EASC Express

Pil Ho Kim elected to AAS's Executive Committee on Korean Studies

EASC faculty affiliate Pil Ho Kim (Associate Professor, DEALL) has been elected to the Association of Asian Studies’ Executive Committee on Korean Studies (CKS). Founded in 1968, CKS represents the Korean Studies membership within the Northeast Asia Council of the Association of Asian Studies, and serves the communal needs of the expanding field of Korean studies on multiple levels, with program initiatives focused on teaching, mentorship, and professionalization.

Dr. Kim specializes in Korean society and culture. A sociologist by training, he has been studying and teaching a wide range of topics related to modern Korea, including popular music, cinema, literature, and urban regeneration/gentrification. His book, Polarizing Dreams: Gangnam and Popular Culture Ii Globalizing Korea (University of Hawai’i Press, forthcoming) explores South Korea’s Gangman-style urban development as a unique case of cultural globalization in the age of social polarization. Dr. Kim has been a scholar-in-residence at Lewis & Clark College, and a postdoctoral fellow at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. He has published research articles in Korean Studies, The Journal of Japanese and Asian Cinema, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Korea Observer, and Acta Koreana, among others.

Congratulations, Pil Ho!

EASC to hold asynchronous sijo teacher workshop Feb.15 - May 1

David Mozina to present on rage in Chinese religion on Feb. 22

Abstract: Rage is often thought of as difficult to control, as something that wells up and foments instability and violence both public and private. The history of religions is replete with episodes in which holy wrath has led to riots, revolutions, melees, and massacres. But rage has also been imagined as productive, even essential, for deeply spiritual pursuits. This presentation explores how rage has been a crucial aspect of Daoist liturgy as practiced in China today and yesterday. It examines how rage, while still remaining dangerous and potentially self-destructive, has been a catalyst forming a deep connection between human and divine and so providing efficacy in rituals designed to protect and heal.

Saori Katada to present on Japan’s Indo-Pacific grand strategy on February 23

Abstract: The rise of Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy in the late 2010s crystalizes the configuration of Japan’s 21st century grand strategy. This grand strategy utilizes Japan’s liminal power between the East and the West, and its interchangeable use of economic and security foreign policy instruments with the aim of maintaining rules and standards in regional and global governance. With the evident decline of the US presence in the region, and China’s rising dominance as a global power, Japan now sits in a critical position where it can engage the regional order constructively by enforcing liberal rules constructed under the US hegemony and check China’s unreasonable behavior including the use of economic coercion. Prof. Katada will discuss Japan’s Indo-Pacific grand strategy with the emphasis on how it utilizes the Free and Open Indo-Pacific framework flexibly to create “like-minded” coalitions and advance Tokyo’s interest through rule-setting strategy towards stable regional order.

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