This project explores the hidden "micro-physics of power" within the Jeju Haenyeo community. It shifts focus from the well-documented narrative of sisterhood to the internal hierarchies and disciplinary mechanisms that have sustained this collective for generations. Based on four months of ethnographic immersion, the project transforms the invisible heritage of communal rules—traditions typically preserved only through oral testimony—into tangible objects and cinematic narratives.
The Dynamics of Communal Discipline
Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of disciplinary power, the project examines how the Haenyeo community regulated the bodies and behaviors of its members. Unlike state-imposed laws, these rules were organic, internal systems designed for survival and order. The project highlights four specific historical punishments reconstructed through the testimonies of elders (aged 70–80) from Hado-ri.