2019–2020 Annual Report Page 03 Director’S Letter
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KOREA INSTITUTE HARVARD UNIVERSITY 2019–2020 ANNUAL REPORT PAGE 03 DIRECTOR’S LETTER Looking back at Academic Year 2019–2020, I feel nostalgic about the days when we had regular in-person events and academic engagements. What a strange and unknown world we are suddenly living in. When the pandemic forced Harvard to empty its campus in March, we were shocked and confused. Within a few days, students left campus. Then, faculty pivoted to teaching remotely, and staff had to find ways to fulfill their duties from home. Our seniors and newly minted PhDs graduated without treasured and customary traditions, celebrations, and send-offs. Before the pandemic affected our operations, however, Korea Institute had another busy and productive year. One of the year’s highlights was the 2019 Harvard-Dartmouth Korean Art History Workshop, which took place in December 2019. One of the initiatives that I started as Director of the Korea Institute was to CONTENTS promote Korean art, and scholarship on Korean art, by collaborating with experts in the field and offering an intellectual space to build the field through scholarly conversations. This 2019 workshop was the fourth in the series, which Professor Sunglim Kim at Dartmouth University and I organized together. It focused on modern and contemporary Korean art featuring in-depth analysis of such artistic genres as ceramics, ink and oil paintings, and architectural art in both South and North Korea. Coincidentally in Fall 2019, the Korea Institute hosted a modest yet fascinating photo exhibit on campus featuring eighteen photos taken by the late photographer, Han Youngsoo, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Generously supported by the Han Youngsoo Foundation, the exhibit treated viewers to photographic scenes of Seoul at a time when it was fast recovering from the devastations of the Korean War. Douglas Gabriel (Soon Young Kim Postdoctoral Fellow) gave us a succinct yet comprehensive overview of the artist’s work in the context of the modern DIRECTOR’S LETTER .............................................................. 3 history of photography. Azalea (vol. 13, 2020), our annually-published journal of Korean literature and culture, also featured a variety of Han’s photos, and the Han Youngsoo Foundation agreed to donate some of Han’s ABOUT THE KOREA INSTITUTE ........................................... 6 photos to Harvard Art Museum. This new collection will not only enrich our museum’s Korea collection but also promote further study of modern Korean art. KOREAN STUDIES AT HARVARD ............................................ 7 Every year, the Korea Institute offers the Korea Colloquium, the Kim Koo Forum, and special lectures such as the Wagner Special Lecture and the SBS Distinguished Lecture. Our speakers inspire us to explore new HARVARD-YENCHING LIBRARY KOREAN SECTION ............ 8 areas of research, methodologies, and perspectives, and to extend the boundaries of knowledge. This past academic year, we were happy to launch the new SBS Seminar Series supported by the SBS Research Fund, for which Professor Hanmee Na Kim gave an inaugural presentation on “Korea’s America: A Power KOREAN LANGUAGE PROGRAM ......................................... 10 Intertwined with Korean Sovereignty, 1882–1945.” The campus closure in mid-March due to the pandemic, however, forced us to cancel all scheduled events thereafter. The list of cancelled events is included in this ETHNIC STUDIES .................................................................... 11 report. The Korea Institute has been proud over many past years to offer several exciting summer opportunities PUBLICATIONS .................................................................... 12 for both undergraduate and graduate students. Sadly, due to the pandemic, we had to cancel the Harvard- Ewha summer school as well as internship programs. Travel bans also affected students who had planned to SPECIAL EVENTS .................................................................... 16 take summer intensive Korean language classes in Korea, as well as those who wanted to carry out research in Korea. While these cancellations posed serious interruptions to their academic trajectory, many of our students were able to find alternate paths to nourish their intellectual pursuits. Still, many others experienced KOREA COLLOQUIUM ........................................................... 20 setbacks in their academic progress and suffered from financial hardship. Faculty and staff at the Korea Institute have been working tirelessly to meet these unexpected challenges, especially to help our students. KIM KOO FORUM ON KOREA CURRENT AFFAIRS .............. 22 Despite such unprecedented circumstances, we all have shown resilience, creativity, and collegiality to get things done, support each other, and stay connected. We have mobilized our full capacity to care for students and continue to provide intellectual stimulation through online activities. Indeed, this global crisis has stirred SBS SEMINAR SERIES ........................................................... 24 new ideas and provided opportunities for innovation. WAGNER SPECIAL LECTURE .................................................. 25 We sincerely hope to return to our normal academic activities in person on campus, whether through classes, seminars, and conferences, or chance encounters at the hallways, libraries, and museums. In the meantime, using new available technologies, the Korea Institute has been busy preparing for resuming its programs CO-SPONSORED EVENTS .................................................. 26 by thinking outside the box and fully taking advantage of the online environment, whereby remoteness contributes to a paradoxically close and broader connectivity. For example, we have extended our institutional CANCELED KI EVENTS DUE TO COVID-19 ....................... 28 collaboration beyond Harvard campus, and plan to co-host academic events with our peer Korean Studies centers in other universities. We are also ready to launch a new speaker series, Korean Treasures at Harvard, through which we invite scholars to examine a wide array of Korean art objects and rare book collections at UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PROGRAMS ....................... 32 Harvard museums and libraries. Their short presentations will be recorded and made available through the Korea Institute’s website. KI UNDERGRAD STUDENT HIGHLIGHT ................................ 33 Through these new initiatives and ongoing intellectual programs, the Korea Institute endeavors to advance scholarship by encouraging different views, constructive criticisms, and open-mindedness. With heightened GRADUATE STUDENT PROGRAMS ....................................... 34 attention on such social issues as anti-Black racism, inequality, and sexual harassment, we are all the more vigilant on how the KI can provide a safe yet free space for academic exploration and improvement. My PEOPLE AT THE KOREA INSTITUTE ....................................... 38 special gratitude goes to our benefactors, especially new donors, who have made extremely generous gifts to the Korea Institute during these financially uncertain times. Looking forward to the new academic year, we all know that this fall will be very different, academically and socially. And yet, we will work together to face DONORS .................................................................................. 40 challenges as we always have. Sun Joo Kim Director, Korea Institute; Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History KOREAN STUDIES & PUBLICATIONS Treasure 199. Rock-carved Bodhisattva at Sinseonam Hermitage in Namsan Mountain, Gyeongju. Photo: Cultural Heritage Administration (Free download available from www.cha.go.kr) ABOUT THE KOREA INSTITUTE PAGE 06 PAGE 07 KOREAN STUDIES AT HARVARD MISSION AND HISTORY FACULTY CONTENT COURSES ON KOREA The Korea Institute was established in 1981 under the aegis of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. Paul Y. Chang Fall 2019 In 1993, it became an autonomous institution directly responsible to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Associate Professor of Sociology Sciences. At Harvard, it is the only organization devoted solely to the support and development of Korean Readings in Modern Korean History II Studies, operating as the central hub where Harvard faculty, students, leading scholars in the field, and Carter J. Eckert Carter J. Eckert visitors, can join together as a community for the study of Korea. Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History Topics in Modern Korean History: Proseminar The Korea Institute is an integral and dynamic part of intellectual life at Harvard. In addition to the Korea Nicholas Harkness Carter J. Eckert Colloquium, the Institute also supports lectures, workshops, conferences, and other scholarly exchanges Professor of Anthropology throughout the year. The Institute hosts visiting scholars, fellows, and associates through an affiliated scholars Traditional Korea Sun Joo Kim program. Other activities include faculty research projects, undergraduate and graduate student support, Sun Joo Kim Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History teaching, study- and work-in-Korea programs, publications, Korean film screenings, and some cultural events. Korean Literature in Translation Si Nae Park The Institute has also established a network of relationships with other centers and departments throughout David R. McCann the University, and with colleagues and institutions throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Korea Foundation