This article tries to compare the shift between South Korea’s familial co-habitation system from Hanok to modern structure and the contemporary Meitei Yumjao-Ingkhol homestead settlement system alongside growing consumerism and individualism, rapid proliferation of digital technologies, change in occupational structure and migration, diaspora culture, etc.
Traditional Meitei society and Korean systems share certain parallels, such as similar rites of passage like the Chak-umba ritual of the Meitei people and Korea’s Doljabi, wherein in both cases, infants are made to choose any of the objects like cash or coins, rice grains, books, etc. as a symbolic gesture to determine the child’s future fortunes or vocations. Similarly, the physical manifestation of the cosmic threshold of a Meitei home, exemplified by the practice of removing shoes, also mirrors Korean Hyeongwan, which again finds a parallel in Japanese Genkan. Another similarity is the concept of the sacred hearth placed within the Meitei kitchen, namely the Phunga presided over by Ema Imoinu – goddess of hearth; the Korean counterpart could be Buttumak, believed to be watched over by Goddess Jowangshin. Central to all these, we could trace the comparison between the Meitei spatial co-habitation system of Yumjao-Ingkhol and the Korean Hanok (post-Late Joseon Era) along with the associated major contemporary changes.
This article is an excerpt from a comparative research study undertaken by the author on changing family dynamics, emerging ageing issues, and gender roles in selected Asiatic societies (Japanese, Korean, and Meitei of India’s North Eastern Region – NER) amidst rapidly changing socio-economic landscapes. In both the traditional Meitei and Korean familial co-living systems, rather than adhering to a complete joint family structure or totally nucleated settlement pattern after the marriage of the male heirs, either the older or the younger brothers traditionally occupy the main dwelling unit with the elderly parents. In the Meitei system, Yumjao basically means a large home, which is a single dwelling unit meant for a single family.
Primarily, a Meitei family homestead consists of several Yumjao units within the same compound known as the Ingkhol. Post-marriage, the younger male heir continues to occupy the main ancestral dwelling unit with the elderly parents and share the sacred hearth of Phunga within the kitchen. In the Korean Hanok system, however, the eldest brother resides in the main ancestral dwelling unit, and the younger heirs continue to occupy the adjoining quarters until the latter’s marriage, when he finally moves to a new location. For the Meiteis, the elder heir/s would continue to occupy the same family homestead, albeit in a separate dwelling nuclear unit. Properties and plots are also almost equally divided among the male heirs. In urban areas, horizontal spatial structuring of brotherly dwelling units has transitioned into vertical expansion and divisions.
Although modern civic law and systems have taken precedence in South Korea, Meitei society largely continues to adhere to the remnants of their ancient system, rechristened in modern rendition, wherein the traditional values of the culture of unspoken norms and expectation of reciprocity still prevail amidst growing consumerism, individualism, and proliferation of digital technology. The question here is, “Will the Meitei systems ultimately abandon the age-old spatial structuring, despite modern inheritance law applicable to them, as families continue to sustain the traditional status quo?”
The vertical restructuring, on the one hand, provides a clue to signify the resilience of Meitei people to sustain their age-old spatial systems of co-living amidst the associated socio-economic changes. However, on the other hand, what remains to be seen is the extent to which this system can be sustained and what ramifications it may have for emerging issues such as elderly care. For most of the developed nations like South Korea and the Asian Tigers, they had already possessed immense accumulated capital, robust universal healthcare, a state-subsidized institutional care system, and massive social security nets to cushion an ageing society despite their deviation from Hanok to a more individualized residential system. Meitei society is yet to achieve that economic prosperity, and it remains to be seen, amidst the lack of robust policy on formal institutionalized care practice, whether the traditional homestead of co-residency will continue to sustain the informal care system.
Meitei society must take with high caution to assume either the more traditional form of spatial co-living arrangement or the urbanized vertical restructuring-based care system will work forever amidst newer dynamics of migration, rising individualism, shifts in occupation patterns, and an ageing population. While there are ample lessons to be learned from South Korea’s socio-cultural transition, it is equally imperative to move beyond the romanticisation of K-pop and gain a deeper understanding of the country’s broader societal transformation. The Korean experience offers not only inspiring successes but also important cautionary lessons, both of which deserve careful reflection as societies navigate the challenges of demographic ageing, changing family structures and digitalization.