Soju: A Global History (Asian Connections)
Cambridge University Press, 2/18/2021
EAN 9781108842013, ISBN10: 1108842011
Hardcover, 300 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Hyunhee Park offers the first global historical study of soju, the distinctive distilled drink of Korea. Searching for soju's origins, Park leads us into the vast, complex world of premodern Eurasia. She demonstrates how the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries wove together hemispheric flows of trade, empire, scientific and technological transfer and created the conditions for the development of a singularly Korean drink. Soju's rise in Korea marked the evolution of a new material culture through ongoing interactions between the global and local and between tradition and innovation in the adaptation and localization of new technologies. Park's vivid new history shows how these cross-cultural encounters laid the foundations for the creation of a globally connected world.
Introduction
1. Soju and Arak
The Eurasian Roots of Distilled Liquors
2. The Mongols and the Rise of Soju in KoryÃ…Â Korea
3. Contextualizing Soju
Political Relations and Cultural Transfers between the Mongol Empire and KoryÃ…Â Korea
4. Distilling Soju at Court and Home in ChosÃ…Ân Korea
5. Challenges of Modernity
The Rise of Modern Industrial Soju and Revival of Traditional Soju
6. Alcohol Globalism
Distillation Technology in Afro-Eurasia and other areas of the World – The Cases of Japan and Mexico
Conclusion
Soju in Global Cross-Cultural Exchanges.