ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on ethnographic research with shamans and astrology readers in Seoul, Goheung, and Daejeon – three of the cities where the South Korean space launch station and space research agencies are located. It illustrates how an ethnography of shamanistic and astrological divination illuminates the sociopolitical environment of space exploration in South Korea. The first part of this chapter provides a brief overview of Korean astrology and shamanistic divination. The second part of the chapter follows South Korea’s President Yoon’s space sector ambitions through the prism of, on the one hand, his own public engagement with Korean shamanism and, on the other hand, of astrology readers and shamans’ analyses of the president’s astrological chart. This section demonstrates how the president’s national space policy decisions, and their public perception are both co-constituted in the scientific and shamanistic cosmologies. The last part of this chapter focuses on the interviews with shamans and astrology readers in Goheung and Daejeon, where the nation’s first space launch station and major scientific research institutes are located. It examines how shamans and astrology readers help their clients to navigate economic and social changes in their hometowns brought on by the space program and related policies.
