Fulbright Forum

7:00 P.M. on Friday, January 29th, 2010
R.S.V.P. by Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The Korean-American Educational Commission warmly welcomes you to our first Fulbright Forum of the 2009-2010 program year with Fulbright Junior Researcher Joon Lee.

"The Korean Diaspora: The Politics of Culture"

Open to all, the Fulbright Forum serves as a periodic gathering for the Fulbright Family at large, including past and present grantees and friends of Fulbright.  Please reply to Emily Kim Goldsmith (executive.assistant@fulbright.or.kr) by Tuesday, January 26th if you will attend.  Regrets need not reply.  This month's Forum will be held at 7:00 PM sharp on Friday, January 29th in the 6th floor conference room at the KAEC Building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, with a reception to follow in the 3rd floor administrative offices.  Please visit the KAEC website for maps and directions (http://www.fulbright.or.kr/en/kaec/map.php).

To respect both the audience and presenters, late arrivals will not be allowed to enter after 7:05 PM.

Summary

Over six million ethnic Koreans are scattered across the globe, with the largest diaspora communities in China, Japan, Russia and the USA.  Ms. Joon Lee will narrate the history of the diaspora and present a slide show of 100 historical photographs.  She will discuss how the diaspora created communities in various new lands, their interactions with each other, and their ties to the Korean homeland. 

Examining Korean history from the eyes of the diaspora provides a fresh, transnational perspective.  For example, it is not commonly known the Korean diaspora participated in the March First 1919 Movement and subsequently led the fight for independence from Japanese colonialism.  They also fought in the Korean War and helped to build both North and South Koreas.

A second transnational issue highlighted by the diaspora is the unique spin-off identities that they created as the result of straddling national and cultural borders.  As the diaspora became "Americanized," "Sinicized," "Russofied," and "Japanized," these identities have challenged Korea’s traditional belief in a race-based concept of ethnic identity.  Today there is much debate in Korea over how the diaspora should be treated legally and socially.

The history of the Korean diaspora is dramatic, complicated, and compelling.  Ms. Lee will share the interesting results of research and provide new insights from a World History perspective.

Biography

Ms. Joon Lee is a United States Fulbright fellow from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  She is currently in Seoul doing dissertation research on the Korean diaspora for a Ph.D. in World History.  In order to utilize the wide range of materials on the diaspora, she has studied Chinese, Japanese, and Russian languages, and will soon travel to Kazakhstan and Japan to advance her research.  Before Ms. Lee's Ph.D. studies, she was a corporate lawyer working in China and New York City.  She has earned a J.D. from UCLA, M.A. from Yonsei in economics, and an A.B. from Harvard University.  The Korean diaspora has been a topic of interest for Ms. Lee since her undergraduate days.