On the occasion of the publication of Dr Ok-Kyung Pak’s The Jamnyo of Jeju, The Womend Divers of Korea and Neo-Confucianism, a Dual Mythology, a large number of activities have been organised.

PARIS, MUSÉE CERNUSCHI, 2 October 2018

Dr Ok-Kyung Pak gave a lecture at the Musée Cernuschi in Paris on 2 October 2018.

GENEVA, THÉÂTRE LES SALONS, 8 October 2018

On 8 October 2018, at the Théâtre les Salons in Geneva, a round table discussion moderated by the journalist and sailor Catherine Chabaud brought together numerous specialists such as the anthropologist Ok-Kyung Pak, the researchers Pascale-Marie Milan, author of The Na of Lijiazuiand Guigone Camus, author of Tabiteuea Kiribati, both published by the Musée Barbier-Mueller Cultural Foundation, the freediver Aurore Asso and the filmmaker Roselyne Segalen, who directed the film on the jamnyo women divers screened during the evening.

The participants spoke about jamnyoculture while addressing the themes of ocean pollution, freediving and matrilineage, which are all closely linked to it.

Haenyo(jamnyo) women freedive every day, risking their lives to fish and support their families. They have great economic power, live under the matrifocal system (transmission from mother to daughter) and respect nature by practising a circular economy. They preserve shamanic traditions and practice symbolic rituals in favour of goddesses to ensure their protection.

Dangerous freediving and pollution of the seabed are threatening both the livelihood and culture of the haenyo(jamnyo). Girls who are now in school no longer want such a difficult and dangerous life.

GENEVA, MUSÉE BARBIER-MUELLER, 9 October 2018

Dr Ok-Kyung Pak presented her research and publication to the Amis du Musée Barbier-Mueller, at the museum on 9 October 2018.

GENEVA, QUAI GUSTAVE-ADOR, 12-31 October 2018

Thirty pictures of women jamnyodivers taken by the renowned Korean photographer Hyung Sun Kim were exhibited outdoors on huge panels along the Quai Gustave-Ador in Geneva from 12 to 31 October 2018. Born in 1965, Hyung Sun Kim is a graduate of the Seoul Institute of the Arts and has show his work in various cultural institutions around the world. He has captured, in his words, “the extreme duality of women: their extreme strength combined with their human fragility. They are presented as they are, tired and out of breath. But they show mental and physical strength beyond limits, crossing the line between life and death every day.”

On the publication of the foundation’s book on the island of Tabiteuea – a victim of global warming – which highlights the worrying reality of cultures threatened with extinction, a round table led by journalist and writer Patrick Poivre d’Arvor was organised to present the foundation’s activities in the Théâtre Lévi-Strauss of the Musée Quai Branly.

Five researchers presented their fieldwork among the Na of Lijiazui, China, the Jiye of South Sudan, the Altaians of Siberia, and the Bati of the Molucca Islands, Indonesia, as well as in Tabiteuea, Kiribati Islands. After the debate, Morad Aït-Habbouche’s film SOS Kiribati was screened to raise awareness of the problems linked to climate change. The round table was the opportunity to bring together the members of the foundation’s council and scientific committee, who came from all over the world. Erik Orsenna and Yann Arthus-Bertrand were among those attending.

He was surrounded by the seven members of the foundation’s governing body and the fifteen members of its scientific committee, who had just been appointed.

He said: “The foundation’s anthropologists will have the task of studying the culture of hitherto-neglected populations that are in danger of disappearing. The aim is to collect their oral traditions, memories, myths and ancestral stories before it is too late. This approach aims to ensure that nothing that is the work of humanity is lost”.

A professional code of ethics prohibits investigators from acquiring or receiving artefacts from the populations studied.

Mercredi 10 novembre à 12h30 au musée Barbier-Mueller

Une trentaine de photographies prises par l’anthropologue Gustaaf Verswijver pendant ces longs séjours dans les villages Kayapo montrent des aspects de la vie quotidienne et des rituels observés entre 1974 et 1981. Après avoir été adopté par le vieux chef d’un village, il a progressivement pu établir un lien très intime avec de nombreux membres de la famille et d’autres villageois, ce qui a donné lieu à des images très conviviales et décontractées.

Quelques portraits d’Indiens Kayapo dessinés par Martine de Roeck complètent l’exposition.

Entrée libre, le passeport Covid vous sera demandé à l’entrée.