Join the KCCUK on Thursday, 27 March 2025, at 6:30pm for a special lecture by Professor Nuri Kim, Assistant Professor of Korean Studies at the University of Cambridge. This talk will examine the historical and cultural significance of lineage and ancestry in modern Korea.
Inventing Bloodlines: Claiming and Contesting Ancestry in Modern Korea
Almost every Korean claims to be a descendant of yangban nobility. Not all of these claims, however, can be true, raising questions over which ones are genuine and which are not.
This seminar explores how Koreans have constructed and redefined their family backgrounds, the challenges they have faced in maintaining these claims, and the conflicts that have arisen over who is considered an authentic member of a clan.