• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.81
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• pp.5-44
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• 2024

This paper is an experience and observation report on the activities of Jeonju citizens, who are 'kleine leutes'. Text or Born-digital materials such as diaries, group chat rooms, memos, and interviews showing citizens' contemporary and daily history (Alltagsgeschichite) were used for this purpose. These civic groups are reading groups we can find easily and they also enjoy walking, hiking, and movies, and so to speak ordinary local people are their members. One team read Choi Myung-hee's "Honbul" for about a year and a half, while another team read several books under the theme of "commons," and enjoyed exploring, exhibiting, or watching movies together. The main text is composed of three parts. First, I looked at the methods and perspectives to examine the daily life of local people. To this end, the views of Detlev Peukert and Alf Lüdtke, who captured the prospects and the possibilities of theories of daily history, and James C. Scott, who provided insight into infra-politics, were reviewed. This work was to find the perspective and method of daily history research that could observe the activities of Jeonju citizens. Second, we looked at the experience of the "Honbool" meeting. The reading of "Honbool" which took place during the period of confrontation with Covid19 began in connection with its intense locality. As the criticism of "a great writer born in our local land" relieved the uncomfortable feelings, the members' critical mind was revealed after Volume3 of "Honbool" and stood out after Volume6. It seemed to show the characteristics of the self-consciousness (Eigensinn) of citizens who choose dynamics rather than being stuck to a specific form of empathy (Betroffenheit). I think it showed the difficulty and hope to face in the description and research of local history at the same time. Third, I observed citizens who gathered on the subject of public land. This meeting showed the actuality and accumulation process of the infra-political capabilities of citizens in Jeonju. Reading-commons did not suffer from 'heart trouble' as a local citizen compared to "Honbool". Rather, the difficulty of related books was an obstacle, and the difficulty was easily resolved. As the meeting progressed, awareness of the commons became more sophisticated and issues and discussions were independently shared with each other, and a wealth of hidden transcripts were accumulated through its practice and problem consciousness. It is difficult to think about modern daily life apart from the capitalist era. More fundamentally, it is here and now in everyday life that humans enjoy or suffer from. All history passes through my body here and now. This is the universality of daily history. It depends on the ability of citizens to create daily history to experience and at the same time maintain the distance of criticism.