Spirit Power explores the manifestation of the American Century in Korean history with a focus on religious culture. It looks back on the encounter with American missionary power from the late nineteenth century, and the long political struggles against the country’s indigenous popular religious heritage during the colonial and postcolonial eras. The book brings an anthropology of religion into the field of Cold War history. In particular, it investigates how Korea’s shamanism has...

Inequality in health reflects the deeper social and economic structures shaping everyday life.This edited volume investigates the complex and uneven landscape of health disparities in contemporary Korean society, demonstrating how rapid economic and social transformations have produced unequal health outcomes across diverse populations. The collection highlights how factors such as employment conditions, social capital, and access to healthcare contribute to differe...

This book illustrates how Seoul's transition into a digitally networked city has reshaped governance structures, economic systems, and cultural life.Central to this transformation is the proactive role of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which has guided the city through multiple stages of smart urbanization with strategic planning and policy innovation.Organized into three parts, the contributors first examine the government's leadership in building a smar...

This book deepens scholarly understandings of how digital technologies reconfigure civic engagement by examining the distinctive trajectories of online activism in the Korean context.Drawing on a diverse set of case studies-including SNS-driven political participation, the 2008 U.S. beef protests, the 2016–2017 candlelight vigils, and the #MeToo movement-the volume situates these movements within the dynamic interplay of evolving media infrastructures and Korea's so...