Join us as noted professor Valérie Gelézeau discusses the transformation of the inter-Korean border over the past six decades.  Since the early 1990s, expansion of inter-Korean relations has seen change in the geographic border.  Citing several case studies of South Korean kun (counties) and si (cities) close to the DMZ (Paengnyŏn Island, P’aju City, Ch’ŏrwŏn-gun), Professor Gelezeau will analyze the development of a multilayered border region including different types of enclaves located either in the South (military or tourist enclaves) or in the North (enclaves of Kaesŏng and Kŭmgang).  Professor Gelezeau will address how these transformations echo changing territorial dynamics within and around the Korean Peninsula.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010
6:00 PM * Reception
6:15 PM * Presentation


Broaching Borders: New Approaches to the Korean Divide

with
Valérie Gelézeau
Associate Professor
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Fellow, University Institute of France

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)

About the Speaker:

Professor Valérie Gelézeau's research addresses space as a social construct in contemporary Korea, via urban geography, cultural geography, regional geography and geopolitics.  She is the author of Séoul, ville géante, cités radieuses (Seoul, Giant City, Radiant Cities, CNRS Editions, 2003) and Ap’at’ŭ konghwaguk (The Republic of Apartments, Seoul, Humanitas, 2007).  She also developed several projects pertaining to the inter-Korean border region and directed a French National Research Agency research program on North/South interfaces on the Korean Peninsula.