Jeju haenyeo: historical records, interviews and songs

This is one of the first texts in the English language written on the haenyeo. Literally translating as ‘sea women’, haenyeo are female divers found in Jeju Island, South Korea. The text is divided into six parts, beginning with a short history of Jeju Island, the haenyeo and their culture. This is followed by two chapters of translations: interviews with modern-day haenyeo and pre-modern records of the Jeju divers. The author then introduces haenyeo songs and beliefs with a commentary and translation of a Jeju folk song, before presenting a glossary of the unique vocabulary surrounding the world of the haenyeo. The work ends with a bibliography of English-language sources for further reading on haenyeo, and includes an appendix of the original pre-modern texts in Classical Chinese.