The Institute for Korean Studies continues its lecture series with Michael Pettid, professor of premodern Korean Studies in the department of Asian and Asian American Studies at Binghamton University (SUNY), who will lecture on "Shamans, Ghosts and Healing the Community" on Thursday, September 25 at 4:00 p.m. in Mendenhall Lab, room 129 (125 S. Oval Mall). Pettid will discuss how shamans often came under fire in Choson Korea (1392-1910) for being charlatans who deceived the people with their lies and as the source of social corruption. Nonetheless, during the over five-hundred year dynasty and despite numerous attempts by lawmakers to eradicate the shamanic worldview and its practitioners, the influence of shamans did not wane. He will argue that shamans had great social utility to the people of Choson, and discuss their ability to rid the secular world of unwanted preternatural beings such as ghosts. Using period accounts from the Choson dynasty to examine the process of healing and how shamans facilitated greater health for their communities, Pettid will explain that the primary role of the shaman was to put things in their proper places and bring about harmony.