Year Of Korea Lecture Series (2009-2010)

Imperial Citizens seeks to move beyond the assumption of many scholars that immigrants only engage American “race” hierarchies within the borders of the United States. Specifically, Kim analyzes how America’s post-World War II expansion into Asia introduced racial inequalities and ideologies that shaped future immigrants’ understandings of both their own group and of the White-over-Black U.S. order. Using Korean Americans as a case study, Kim primarily conducted in-depth interviews and ethnographic participant observation both in Seoul, South Korea and Los Angeles, California, USA. Looking at racialization from a global and transnational perspective, her analysis revealed that US dominance had shored up ideologies, attitudes, and identities that shaped South Koreans’ navigation of domestic racial hierarchies as Korean Americans. Overall, this work seeks to contribute to our understandings of immigrant struggles with US racial inequality in cross-border contexts, and more broadly enters into ongoing debates about Asia-USA relations and the “fate” of America’s multiracial landscape.

Media relations has been discussed historically as a major function of public relations. It is not uncommon for former journalists to become public relations professionals, bringing with them contacts and personal relations based on previous associations. Media relations in South Korea is thus strongly characterized by a personal influence model that the relationships among public relations professionals and journalists influences the news disseminating and gathering process. The relationship is not limited to formal relationships, such as press releases or press conferences, but extends to informal relations including luncheon, dinner gatherings, or other outings such as golf. An important and characteristically Korean feature of media relations is the press club system, through which journalists have regular contact with their sources. Recently, the advance of technology has affected both formal and informal relationships between sources and reporters. However, direct human contact continues to play a crucial and defining role in South Korean media relations.

This presentation will provide an overview of important themes and figures of Korean Buddhism as it has evolved since the Three Kingdoms to the contermporary period. After a brief introduction to Buddhism I will focus on Wonhyo and Chinul, two of the most important of Korean Buddhists and their major ideas. It is at this point where I will zero in on what is unique to Korean Buddhism. I will close by referring to two poets and a film to show Korean Buddhism's lasting influence.

In this lecture we will look at a variety of traditional Korean theatre and performance forms, including Talchum (masked dances and improvised plays), Namsadang (satirical improvised street performance and acrobatics), and traditional dance forms such as the Dance for Peace. We will link these traditional performance forms to contemporary trends of cultural expression including BBoy (Korean hiphop) and Starcraft (Korean video gaming phenomenon). The lecture will culminate in a performance by the Theatre and Performance Studies Learning Community of a Korean folktale adapted by Margaret Baldwin with choreography by Min Kim.

The contemporary musical soundscape in South Korea is lively, diverse and energetic. Western art music has been popular in Korea during the period of the nation’s modernization: the popular music scene along with the “Hallyu, Korean Wave” has gained momentum in both Korea as in Asia, as an entire region, noraebangs, Korean style karaoke bars, can be found on every corner in Korea: big and small concerts of traditional music and dance take place throughout the year. With its recent awareness of Korean culture in the so-called global village, the Korean government recently announced six categories to represent the “Korean national brand” dubbed “Han Style,” which is to be the cultural symbol of Korea. These six categories are hangeul (Korean alphabet), hansik (Korean food), hanbok (traditional Korean clothing), hanok (traditional Korean houses), hanji (traditional Korean paper), as well as hanguk umak (Korean music). Designated by the nation and agreed upon by the Korean people, traditional music is now considered a symbol of cultural identity for Korea. Korean traditional music has been shaped by different forces in of Korean history, culture, religion, but it has been shaped most profoundly by the people. Korean musical genres differ from each other in performance contexts. Some music was performed among commoners, some music enjoyed a large patronage of aristocrats and literati, some music was performed at the court, and some music was used in rituals associated with Shamanism, Confucianism, and Buddhism respectively. In this lecture, I will introduce a diverse range of traditional musical genres--from court music to farmers’ music--in socio-cultural context and current performance practice, in order to be able to understand Korean culture.

Eric Kendrick (Georgia Perimeter College) talks about Hangul Day, a national holiday in Korea (both north and south) that commemorates the adoption of the hangul alphabet. Kendrick discusses the hangul language, including the formalities and history of the language..

Robert D. Mowry (Curator of Chinese Art at Harvard University’s Sackler Museum) and Alan J. Dworsky discuss ceramics and art of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) in Korea.

Shin Dong Kim (Hallym University) discusses the current state of journalism in South Korea. Shin also discusses how journalism is read, viewed and published in South Korea, its relationship with the government, political issues regarding journalism and news media, and it’s past and the future of journalism in South Korea.

A Chinese connoisseur of the twelfth century once ranked Korean celadons among the finest ceramics ever produced, and, at their best, they indeed are every bit the equal of Chinese celadons made during the Song dynasty (960-1279), the classical era of Chinese celadon production. This illustrated slide lecture will survey the evolution of Korean celadons of the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392; also spelled “Koryŏ”), from the earliest examples of the tenth and eleventh centuries, through the celebrated classic wares of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, to the late wares of the fourteenth century which paved the way for the rustic buncheong (punch’ŏng) style of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910; also spelled Chosŏn). The lecture will emphasize characteristics and innovations that are uniquely Korean (such as the invention of the inlay technique for ceramic decoration), but it will also touch on relationships with Chinese silver, lacquer, and ceramics.

Some years ago the curator of East Asian art at one of America’s premier art museums said of his initial attempts to organize the vast miscellany of uncatalogued objects in the museum’s storerooms that had been collected in East Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: “Anything that didn’t look Chinese or Japanese, we assumed was Korean.” A few years later, in a published statement that manages simultaneously to be both similar and quite different in nature, one of Korea’s most eminent art historians averred that Korean art is “simple and natural, unaffected with a quiet sense of humor, unselfconscious—Korean art waits for you." Happily, in more recent years the study of Korean art has largely advanced beyond such superficialities, but there is still a value in asking in what sense—or senses—is a work of art produced in Korea ‘Korean’? In this talk, this question will approached through the analysis of a limited number of major examples of art created on the peninsula between the seventh and eighteenth centuries.

Some years ago the curator of East Asian art at one of America’s premier art museums said of his initial attempts to organize the vast miscellany of uncatalogued objects in the museum’s storerooms that had been collected in East Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: “Anything that didn’t look Chinese or Japanese, we assumed was Korean.” A few years later, in a published statement that manages simultaneously to be both similar and quite different in nature, one of Korea’s most eminent art historians averred that Korean art is “simple and natural, unaffected with a quiet sense of humor, unselfconscious—Korean art waits for you." Happily, in more recent years the study of Korean art has largely advanced beyond such superficialities, but there is still a value in asking in what sense—or senses—is a work of art produced in Korea ‘Korean’? In this talk, this question will approached through the analysis of a limited number of major examples of art created on the peninsula between the seventh and eighteenth centuries.

The discussion on September 3rd will cover some of the 50 wonders of Korea, Korean culture, art, and food from ancient to modern times. Topics include ancient paintings, ceramics, language, traditional dress, and more. The speakers will be Shelly and Sara Tyson.