Life and Learning of Korean Artists and Craftsmen ─ Rhizoactivity

This book brings out the need for lifelong learning theory and explores how it is possible from a postmodern perspective. The book uses life history that has gained its popularity in social science research to overcome the dichotomy between individual and society or between agency and structure. Life history also reflects the postmodern or late-modern conditions of social life. In this book, the author uses a collection of published oral history narratives of famous Korean artists and craftsmen. The author maps out life and learning of five such artists and craftsmen with figurations of escaping, creating, controlling and formalizing. These figurations are images of ‘Rhizoactivity’ that the author proposes as a new conceptual tool to navigate lifelong learning from a postmodern perspective. This book can be a signal of a new way of theory building in the field of adult and lifelong education.

Dae Joong Kang is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Seoul National University.