The Institute for Korean Studies한국학 연구소

a talk by

Charles Kim

Friday, February 13Page Hall, room 0601810 College Road2:30 p.m.

For more information, contact Chan Park at: park.2274@osu.edu

Co-sponsored by:

East Asian Studies Center

IKS Lecture Series

University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Cultural Americanization in Postcolonial South Korea”

Charles Kim

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South Korean was roiled by economic, social, and political crisis throughout the post-Korean period (1953-1961). This talk explores the ways in which journalists, academics, �lmmakers, politicians, and activists proposed cultural solutions to this crisis and, by extension, to the problem of how to build a strong and independent postcolonial nation. At the heart of the matter was the challenge of incorporating ideas, goods, practices, and institutions drawn from America, while maintaining – and updating – the core elements of national culture and society. The forms of cultural conservatism that they espoused dovetailed with the Cold War ideology of the South Korean state, as well as its U.S. patron.

Charles Kim is a historian of 20th-century Korea who works on culture, ideas, and society in South Korea. His research and teaching interests include narratives, nation, gender, and media. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.