Fate, Belief, and Consolation: Fortunetelling and Divination in South Korea

This thesis investigates the popularity of fortunetelling in South Korea, which has today situated itself as a leisurely activity, and one that also generates sociality. Patrons hardly sit across from fortunetellers expecting an accurate peak into the future; the pleasure of dwelling
where excitement and eerie fright cross, the hazy zone of belief and non-belief, and stories embellished with inexplicable, but fascinating experiences, sustain the
relish and popularity of fortunetelling. By constituting and contending "truths" of the session together, fortunetelling also opens up possibility for therapeutic efficacy. Fortunetelling is understood as an opportunity to untangle perplexing emotional problems at hand through a meticulous naming of the past, present, and the future, as well as through the reinstatement of hope that practitioners are invested in offering their patrons. By shedding light on a uniquely Korean emotion, dapdapham, and the recently burgeoning trend towards hɪlɪŋ, a search for consolation and encouragement, that drive these visits to the fortunetellers, I argue that patrons in particular seek a way to make heard burdensome stories, whether those be pestering problems of the everyday or much weightier ones. Fortunetelling, through this lens, is not merely an extension of the tradition it is steeped in; it is also a thoroughly modern response to the hectic rhythm and values that leave little room for attention to individual accounts of affliction.