KF뉴스레터-Building a Global Network for Korean Studies Specialists

Building a Global Network for Korean Studies Specialists

An international workshop on Korean Studies was held at Yonsei University (June 29-July 2) on a theme of “Re-visioning Korean History from a Long-term and Large-scale Perspective,” with the participation of 24 graduate students of Korean Studies from 19 universities in eight countries.

The 6th International Workshop for Korean Studies was organized by the Worldwide Consortium of Korean Studies Centers. This Consortium group is comprised of the Korean Studies centers at 12 universities, including Yonsei University, Seoul National University, Korea University, Beijing University, Fudan University, Kyushu University, Harvard University, UCLA, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Australian National University.
Currently headed by Professor John Duncan, Director of the UCLA Center for Korean Studies, the Consortium strives to nurture next-generation Korean Studies scholars. For this, it conducts an annual international workshop with support from the Korea Foundation. In particular, the workshop event is designed to offer practical assistance to graduate students of Korean Studies, from around the world, in regard to their individual research efforts. Each student makes a presentation about his research activities and receives feedback and guidance from experienced Korean Studies scholars and specialists. Over the years, the workshop gatherings have contributed to the formation of a network among the graduate students, mostly doctoral candidates, from a variety of regional, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.

New Look at Korean History
As in the past, the participants of this year’s workshop were selected as part of an open competition process and a recommendation system involving the Consortium member centers. Accordingly, 12 participants were selected by the individual Korean Studies centers, and another 12 were chosen by the workshop organizer after screening the dissertation proposals submitted by some 42 applicants.
Now in its sixth year of operation, the workshop event was organized as part of the Humanities Korea (HK) Project of the Institute of Korean Studies at Yonsei University. In preparation for this year’s gathering, a priority was placed on devising a suitable theme. It was thus decided that the workshop would focus on efforts to re-examine Korean history over the past 100 years from a post-colonial perspective, on the occasion of the centennial of Japan’s annexation of Korea. It was also hoped that discussion of Korean Studies research methodology could be undertaken at the workshop based on a reevaluation of changes in Korea’s political, social, and cultural structure from a broad regional context.
The Institute of Korean Studies thus hoped to discuss the potential for such a paradigm shift among young Korean Studies specialists from around the world. The selection of the workshop theme was in line with this context. Accordingly, the organizer arranged for a general discussion session on July 2, the final day of the workshop, which included presentations by four directors of Korean Studies centers and discussion by students about the outlook for Korean Studies and the possibility of adopting new research methodology.

Insightful Commentary
Another priority of the organizer was to assemble a diverse group of Korean experts, who would serve as moderators or discussants, to provide the student participants with insightful commentary, since the workshop was being held for the first time in Korea, which is home to an abundance of human resources on Korean Studies. A total of eight sessions were organized under various topics such as nation, state, and politics of representation; colonial institutional politics; pre-modern East Asian culture and history; colonial modernity, cultural, and social changes in Korea; and North Korean and Asian geopolitics and deconstruction of political discourse. At each session, the individual presentations were thoughtfully evaluated by the participants and experts. A number of the presenters expressed their pleasure to meet with and receive valuable input from research figures they had previously come to know only from their writings.
I believe that the workshop was successfully organized thanks to the contributions of various organizations, including the Korea Foundation that has provided generous support on a regular basis, and the zealous dedication of the Humanities Korea Project research professors. As a person in charge of the workshop’s organization, I am indeed pleased that our efforts have been recognized by the local media’s keen attention of the event and the participants’ positive assessment of the gathering’s value. The baton has thus been passed to SOAS of the University of London, in the U.K. I offer my encouragement to those who have agreed to take on this difficult, but rewarding, challenge. I am confident that the seventh workshop in 2011 will yield noteworthy results as well.

한국국제교류재단

Building a Global Network for Korean Studies Specialists

SEARCH

Building a Global Network for Korean Studies Specialists

SEARCH

전체메뉴