Annual Subjects

• Step 1
  • 1st year(Sep.2019-Aug.2020), Seowon , an ancestral rites and educational space
    This study focuses on the academic emphasis on highlighting and restoring the essential value of the cultural heritage of Seowon by adopting a microscopic understanding of the specific meaning of Seowon's education and ancestral rites activities on the horizon of various educational and ancestral rites. In a broad sense, the history of Seowon was part of the history of human education and at the same time the base of ritual activities that dominated the identity of human cultural groups that belong. Therefore, reviewing the two key elements that make up the identity of Seowon, namely the grounds, motives, and cases of ancestral rites and educational activities, and further examining the meaning thereof, corresponds to the basic work of Seowon research.
  • 2nd year(Sep.2020-Aug.2020), East Asian Knowledge Network and Seowon Archives
    Jangseo(藏書, Library) is classified as one of the core functions of Seowon along with education and ancestral rites. The library of Seowon not only have the meaning of preserving and transmitting knowledge at the historical level, but also revealed the ideological characteristics and educational trends of each Seowon, and played an important role in spreading local knowledge and gathering intellectuals. Therefore, in order to understand the universality and specificity of Seowon as a repository of intelligence, it is require to understand the method of library collection of East Asian Seowon and its meaning.
  • 3rd year(Sep.2021-Aug.2022), Regional Characteristics of the Culture of East Asian Seowon and it’s Operation
    This study examines the universality and specificity of East Asian Seowon by comprehensively comparing and examining the Confucian culture of each country from an international perspective. Seowon is also a unique cultural heritage representing Korean intellectual history, but it has its origins in China, and is also a universal cultural heritage spread to East Asian countries. Therefore, comprehensive research has to be conducted based on the core functions of Seowon, such as education, ancestral rites, economic foundation, and library, as well as the purpose, composition system, and political, social, and cultural influences of each country. This leads to the various aspects of East Asian intellectual history and the universality and specificity of cultural history.
• Step 2
  • 1st year(Sep.2022-Aug.2023), Transformation of East Asian Seowon in Modern Periods
    The situation of the upheaval in modern East Asia had a profound effect on Seowon in each country. At the same time, the will to survive in East Asia Seowon, which responded to the modern wave, dreamed of progress in various ways between traditional succession and the search for change. This study examines the inheritance, development, and transition patterns of East Asian Seowon in each country in the phase of modern change based on the research results on East Asian Seowon accumulated so far and domestic and foreign research data. In addition, a new type of modern Seowon is considered by examining the new Seowon of this period. From these studies, the unique zeitgeist revealed by modern East Asian Confucian culture will be comprehensively identified.
  • 2nd year(Sep.2023-Aug.2024), Comparison of Western Medieval Universities and East Asian Seowon
    In order for Seowon, which was limited to East Asia, to obtain academic and cultural illumination at a global level, it is necessary to focus on its universal function. This study considers 'education', which was always an activity of mankind, as a key function, and ranks Seowon as a comparative class of East-West educational culture research. Based on the timing of the occurrence and use of Seowon, Western educational culture in contrast to this can be largely represented by monasteries or universities. Regardless of the East and the West, traditional education has a series of universities in that it has focused on both faith and reason, as well as the cultivation of intelligence and emotions. Therefore, this study newly reads the development of human intellectual history and its universality through comparison of the educational institutions.
  • 3rd year(Sep.2024-Aug.2025), The Contemporary Succession and Utilization of East Asian Seowon Culture
    Seowon is an important cultural heritage, but only when it can be used practically now can its usefulness and value be truly secured. In the final stage of the research, based on the various achievements of the East Asian Seowon culture, it will conduct a practical review of how to inherit and utilize the universal and special humanistic values of Seowon. This includes an academic review to restore and secure its value at the social, educational, academic, living, and even economic level based on the objective perception of the realistic conditions of contemporary society. From this point on, Seowon will not be buried as a legacy on paper of the past, but will be newly built on the ground of the future.