The Committee on Korean Studies (CKS) General Meeting at the 2012 AAS Annual Meeting in Toronto will be held on Saturday, March 17, from 8:45 to 10:15 pm in the York Room at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. Hope to see you there!
Tags: aas 2012, announcement, cks meeting
Beginning this year, the annual conference of the AAS will feature its first CKS-sponsored panels. Born out of discussions from last year’s CKS membership meeting, the panels seek to highlight current trends in Korean Studies and to make intellectual trends in this field more accessible to scholars in other fields. Envisioned as an interdisciplinary and collaborative forum, this year’s AAS will hold back-to-back to panels to allow for meaningful discussions during a five-hour period.
The CKS-sponsored panels this year will be held in the first two panel session times, and deal with issues surrounding the urban space(s) of Seoul. “Seoul I: Transforming the City: Governmentality, Urban Planning and Social Movements” (panel #21, Thursday, 4–6 pm, organized by Joy Kim of Princeton University) follows the various permutations of the city (Hanyang, Hansǒng, Keijō, and Seoul) in the 20th and 21st century in both real governed and imagined states as the city developed through strategic urban planning. This panel focuses on how the Japanese colonial government, Park Chunghee’s anti-Communist agenda, and contemporary desires to efface the urban poor and commemorate Seoul’s history contended with competing interests (including pedestrians and consumers), and the often times unintended or unpredictable consequences of those strategies. Panelists include Baek Yung Kim of Kwangwoon University, Changmo Ahn of Kyunggi University, Lisa Kim Davis of UCLA, and Joy Kim. Christine Kim of Georgetown University will serve as discussant. Seoul I Panel Information [PDF]
“Seoul II–City Montage in Art, Architecture, and Moving Images” (panel #48, Thursday, 7:30–9:30 pm, organized by Ellie Choi of Cornell University) approaches Seoul as a visual text. Using aesthetic and textual practices, writers, artists, and ordinary residents, it shows how these actors produced alternate visions of the city that challenged the homogenizing articulations of modernity planned under Japanese colonialism and during the Park Chung-hee era. Panelists Se-Mi Oh of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Chunghoon Shin of Binghamton University, and Ellie Choi will trace the multiple expressions of urban subjectivity by reading commercial signage of colonial Seoul, alterity in a colonial city that doubled Tokyo’s metropolitan modernity, and experimental art of the late 1960s. Seo Yongchae of Hanshin University and the editor-in-chief of Munhak tongnae will serve as discussant. Seoul II Panel Information [PDF]
submitted by Todd Henry and Sonja Kim
Tags: aas 2012, baek yung kim, changmo ahn, christine kim, chunghoon shin, ellie choi, joy kim, lisa kim davis, panels, se-mi oh, seo yongchae, seoul, sonja kim, todd henry
Dear long-time members of the Committee on Korean Studies (CKS): We need your help in creating an institutional memory for the CKS. Knowledge of the history of the CKS and its many past activities is important for the community building we are seeking. We would very much appreciate it if you would send us a short piece regarding your CKS experiences and memories. We will post the submissions on the Reminiscences page to share with members. We also would like to collect copies of past CKS newsletters. If you have copies to donate, please let a member of the Board know. Thank you very much for your help and support!
Tags: call for action, reminiscences
The 2011 Committee on Korean Studies (CKS) General Meeting in Honolulu (see “Report from Honolulu”) made it clear that members want the CKS to continue to exist and play a role as an important site for Koreanists for information sharing, intellectual communication, advocacy, and community building. With that mandate, over the years the Executive Board conducted the following business.
- Panels: The Board organized two CKS-sponsored panels for the 2012 Toronto meeting (see “Introducing the Premiere of CKS-sponsored Panels”). Credit for the conception and execution of this back-to-back panel idea goes to two board members, Todd Henry and Sonja Kim.
- Election: The Board conducted election to replace departing board members, Michael Pettid (chair) and Donald Clark. For the process, see “Report on Executive Board elections.” Through the election Sem Vermeersch and Kelley Jeong joined the Board for three-year terms starting in the 2011–2012 year.
- Website: The Board created a new website for the CKS, which doubles as an e-newsletter (www.koreanstudies.org). This change was prompted by the University of Hawai’i’s decision in 2011 not to continue its support of the CKS website, newsletter, and election businesses. The Board took this as an opportunity to build an easy-to-manage electronic forum that can solicit more active participation by members. A good domain name (koreanstudies.org) has been secured and the platform (WordPress) is relatively easy to manage by tech-savvy board members or volunteers.
Currently, the site mainly functions as an e-newsletter. Depending on what members want, however, it has potential to grow into a robust site, although it is unlikely that we will be able to hire a full-time web master. There is a space (Reminiscences) to share members’ experiences and memories of past CKS activities, and also a page titled Teaching, which can work as a site where members exchange syllabi, multimedia lists, and teaching tips and experiences. All the members of the Executive Board worked very hard on this, and we would like to hear from you about ways to improve on this initial version.
- Meetings: CKS chairs participate in NEAC meetings representing the CKS and in November 2011 Todd Henry attended the NEAC meeting and evaluated funding applications on behalf of the chair, Hwasook Nam, who was teaching in Japan at the time. Hwasook Nam will represent the CKS at the March 2012 NEAC meeting in Toronto. The chair also joins the planning meeting of the annual “World Congress of Korean Studies,” organized by the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) together with Korean Studies associations worldwide. This year a new board member Sem Vermeersch attended the planning meeting on behalf of the CKS.
submitted by Hwasook Nam
Tags: donald clark, hwasook nam, kelley jeong, michael pettid, report, sem vermeersch, sonja kim, todd henry
In May 2011, the Executive Board of the Committee on Korean Studies (CKS) sent out via e-mail a request for nominations from members to replace two positions on the Board vacated by Michael Pettid and Donald Clark, who served from 2008–2009 to 2010–2011, respectively. The June 25th deadline for the nomination was extended to July 10th, and five candidates who received multiple nominations and expressed willingness to serve on the board were put on an e-ballot. By August 21st 120 members had participated in the election, electing Kelly Jeong (Department of Comparative Literature, UC Riverside) and Sem Vermeersch (Department of Religious Studies, Seoul National University) as new members of the Executive Board.
As of the 2011 AAS meeting in Honolulu, the generous long-term sponsorship of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i, which maintained the CKS Website and handled newsletters and ballots, ended, and the Executive Board decided to use e-balloting through Survey Monkey to conduct both nomination and election for the board. The membership list was culled from the AAS Membership webpage on May 1, which showed a total number of 492 people who selected “Korea” as their primary research field when they signed up for AAS membership.
It is expected that the 2012 board election will be conducted in the spring in a similar way, and this time three new members will be elected to replace Hwasook Nam, Chris Hanscom, and Joy Kim, whose three-year terms expire at the end of the Toronto AAS meeting. Your active participation in the nomination and balloting process will be greatly appreciated.
submitted by Hwasook Nam
Tags: board elections, chris hanscom, donald clark, hwasook nam, joy kim, kelly jeong, michael pettid, sem vermeersch
(March 31, 2011 9:15–11:00 pm)
The agenda at the Committee on Korean Studies (CKS) General Meeting consisted of three main items:
- “Remembering JaHyun Kim Haboush” (Don Baker, Chan Park, Laurel Kendall, Jisoo Kim)
- Report on the past year’s activities: book list and mentoring projects sponsored by the Korea Foundation
- Discussion of the future of the CKS
The membership indicated the importance of the continued existence of the CKS, and outlined three general areas for the Committee to remain active in:
- Maintain the existence of the CKS, by
- (a) continuing to hold elections (via Survey Monkey) and to fill the positions on the board; and
- (b) start and maintain an email list. The first defines the leadership of the group; the latter defines the group itself, by maintaining a comprehensive list of members and their email contact information. This also provides a venue for exchanging ideas, information, news, etc. that several members mentioned.
- Provide a clearinghouse for information related to Korean Studies, via a website or newsletter.These first two areas ensure that CKS remains in existence–to provide information and a forum for discussion but also in case issues arise in the future that require the group’s intervention, as a sort of “watchdog” organization (both points that were raised during the meeting).
- Sponsor/arrange a panel or panels at the AAS meeting that promotes intellectually stimulating collaborative work in Korean Studies. Todd Henry presented the idea of sponsoring back-to-back panels at the annual AAS meeting, centered on a common topic of current interest to the field. This last area gives the CKS some role in identifying key issues in the field and providing a venue for those issues to be discussed at the annual convention.
submitted by Chris Hanscom
Tags: chan park, chris hanscom, don baker, jahyun kim haboush, jisoo kim, laurel kendall, report, todd henry
Posted by: Beadle on Thursday, March 24th, 2011
Dear Colleagues,
I invite you to join us for the General Meeting of the Committee on Korean Studies at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Honolulu on March 31, 2011, from 9:15 to 11 pm. The meeting will be held in Room 305A (convention center). Our agenda is as follows:
1. ‘Remembering JaHyun Kim Haboush’
2. Past year’s activities (book list and mentoring project)
3. Future/ necessity of the CKS (our main discussion item)
Let me also remind you of the The University of Hawai’i Center for Korean Studies and the Korea Foundation reception on April 1, 2011 (6-9pm), at the Hibiscus Ballroom of the Ala Moana Hotel.
I look forward to seeing all of you in Honolulu and hope you can contribute to our discussions.
Aloha,
Michael Pettid
Posted by: Beadle on Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Those attending the 2010 Association for Asian Studies meeting in Philadelphia to be held March 25-28, 2010, are welcome to attend a reception at the University of Pennsylvania Museum on Saturday, March 27, at 5:00 p.m. The reception will honor two University of Pennsylvania scholars who have made outstanding contributions to the study of Korea: Hilary Conroy and Cameron (Cappy) Hurst. Because the reception conflicts with the late-afternoon panels on that day, it is not listed in the Annual Meeting program. Free shuttle buses will be provided from the Marriott Hotel to the Museum.
For further information, contact Seungsook Moon, chair of the CKS-AAS, at semoon@vassar.edu.
Posted by: Beadle on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
The Korea Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Korean Studies invite participants in the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies to attend a Korean studies reception Friday, March 26, 2010, in Liberty Ballroom A at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 1201 Market Street. The reception is scheduled for 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. and is open to all AAS participants. Questions about the reception should be directed to Eugene Park (epa@sas.upenn.edu).
Posted by: Beadle on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
As the chair of the CKS-AAS (April 2008 – March 2010), I would like to report CKS activities and accomplishments during the past one year. Since the CKS (executive board members) redefined in 2008 its identity as a professional organization that would connect various forms of resources to our members to promote your scholarly and teaching interests, we pursued the following new projects in collaboration with the Korea Foundation. First, in December 2009, we conducted an on-line survey to identify contents of multimedia teaching resources on Korea. With the support of the Northeast Asia Council (NEAC), we sent out this survey to members who were listed as Koreanists or/and Japanologists and received very positive feedback from them. We thank you for your participation. During the 2010 AAS meeting, the CKS board members will review contents of the audio-visual materials, which the Korea Foundation will produce on the basis of this feedback, in order to ensure their utility as effective teaching tools (rather than nationalist materials) for CKS members and beyond. Second, we will launch a series of professional development workshops to support advanced graduate students and junior faculty in the U.S. and South Korea. As a pilot project for this type of workshop, we will bring together mentors who are CKS members and advanced graduate students and junior faculty in South Korean universities. This first workshop intends to enhance these mentees’ skill to present their scholarly work in the U.S. and thereby expand the body of new scholarly materials on Korea for CKS members and beyond. This type of workshop can also facilitate scholarly exchange between those in South Korea and those in the U.S. During the 2010 AAS meeting, the board members will discuss logistics for organizing the workshop in Seoul, Korea. Third, we will compile a list of “recommended” books on Korea that are already published in English to support CKS members’ teaching about Korea in colleges and make these resources also available for K-12 teachers and general readers. We strongly encourage our CKS members to send your lists to the chair (semoon@vassar.edu) before the 2010 AAS meeting. It would be of great help if you can add brief annotations on the books you recommend. The board members will also generate concise annotations on these books. Read the rest of this entry »