Research Institute for Cultural Territory가석문화영토 연구총서

Territory is an essential foundation for the existence of a state.

Traditionally, humankind has maintained states on the basis of exclusive and closed political territory and competitive, monopolistic economic territory.

This concept has fostered state-centrism, becoming a symbol of confrontation and conflict that hinders human peace, and as a result has acted as a cause of disputes and wars.

Cultural territory is an inclusive, integrative territory that seeks harmony among nations through culture — a concept oriented toward empathy, harmony, and peace rather than confrontation. Based on humanity's cultural universalism, cultural territory theory seeks to prevent the disputes and wars arising from state-centrism and to pursue human co-prosperity and peace, as people around the world empathize and communicate through the globalization of K-Culture, strategic cultural policy, and broad cultural diplomacy.

The Republic of Korea has recently grown into a country with high cultural influence worldwide, which means Korea is establishing itself as a country well able to practice cultural territory theory. Considering, however, that many popular cultures have flared briefly and vanished in the past, Hallyu too could be merely such a passing trend. The academic study of cultural territory theory is an effort to systematize the globalization of Hallyu and national culture not as a passing trend but as a humanities and social science theory that contributes to human co-prosperity and peace.

Against this background, the foundation publishes the Gaseok Cultural Territory Research Series in order to academically deepen cultural territory theory, which aims at "human happiness and peace through culture," and to spread its significance.