This groundbreaking, interdisciplinary study reassesses South Korea’s tumultuous period of authoritarian development (1950–1980) through obfuscated but illuminating histories of “queerness,” defined as gender variance, same-sex sexuality, and atypical anatomies, among other nonnormative expressions. Rather than primarily view these topics through minoritarian and/or liberal lenses, Todd Henry adopts a universalizing approach to examine how social conformity … [Read More]
Booklist: Non-Fiction
The Forest Called You [forthcoming]
In a future Korea, the world has been ravaged by dust clouds and the deadly Akanta virus. Rather than live in their nightmarish present, people slip on virtual reality headsets to indulge in nostalgic simulations of the past. 18-year-old Soop – stigmatised due to her brush with Akanta, which causes VR-rejection – is bullied at … [Read More]
The Promised Republic: Developmental Society and the Making of Modern Seoul, 1961-1979 [forthcoming]
Synopsis not yet available. The title is based on the author’s PhD dissertation, “The Promised Republic: Developmental Society and the Making of Modern Seoul,” which examines urbanization and social change in 1960s and 1970s South Korea. Russell Burge is Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of modern Korean history in the department of East Asian Languages and … [Read More]
Korean Buddhism: Selected Readings from Primary Texts [forthcoming]
This book presents the first comprehensive introduction to Korean Buddhism through twenty-five key primary texts spanning the seventh to twenty-first centuries. All have been expertly translated by leading scholars in the field. The volume introduction provides an overview of major themes that illuminates the diverse sources that follow. The texts, each prefaced by a brief … [Read More]
Emotions, Affects, and Narrative in Korean History and Culture [forthcoming]
This collection of eleven essays explores emotions and affect in Korean culture across a broad temporal span, from the Koryŏ dynasty (918–1392) to the present. Drawing on a diverse array of sources — including memoirs, diplomatic letters, newspapers, films, video diaries, photographs, and ethnographic interviews — the volume examines how emotions intervene in public discourse … [Read More]
North Korea and South Korea: Monopolizing Nationalism in a Divided Peninsula [forthcoming]
The autocratic regimes in both North Korea and South Korea attempted to legitimize their rule through efforts in nation-building but achieved different results. North Korea and South Korea: Monopolizing Nationalism in a Divided Peninsula seeks to answer: How did these regimes’ nation-building strategies through a variety of tools and venues differ in the process of regime development? … [Read More]
Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult [forthcoming]
A landmark history of North Korea, told through the rise of the Kim dynasty and its surprising ties to American Christianity—a spectacular, penetrating account of a world like no other North Korea. The Hermit Kingdom. For nearly eight decades, it has marched defiantly to its own beat, shaking off its Soviet and Chinese sponsors to … [Read More]
The Minjung Art Movement: Decolonization and Democracy in South Korea [forthcoming]
Synopsis not yet available Sohl Lee is Associate Professor at Stony Brook University. She specializes in modern and contemporary art and visual culture of East Asia, and her interdisciplinary research interests include aesthetics of politics, activist art, vernacular modernism, postcolonial theory, historiography, and curatorial practice. She joined Stony Brook as assistant professor of art history, … [Read More]
From Koreanness to K-ness: Contemporary Korean Culture and Society [forthcoming]
From Koreanness to K-ness: Contemporary Korean Culture and Society aims to conceptualise ‘K-ness’ as a new way of understanding the underlying characteristics that shape the semiotic, cultural, and sociological representations of contemporary Korean culture and society. The global popularity of Korean cultural content has sparked extensive interest in various facets of the Korean language, culture, and … [Read More]
Korean Relations with Japan and Ryūkyū In the Early Chosŏn Period: A Translation of Sin Sukchu’s Haedong Chegukki [forthcoming]
Between 1392 and 1592 — a period bounded by Japanese pirate raids along the Korean coast and Japan’s invasion of Chosŏn Korea — more than 4,600 Japanese trade missions were recorded by the Chosŏn government. In response to these missions, the famous official Sin Sukchu compiled regulations, detailed information about Japanese contacts, and other material, … [Read More]
A Nation Within: North Korean Zainichi in Postimperial Japan [forthcoming]
The presence of hundreds of thousands ethnic Koreans in Japan, or “zainichi Koreans,” is one of the visible legacies of Japanese colonialism. A surprising and influential group among zainichi Koreans that persists to this day is Chongryon, the only pro–North Korean diasporic group based in a capitalist society. Chongryon historically represented the central grassroots force … [Read More]
K-Pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today [forthcoming]
K-Pop Fandom insists that K-pop fan practices and activities constitute a central productive force, shaping not only K-pop’s explosive global popularity, but also K-pop’s cultural impacts, politics, and horizons of possibility. Over the past three decades, the K-pop fandom and its activities have expanded, intensified, and diversified along myriad dimensions, assuming novel social, technological, and economic … [Read More]
North Korea: A History (revised ed) [forthcoming]
North Korea is perhaps the most intriguing, infamous and enigmatic nation of our modern world. Yet how many of us know its full history, and how it came to be? How can we understand such a strange, isolated state? This new edition seeks to provide some answers to these questions. Starting with its origins in the … [Read More]
Lyrical Translation: The Creation of Modern Poetry in Colonial Korea [forthcoming]
Lyrical Translation is a literary history of modern Korean poetry’s origins and its development through translation. As the use of Korean became increasingly restricted during the Japanese occupation, translation was not a choice but a necessity for higher education and intellectual labor. Yet it also had an expansive, creative function: Korean poets wielded it as an … [Read More]
Reactionary Politics in South Korea: Historical Legacies, Far-Right Intellectuals, and Political Mobilization [forthcoming]
In December 2024, South Korean president Yoon Seok-yeol stunned the world by declaring martial law. More puzzling was that Yoon’s insurrection unexpectedly gained substantial support from the ruling right-wing party and many citizens. Why do ordinary citizens support authoritarian leaders and martial law in a democratic country? What draws them to extreme actions and ideas? … [Read More]
Two Women Living Together [forthcoming]
At some point between living alone and becoming single, Hwang Sunwoo and Kim Hana found each other, and decided to live together in a nice apartment where their four cats would finally have the freedom to run around. Together they became a family – and redefined it. At a time housing costs have skyrocketed whilst … [Read More]