The History of Korean Folklore & Women

Meet Korea’s fox, ghost and princess to uncover how folklore carries women’s grief, resistance and transformation. Followed by Q&A. Every culture has women who were wronged and refused to disappear. In Korean folklore, they return as foxes, ghosts and princesses, figures shaped by grief, injustice and a fierce determination to claim what society denied them. Join Korean poet, scholar and educator Dr Melanie Hyo-In Han to meet three of the tradition’s most enduring female archetypes: the Gumiho, a seductive nine-tailed fox who can shapeshift into a woman; the Cheonyeo Gwishin, an unmarried maiden whose restless spirit exposes the constraints Confucian society placed on women; and Princess Bari, abandoned for being a girl before journeying to the underworld and returning as the Mother of Korean Shamanism. Threading their stories together is han, a Korean feeling of unresolved grief and injustice that can settle in the body and outlast death. Through myth, gender and cultural history, discover how Korean women have carried, released and transformed han across generations, and what these stories reveal about women’s anger, ambition and resistance. Whether you’re new to Korean mythology or already fascinated by it, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of these unforgettable figures, and perhaps new questions about the stories your own culture tells about women who refuse to conform. Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm - come down early to grab a good seat!