Tag Archive for Korean Studies

CFP: Transgression as a Secular Value, University of Michigan

04/20/2012 CFP No comments

Perspectives on Contemporary Korea Conference Series 2

Call for Papers
Transgression as a Secular Value: Korea in Transition?
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oct. 26, 2012
Sponsored by the Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan

Crossing over lim­its, infring­ing the law, and ignor­ing con­ven­tion are often cited as exam­ples of trans­gres­sion. In tra­di­tional Korea where reli­gion played a vital role in demar­cat­ing social and per­sonal bound­aries trans­gres­sive acts (e.g. engag­ing in illicit sex­ual behav­ior, chal­leng­ing gen­der norms, defy­ing social hier­ar­chies, defac­ing icons and sym­bols, using exces­sive vio­lence etc.) often served as a crit­i­cal means for test­ing these bound­aries of social accept­abil­ity, iden­tity, power, and truth. But what hap­pens to these trans­gres­sive acts after the “demys­ti­fi­ca­tion” and “sec­u­lar­iza­tion” of soci­ety? Do they become obso­lete? If they still test bound­aries, then whose bound­aries do these trans­gres­sive acts test?

Taking cue from the pro­lif­er­a­tion of suc­cess­ful Korean films that take trans­gres­sion as their cen­tral theme, the inter­na­tional con­fer­ence, “Transgression as a sec­u­lar value: Korea in tran­si­tion?,” hopes to bring together schol­ars from both the social sci­ences and human­i­ties to address these and other sim­i­lar ques­tions about the sig­nif­i­cance of trans­gres­sion in mod­ern and pre-modern Korea. The chief objec­tive of this con­fer­ence is to inves­ti­gate the pos­si­bil­ity of read­ing the surg­ing inter­est in trans­gres­sion, which has arguably attained an air of sacred­ness in main­stream cul­ture, as an instance of a search for a “sec­u­lar” value. The con­fer­ence will there­fore encour­age its par­tic­i­pants to ask, when and how did trans­gres­sion become so desir­able and con­sumer friendly (and not just pos­si­ble) in Korea? And, should we asso­ciate this atti­tude towards trans­gres­sion with “the secular”?

The con­fer­ence will explore the notion of trans­gres­sion as a “sec­u­lar” value from a com­par­a­tive per­spec­tive — both tem­po­ral and spa­tial — to under­score and con­tribute to the grow­ing debate on the het­ero­ge­neous nature of sec­u­lar­ity as a way of life. The orga­niz­ers of the con­fer­ence there­fore wel­come papers that crit­i­cally exam­ine trans­gres­sion in either mod­ern or pre-modern Korea and also papers that dis­cuss trans­gres­sion in a broader Asian or global context.

Please sub­mit an abstract of no more than 300 words to con­fer­ence orga­niz­ers at trans­gres­sion AT umich​.edu by June 4, 2012. Please include name, insti­tu­tional affil­i­a­tion, and con­tact information.

Selected par­tic­i­pants will be asked to sub­mit com­pleted papers by September 28, 2012.

The Nam Center for Korean Studies will award travel grants to accepted par­tic­i­pants to defray costs of atten­dance. Lodging and onsite meals will be pro­vided by the con­fer­ence. Conference orga­niz­ers plan to have selected papers pub­lished in an edited volume.

Organizers: Juhn Ahn (Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan, jahn AT umich​.edu) and Nojin Kwak (Nam Center/Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, kwak AT umich​.edu)

CFP: Intersections with Science, Medicine, and Technology in Korea

04/04/2012 CFP No comments

Call for Papers:
Intersections with Science, Medicine, and Technology in Korea

Binghamton University, State University of New York
October 20, 2012

We invite orig­i­nal papers on the themes of sci­ence, med­i­cine, and tech­nol­ogy in Korea for an inter-regional work­shop to be held October 20, 2012 at Binghamton University.  Multi-disciplinary in focus, this work­shop seeks to inter­ro­gate inter­sec­tions between med­i­cine, sci­ence, and tech­nol­ogy with Korean soci­ety his­tor­i­cally to the con­tem­po­rary present.

We rec­og­nize that med­i­cine, sci­ence, and tech­nol­ogy serve as effec­tive lenses through which to enhance under­stand­ings of soci­etal trans­for­ma­tions; trans­la­tions and trans­fers of knowl­edge and tech­nol­ogy; gov­ern­men­tal­ity, gen­der and social rela­tions; kingdom/nation/empire-building; and spa­tial arrange­ments in both the past and present.  What are the desires dri­ving pro­mo­tions of sci­ence, med­i­cine, and tech­nol­ogy?  How do those devel­op­ments reflect and/or shape the con­texts within which they emerge?  The work­shop orga­niz­ers are look­ing for papers on any time period that inves­ti­gate cir­cu­la­tions of related knowl­edge, prac­tices, peo­ple, and mate­r­ial goods; Korean Medicine or hanŭi; and tech­nolo­gies in con­tem­po­rary soci­ety.  We also wel­come paper pro­pos­als on other areas related to Korean sci­ence, tech­nol­ogy, and medicine.

Interested schol­ars are encour­aged to sub­mit a pro­posal with a work­ing title, abstract (300 words max­i­mum), and brief C.V. to kore­anstud­ies AT bing​ham​ton​.edu  by May 31, 2012.  Notification on the sta­tus of pro­pos­als will be made by June 20th.  Selected par­tic­i­pants must sub­mit com­pleted papers by September 15, 2012 to be read by all par­tic­i­pants and dis­cus­sants prior to the work­shop.  This work­shop is made pos­si­ble by a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies. Workshop orga­niz­ers intend to pub­lish an edited vol­ume based on the work­shop outcomes.

Please e-mail queries to Sonja Kim (skim AT bing​ham​ton​.edu).

American University Meets the Pacific Century Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

01/27/2012 Research No comments

My research col­lab­o­ra­tor, Jennifer Chun, will be attend­ing this con­fer­ence to present a paper that we co-wrote, “Language Travels: The Cosmopolitan Pursuits of Korean Temporary Residents in Vancouver.”

American University Meets the Pacific Century Conference
March 9 – 10, 2012
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Many American uni­ver­si­ties, like top-tier uni­ver­si­ties through­out the world, are increas­ingly becom­ing global insti­tu­tions, no longer held exclu­sively to national inter­ests. What is the impact of the esca­lat­ing num­bers of inter­na­tional under­grad­u­ates and how are they trans­form­ing the American uni­ver­sity? These ques­tions will be exam­ined on March 9 – 10, 2012 at the American University Meets the Pacific Century Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This con­fer­ence will fea­ture research from schol­ars in the United States, Great Britain, and South Korea.

The con­fer­ence is hosted in asso­ci­a­tion with the American University Meets the Pacific Century Project (AUPC, 2010-), an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary team of social sci­en­tist fac­ulty and stu­dents who are cur­rently research­ing the inter­na­tion­al­iza­tion of the under­grad­u­ate stu­dent body at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The project is prin­ci­pally inter­ested in the American uni­ver­sity as a con­tact zone in which record lev­els of inter­na­tional under­grad­u­ates, largely from Asia, meet American stu­dents whose futures are increas­ingly impacted by global trans­for­ma­tions, the eco­nomic and sci­en­tific rise of Asia among them.
Read more

CFP: The End of War? The Korean Armistice after Sixty Years

01/25/2012 CFP No comments

The Journal of Korean Studies Announces Call for Papers for Thematic Issue

Call for Papers on “The End of War? The Korean Armistice after Sixty Years”
Thematic issue of The Journal of Korean Studies, Volume 18 No. 2 (Fall 2013)
Due July 31, 2012

The 2013 the­matic issue of The Journal of Korean Studies (JKS), under the direc­tion of guest edi­tor Charles K. Armstrong of Columbia University, will have as its theme the six­ti­eth anniver­sary of the Korean War Armistice. We invite orig­i­nal stud­ies of the armistice and its his­tor­i­cal and present-day sig­nif­i­cance by schol­ars from fields includ­ing – but not lim­ited to – diplo­matic, polit­i­cal, social and cul­tural his­tory, as well as polit­i­cal sci­ence, law, soci­ol­ogy, anthro­pol­ogy, and film and lit­er­ary studies.

We are inter­ested in man­u­scripts from a vari­ety of the­o­ret­i­cal, con­cep­tual, method­olog­i­cal and geo­graph­i­cal per­spec­tives, includ­ing those deal­ing with par­tic­i­pants on var­i­ous sides of the con­flict: North and South Korea, the US, China, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and United Nations coali­tion forces. For fur­ther infor­ma­tion please con­tact Charles K. Armstrong at cra1​0​@​columbia.​edu.

Articles appear­ing in the JKS are abstracted and indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, PAIS International, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, Bibliography of Asian Studies, Historical Abstracts, and America: History and Life.

JKS is a peer-reviewed jour­nal and all papers will be vet­ted by two out­side read­ers.
Please sub­mit your man­u­script by July 31, 2012 to Tracy Stober, JKS Managing Editor, at jourks@u.washington.edu and to Charles K. Armstrong at cra1​0​@​columbia.​edu.

For detailed infor­ma­tion on the sub­mis­sion process please review the sub­mis­sion pro­ce­dures on the JKS web­site: http://​jsis​.wash​ing​ton​.edu/​k​o​r​e​a​/​j​k​s​/​s​u​b​m​i​s​s​i​o​n​g​u​i​d​e​l​i​n​e​s​.​s​h​tml

Contact:

Tracy L. Stober
Managing Editor
The Journal of Korean Studies
Center for Korean Studies Publication Series
University of Washington-Seattle
206−543−7896 FAX 206−685−0668
The JKS is now on Facebook.

CFP: “Political Popular” Conference, UC Irvine

01/22/2012 CFP No comments

Call for Papers
‘Political Popular: Intersection of Democracy and Popular/Public Culture in South Korea’ Conference
University of California, Irvine
September 20 – 22, 2012

Proposals may address (but are not lim­ited to) the fol­low­ing topics:

  • Critical analy­sis of Korean pop­u­lar cul­ture rang­ing from music, the­ater, film, tele­vi­sion, man­hwa, etc. Post-1980s lit­er­a­ture and poetry beyond ‘autonomous lit­er­a­ture’ (sunsu munhak 순수문학) vs ‘engaged lit­er­a­ture’ (ch’amyô munhak 참여문학)
  • Aesthetic nego­ti­a­tions in min­jung visual cul­ture and “post-minjung” art production
  • Protest cul­ture (both on-line and off-line)
  • New polit­i­cal media such as SNS activism, Nakkomsu, and inter­net blogging
  • Cinema, music, tele­vi­sion at the age of block­buster, super-talent agency, and neoliberalism
  • New youth cul­ture, con­sumerism, and urban space

Held con­cur­rently with a film series that high­light both fic­tion and doc­u­men­tary inde­pen­dent pro­duc­tion in South Korea and an art exhi­bi­tion that show­cases the visual cul­ture of South Korea’s democ­ra­ti­za­tion over the past three decades (1980s to the first decade of the 2000s), we invite pro­pos­als for unpub­lished, orig­i­nal indi­vid­ual papers (pre-constituted pan­els may also be given con­sid­er­a­tion). All pre­sen­ters of selected papers will have their travel, hotel, and meal expenses remu­ner­ated by the orga­niz­ing com­mit­tee. A brief bio and a 500-word abstract should be sub­mit­ted elec­tron­i­cally to Kyung Hyun Kim (kyunghk@​uci.​edu) no later than April 15, 2012. Conference will be held on September 20 – 22, 2012 at UC Irvine cam­pus. This event is co-sponsored by Academy of Korean Studies.

« Older Entries