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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

4. 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

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

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:

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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