Voices Inscribed by Land: <i>P’ansori</i> Mountain Study and the More-than-Human World

Abstract According to oral tradition, Korean p’ansori (epic dramatic storytelling) singers from the late Chosŏn dynasty would sing in front of waterfalls until their vocal cords bled and they could hear their voices over the sound of the water. The acquisition process of the p’ansori voice today involves fewer waterfalls and more cityscapes, occurring primarily in the private studios of master teachers and practice rooms of educational institutions in Seoul. Yet for the serious student, intensive study outside of the city is required for mastery of the voice: the student travels with their teacher to attend mountain study (san kongbu), where they practice singing in a natural environment near water, forests, and mountains. Drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork and close readings of p’ansori songs, this article investigates the relationship between p’ansori and the more-than-human world and the contemporary implications of this indigenous practice. Analyzing the p’ansori storytelling tradition with an environmental humanities framework, this is the first study on p’ansori to engage ecocritical theory and Indigenous knowledge systems. This article situates p’ansori singing as an interspecies and dialogic art form and argues that p’ansori singers engage with the agency of the more-than-human world to transform their voices during mountain study.