분단 정동의 회로 : 무관심, 적대, 혐오, 그리고 그 너머

초록

This paper interprets the affect of division operating in South Korean society since the end of the Cold War as a chain and accumulation of indifference, hostility, and disgust. By examining the problem of division—until now addressed primarily through the lens of ideology and institutions—through the problematic of affect theory, this paper analyzes the facets of division that circulate between bodies and resonate as a social force. In particular, while South Korean society since the post-Cold War period appears indifferent to the question of division, it shows a tendency to convert into hostility, distrust, and disgust at particular moments or events. Each of these affects does not exist in a completed or fixed form but operates as a single circuit, functioning as the affective fuel for the “two-state” relationship that DPRK(North) and ROK(South) currently witness. What is problematic is that the character of the “affective two-state” that resonated through South Korean society prior to the “two-state” at the political and institutional level did not remain simply at the level of indifference or hostility, but shifted into disgust toward DPRK(North Korea) and the people who come from there. The task that remains, then, is to construct an affective circuit beyond the circuit of division affect—one oriented toward peace and coexistence.

키워드