CONVENERS:

Soo Hyun Jackelen, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, CLA, TC
Soyi Kim, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, CLA, TC
Travis Workman, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, CLA, TC
Hiromi Mizuno, History, CLA, TC

Area studies has been deeply entwined with the Cold War politics, and Korean studies is one of the most exemplary cases. Despite area studies’ emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach, the central focus of Korean studies has long been ensnared in the politically focused issues. This collective attempts to develop its concern about Korean studies’ limited validation into a structural question of U.S. area studies, by expanding the scope of research of Korean studies to more diversified areas concerning culture and media, with emphasis on the issues of gender and violence. This project underlines the fact that sexual violence and institutional violence in modern Korean history are closely entangled in the way Korean studies has been confined, stereotyped, and isolated in the hegemonic view derived from the Cold War system, as with many other branches of area studies that share a colonial memory. We challenge this view through organizing various activities, including a reading group and film screenings, which will be open to the public.