Kanp’an: Signage, Inscription, and Soundscape in 1920s Seoul

Date
Nov 13, 2024, 4:30 pm6:00 pm
Location
202 Jones

Speaker

Details

Event Description

The 1920s marked a period of rapid commercialization and urbanization in Seoul, transforming the city’s visual and auditory landscape. This lecture explores the rise of commercial signage as a critical phenomenon in shaping modern urban spaces, focusing on the inscription practices of multilingual signboards that utilized Korean vernacular script, Japanese kana, and Chinese characters in typographic, calligraphic, and pictographic forms. The signage, known as kanp’an, not only reshaped the visual experience of the city but also represented a new form of writing that emerged alongside the commercialization of urban spaces. Additionally, the lecture delves into the auditory dimension of reading signage, examining how the oral rendition of these scripts—specifically kanji/hanja—added an auditory layer to the already complex visuality of the city.

Se-Mi Oh is an Associate Professor of Modern Korean History in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the architectural and urban practices of Seoul and explores the relationship between space and historical writing. She is the author of City of Sediments: A History of Seoul in the Age of Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2023).

Sponsor
Program in East Asian Studies