자연의 유산화, 유산의 자연화: 설악산 울산바위의 산길 커먼즈

초록

Through this article I critically analyze the concept and system of the natural heritage scheme in South Korea with a case study of Ulsanbawi in Seoraksan National Park. I collected ethnographic data between 2022 and 2025 from participant-observation in activities that included rock climbing on the peak and hiking through a designated trail and a non-designated trail. In particular, I employ the theoretical perspective of the commons as that which concerns natural heritage as being constantly reconstituted through correspondence with human beings, hence focusing on direct and dynamic participation. I found that the natural heritage system operated from the vista of modernity, technocracy, and an elite view of history. Within this framework, the diverse epistemologies, ontologies, and ethical perspectives that had developed locally around the landscape were rejected by the heritage system. The place names, legends, and oral traditions associated with Ulsan Rock reflected layered and sometimes conflicting meanings as well as hopes for an ideal world, but the managing authorities selectively reconstructed only the harmless and utilizable narratives in a uniform manner. The rock climber’s experience of the Ulsan Rock landscape takes place in a site created through drastic transformation of the natural environment, revealing the paradox of how such experiences are perpetuated and accepted as natural. Meanwhile, rock climbing is an act in which the human subject responds to the contours of the rock surface, and hiking through non-designated trails is also an act of actively engaging with various wild plants, animals, and objects. Moreover, both activities involve participation in the commoning process of creating the paths they follow. The managing authority identifies rock climbing and off-trail hiking as the primary culprits of mountain environment destruction. However, this approach not only ignores the massive environmental devastation caused by the rise of industrial capitalism but also serves merely to impose norms on the landscape and discipline citizens into conformity. In conclusion, natural heritage is a mechanism that naturalizes domination and submission. Also, the way to make today’s heritage vibrant is to participate simultaneously in its creation and its disappearance, without any concealment.

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