A group of boys engaged in a football game on a sunny afternoon, and a bride and groom having their pre-wedding photos taken on a familiar location are two sights commonly seen in Seoul as they are in many other places around the world. However, these events seemed to me quite unusual having witnessed them during two of my visits to a site that seemed completely out of context with regard to inspiring such activities: Sodaemun Prison History Hall (Sodaemun hyongmuso yoksagwan). The joyous and festive nature of these occurrences appeared to be at odds with both the historical background of the place and the characteristics of the structures and exhibitions that construct it in the attempt to convey certain messages, which are deemed important for defining national identity.

The concept of ‘identity’is understood in this context as a subjective and dynamic phenomenon, which is basically ‘a sense of sameness over time and space’that is not only sustained by remembering but also defines what to remember (Gillis 1994: 3). Furthermore, as both identities and memories ‘have no existence beyond our politics, our social relations and our histories’(Gillis 1994: 5), I draw from Jacobs, whose evaluation of the relationship between British imperialism and the challenges made to it by ‘post-colonial formations’ leads her to assert that politics of identity and power ‘do not just occur in space’but ‘articulates itself through space and is, fundamentally, about space’