from traveling outside when I was young. Participants began working in villages before and after urban regeneration, middle-aged or early old age, or took on social roles such as group activities. These activities led to a leading role in village and preserved the village's history and place. Whereas, urban regeneration did not lead to physical and environmental changes or economic activities felt in their living world. It is considering improving the settlement environment, generating profits for the village, and creating a village where the next generations want to live. Beyond Tuan(1977)'s 'stop, rest, and make a relationship', the change in 'place identity' was confirmed through open interaction with outsiders.

References

Rosenthal, G. (2011). Interpretative Sozialforschung: Eine Einführung, Weinheim und Weinheim und München: Juventa Verlag.

Russell, C. & Porter, M. (2003). Single older men in disadvantaged households：Narratives of meaning around everyday life, Ageing International, 28(4), 359-371.

Tuan, Y. F. (2020). Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Y.H.Yoon & M.S.Kim, Trans.) Seoul, Sai. (Original work published in 1977)

Keywords: sense of place, male elderly, life history, urban regeneration, place identity

Address: Department of Social Welfare, College of Social Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea

Email: scholaok@pusan.ac.kr

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