본 논문은 북한 주민들의 구술자료, 특히 생애사 구술자료를 활용하여 어떻게북한 도시를 연구할 것인가에 관한 글이다. 이 논문에서는 공간의 성격과 지역정체성의 개념, 도시에 관한 사회학적 이론을 검토하고, 이들 이론이 북한 도시공간 연구에 주는 다음과 같은 몇 가지 시사점을 도출하였다. 첫째, 북한의 도시공간을 탐구한다는 것은 북한의 도시공간 내의 행위자들의 행위와 상호작용에 의해 어떻게 특정한 사회적 공간이 생산되는가를 밝히는 작업이어야 한다. 둘째,다양한 행위자들과 사회세력들 간에 일어나는 공간의 생산을 둘러싼 경합과 갈등, 권력관계에 착목할 필요가 있다. 셋째, 주체들의 상호작용 속에서 공간이 생산될 뿐만 아니라 공간이 인간 행위를 규제하고 물질들의 공간적 배치가 인간의활동에 영향을 미치기 때문에, 행위자들에 의한 공간의 소비와 체험, 공간에 대한 행위자들의 해석과 의미부여를 밝히는 작업이 필요하다. 넷째, 공간을 통해이루어지는 권력의 지배에 초점을 둘 것인가, 공간을 점유하는 다양한 행위자들의 저항과 갈등, 공간의 전유에 초점을 둘 것인가라는 쟁점이 존재한다.
또한 이 글에서는 북한 주민들의 구술생애사 자료가 북한 도시연구, 특히 북한 도시의 정체성을 탐색하는데 있어 중요한 자료로 활용될 수 있음에 주목하고,그 의의와 활용가능성을 살펴보았다. 북한 도시연구에서 탈북이주민의 생애사자료를 비롯한 구술자료는 ‘주관성’이라는 속성으로 인해 주체의 공간경험과 그를통해 형성되는 지역정체성을 밝히는데 있어 적합한 자료가 된다. 개별적인 질적 사례의 설명력을 확보하기 위해서는 구술자의 기억이 생산, 변형, 재현되는 사회적, 공간적 맥락을 고려하고, 사례를 해석하고 분석하는 과정에서 구술자의 경험을 맥락, 의도, 의미와 함께 서술하는 다양한 전략을 활용해야 한다.
마지막으로 이 글에서는 구술자료를 활용한 북한 도시연구의 주제 영역으로일상적 공간을 통한 주체 형성과 주민들의 대응, 도시공간의 전유와 활용, 일상공간의 변화와 지역정체성 변화를 제시하였다.
This paper focuses on the North Korean urban studies by utilizing oral materials of North Korean refugees. The paper examines characteristic of space, concept of local identity, and sociological theories relevant to urban studies, and draws implications from these theories for further research as follows. First, studies into North Korean urban spaces should reveal how social space is produced by behavior and interaction of actors. Second, the study needs to focus on competitions, conflicts, and power relations in regard to the production of space between the various actors. Third,consumptions and the actors’ experiences of the space, as well as their interpretations must be revealed because the social space is not only produces within interactions by agents, but it also regulates human behaviors. Fourth, there are relentless debates on whether focus should be placed on the domination of power through space, or on the resistance, conflict, and appropriation of space by various actors. This paper addresses the oral materials of North Korean refugees which can be utilized as valuable data for the North Korean urban studies, and the paper also examines the significance and possibility of application. In order to set aside the explanatory power of individual qualitative cases,social and spatial context should be considered where the interviewee’s memory is produced, transformed, and reproduced. And various strategies of interpretation should be utilized by narrating experience of interviewee’s experience as well as the context, intention, and meaning. Lastly, the subjects of North Korean urban studies based on the utilization of oral materials are identified in this paper as following: the formation of agents through the space of daily life and response of agents, the appropriation and utilization of urban space by agents, and the change of daily space and the change in local identity.
This paper focuses on the North Korean urban studies by utilizing oral materials of North Korean refugees. The paper examines characteristic of space, concept of local identity, and sociological theories relevant to urban studies, and draws implications from these theories for further research as follows. First, studies into North Korean urban spaces should reveal how social space is produced by behavior and interaction of actors. Second, the study needs to focus on competitions, conflicts, and power relations in regard to the production of space between the various actors. Third,consumptions and the actors’ experiences of the space, as well as their interpretations must be revealed because the social space is not only produces within interactions by agents, but it also regulates human behaviors. Fourth, there are relentless debates on whether focus should be placed on the domination of power through space, or on the resistance, conflict, and appropriation of space by various actors. This paper addresses the oral materials of North Korean refugees which can be utilized as valuable data for the North Korean urban studies, and the paper also examines the significance and possibility of application. In order to set aside the explanatory power of individual qualitative cases,social and spatial context should be considered where the interviewee’s memory is produced, transformed, and reproduced. And various strategies of interpretation should be utilized by narrating experience of interviewee’s experience as well as the context, intention, and meaning. Lastly, the subjects of North Korean urban studies based on the utilization of oral materials are identified in this paper as following: the formation of agents through the space of daily life and response of agents, the appropriation and utilization of urban space by agents, and the change of daily space and the change in local identity.
