Book Cafe: In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876-1888
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Please join us for an intimate round-table discussion with Dr. Wayne Patterson on his new book, In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876-1888. According to Dr. Patterson, “when discussing Korea's "Chinese Decade," defined as the dozen years prior to the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, most of the attention is focused on the heavy-handed activities of Yuan Shikai in Seoul. Less well known is that part of this Chinese effort to bind Korea more closely to China involved the absorption of Korea's newly-formed Maritime Customs Service. Using the recently-discovered correspondence of the first commissioner of customs in Pusan, this book uncovers some heretofore unknown aspects of this attempted takeover by China.”
Admission complimentary. Seating is very limited.
Book Cafe: Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979
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University of Washington Korean Studies Director Clark W. Sorensen discusses Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979, his and Professor Hyung-a Kim's edited volume on development, political thought, democracy, and the cultural influence of the Park era. An important addition to work on this critical period, especially in light of the upcoming national election in Korea, this highly readable volume draws perspectives from across the political spectrum. Professor Sorensen will explore Park's legacy as seen through both historical and contemporary prisms.
Read more: Book Cafe: Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979
The Martyred Re-Released
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In marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Korean War, The Korea Society salutes the late Richard Kim, as Penguin Classics re-releases his National Book Award-nominated The Martyred. Kim's first novel is a critically acclaimed bestseller about the Korean War, and was later made into a play, opera, and film.
Adoptees and the Politics of belonging
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Since the end of the Korean War, an estimated 200,000 children from South Korea have been adopted into families in North America, Europe, and Australia. While these transnational adoptions were initiated as an emergency measure to find homes for mixed-race children born in the aftermath of the war, the practice grew exponentially from the 1960s through the 1980s. At the height of South Korea’s “economic miracle,” adoption became an institutionalized way of dealing with poor and illegitimate children. Most of the adoptees were raised with little exposure to Koreans or other Korean adoptees, but as adults, through global flows of communication, media, and travel, they have come into increasing contact with each other, Korean culture, and the South Korean state.
Book Café: The Women Divers of Jeju Island
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Award-winning author, editor and photojournalist Brenda Paik Sunoo presents images from Moon Tides: Jeju Island Grannies and the Sea. Jeju Island’s sea women, or haenyeo, scour the sea floor as their maternal ancestors did, harvesting seaweed, octopus, sea urchins, turban shells, and abalone. Driven by economics, these women divers plunge more than 20 meters underwater, hold their breath for over two minutes, and labor well into their 80s. Their numbers have dwindled from fifteen thousand in the 1970s to just over five thousand today. Photo excerpts from the book received the International Museum of Women’s Community Choice Award.
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