This presentation explores Chosŏn-period (1392-1910) Confucian responses to disaster. This was a period in which Confucianism not only was the state ideology, but also guided interaction in local communities socially and economically dominated by local elites sharing the ideas of this ideology. The Confucian convictions of this elite dictated how they, as leaders of communities, … [Read More]
Venue: SOAS (page 2)
10 Thornhaugh Street | Russell Square | London WC1H 0XG | [Map]
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SOAS-OKCHF Workshop: Collecting Korea — Explorations of Korean Collections in the UK and their continued relevance
This workshop examines the history and significance of Korean objects held in UK institutions, and their role in shaping contemporary understandings of Korean cultural heritage. Beginning in the 1880s, institutions acquired a wide variety of items from the Korean peninsula, ranging in type from ceramics, paintings, and textiles, to books and plant specimens. The workshop … [Read More]
Anti-Feminist backlash: Gender and generational conflict in South Korea
Scholarship on Korean elections and voting behavior has emphasised the shift from traditional cleavages such as ideology and region to newer ones, including generation, class, and gender. One of the most common keywords used during South Korea’s 2022 presidential election was Idaenam (male in twenties), hinting at the social group more likely to prove determinant … [Read More]
Symposium: Interrogating “K-Culture” – Religion, culture and philosophy through multicultural perspectives
KAEP (Institute of Korean Philosophy and Culture in Sungkyunkwan University), the SOAS Centre for Korean Studies and the Centre of Islamic Studies at SOAS are proud to announce a collaborative international symposium on Interrogating ‘K-Culture’: Religion, culture and philosophy through multicultural perspectives. The symposium aims to facilitate an exchange of knowledge and expertise about the … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: Crackdowns and Containment: K-culture and markets in North Korea under Covid
In this talk, Peter Ward will present fresh research undertaken as part of a recent paper to be published by the Korean Development Institute (KDI) about the contrasting approaches that the North Korean regime is taking to consumption and distribution of foreign content compared to other markets in North Korea today. Utilizing a close reading … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: An Atomic Age Unleashed
This presentation explores the common culture of Cold War scientism and atomic developmentalism in early North and South Korea. While tens of thousands of Koreans were subject to the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, early peninsular analysis of the bombings rarely grappled with the existence of these individuals. The general exclusion of colonial subjects … [Read More]
SOAS-OKCHF Workshop on Korean collections in UK institutions
Join us for this workshop hosted by the School of Arts at SOAS. Museum curators, librarians, and academics will share their expertise in managing and utilizing Korean objects in their collections in UK institutions. They will also discuss the collecting histories and practices that have formed and shaped these collections. This workshop is part of … [Read More]
Book Talk – Black Girl from Pyongyang
Join author Monica Macias as she explores extraordinary true story of a West African girl’s upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung in conversation with Jim Hoare. In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the … [Read More]
Cairo Declaration and Korean service in British army commemorated in SOAS conference
Hands up, anyone who had actually heard of the Cairo Declaration before this SOAS conference designed to mark its 80th anniversary? I certainly hadn’t. Winston Churchill was in Cairo with a contingent of over 100 diplomatic and administrative staff, in late November 1943, where along with Chang Kai-shek and President Roosevelt they were starting to … [Read More]
Korean Peninsula Peace Forum
Leading authorities from the academic and practitioner communities in the UK will discuss the current tense situation on the Korean peninsula and the prospects for the easing of tension and return to negotiations. Looking at the strategy of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Forum will first consider the complementarity between goals of promoting human … [Read More]
Stories of Freedom: The stories and voices of North Korean refugees
The British Korean Society and SOAS host an event in which three North Korean refugees will share their experiences in North and South Korea through different voices. In addition, the Co-founder of Freedom Speakers International will share his experiences of meeting refugees living in South Korea. This will be a talk with a video presentation … [Read More]
Conference: The Korean Independence Movement and the United Kingdom
To commemorate the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the United Kingdom and the 80th anniversary of the Cairo Declaration, SOAS University of London and the National Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government are jointly holding this international academic conference. Scholars from Korea and the UK will gather to engage … [Read More]
Book talk: William Franklin Sands in Late Choson Korea – At the Deathbed of Empire, 1896-1904
William Franklin Sands was the highest-ranking foreign adviser in the Korean government in the twilight years of the Choson dynasty. His book, entitled Undiplomatic Memories, first published in 1930 and now nearly a century old, has been the seemingly definitive account of his life and career in Seoul. However, his Papers in the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary outside … [Read More]
Korea Update with the two ambassadors
Two British ambassadors will talk about their work, the UK’s current relations with the two Koreas, and current issues on the Peninsula. Colin Crooks became Ambassador to the Republic of Korea in 2022, having previously served as Ambassador in Pyongyang. He joined the FCO in 1992, and has had other postings to Beijing, Jakarta and … [Read More]
Histories of Philosophies in the Peripheries: The Case of Korea
There is still no standard work on the history of Korean philosophy in a Western language. Even in Korea, there is no general consensus on whether premodern intellectual traditions in Korea qualify for a history of philosophy: a well-known situation for us working in global or intercultural philosophy. However, a distinctive Korean interest in philosophical … [Read More]
Overcoming Barriers: Korea in Translation
Brother Anthony (who has been publishing translations of Korean poetry and fiction since 1990) will begin by talking about some of the books by which Korea and its region first became known in centuries past, books that were translated from and into a variety of languages. He will then review the ways in which Korean … [Read More]