Koreans in the World: A UCLA Center for Korean Studies Project

Koreans in the World

UCLA Center for Korean Studies Project

Korean Immigration Museum, Yucatan, Mexico (Credit: https://hammockmanpaul.blogspot.com/)

The “Koreans in the World” project takes comparative and historical views on Korean experiences with interregional, transnational, and globalizing forces: diplomatic systems, world religions, universalizing and modernizing ideologies, imperial and colonial enterprises, and international institutions. The project will examine the concrete and diverse ways that Koreans lived and experienced these globalizing forces. It encourages investigations that emphasize “vernacular realities” over “hegemonic narratives,” taking up “bottom-up” perspectives rather than top-down influences or impositions

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A collaborative and community building project for Korean Studies in Southern California

Exposure for research on Korean experiences with interregional, transnational, and globalizing forces through workshops and public lectures hosted by UCLA’s Center for Korean Studies. These events will prioritize “Pacific Rim” (Korea-Southeast Asia; Korea-Latin America) related projects.

Southern California as a Hub

Networking with southern California-based Korean studies community by inviting Korea, Southeast Asia, and Latin American-based scholars to participate in workshops and present at lectures organized by CKS.

Archival and Library Resources for “Koreans in the World”

Curate finding aids for archives and holdings at UCLA libraries and special collections related to “Koreans in the World” to facilitate use of these materials by both UCLA-affiliated and outside scholars.

International Conferences

International conferences covering different periods (premodern, modern, contemporary) with distinct thematic emphases: Korean interactions with East Asian / Sinoscript cosmopolis, Korean migration to the Americas, and post-liberation Korean “grass-roots” experience with international and transnational institutions.

Korean Studies Lectures and Seminars

Events featuring Korean studies scholars and researchers from or working on the “Pacific Rim”: namely, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and South Korea, including public-facing outreach events to its fast-growing Pacific Rim diaspora populations (Korean-American, Southeast Asian-American, and Latin-American) in the student body and the local Southern California community.

Publication Support

Improve Korean studies prestige and visibility by improving publication outcomes for junior scholars (UCLA and non-UCLA) conducting research on Korean experiences with interregional, transnational, and globalizing forces by hosting book manuscript workshops, providing funds for editors, translators, indexing, and other production-related costs for the monographs in question, and supporting CKS-affiliated researchers to conduct field work and archival research on “Koreans in the World”-related topics.

Graduate Student Support

Support basic research by providing fellowships to UCLA graduate students whose dissertation projects are substantively engaged with Korean experiences with transnational or global forces.