Paper short abstract:

The Korean DMZ's restrictive landscape poses a challenge in terms of visibility and movement. Oscillating between mediated and immediate sensory perceptibility and marked by selective access, it provokes methodological questions for ethnography.

Paper long abstract:

The complex landscape of the Korean DMZ challenges notions of visibility, movement, and technology. Governed by a strict yet inconsistent regime of access and denial, the DMZ distorts, expands, and limits sensory perception. It forces us to confront the limitations of both mediated and unmediated sensory experiences. Aerial impressions rely heavily on orbital imagery, periscopically making visible what is denied the naked eye. In contrast, navigation systems cease to function in the DMZ, rendering technology obsolete and emphasizing the primacy of the visual sense and practical knowledge of the landscape in guiding movement. While topographic maps and aerial vistas focus on visual knowledge, navigation shifts the emphasis to movement and corporeal knowledge. Within the DMZ, physical movement is strictly controlled. Most mobility across this landscape occurs in vehicles, which mediate not only how the DMZ is seen but also tactile, olfactory, and acoustic sensations. The DMZ hovers between hypermediation and immediacy, contributing to a sense of dis-orientation and shaping the experiences of both interlocutors and researchers. In this presentation, I will share ethnographic insights and methodological reflections drawn from my long-term research in and about the DMZ as a field site of limited, selective, and inconsistent perceptibility.