This Friday 11/27: Evangelizing Development
I'm giving a talk this Friday. I promise it'll be entertaining! 
CENTRE FOR KOREAN RESEARCH
Evangelizing Development: Korean/American Missions and Capitalist Deliverance
Ju Hui Judy Han (University of British Columbia)
Friday, November 27
3:30 – 5:00pm
Conference Room #120, C.K. Choi Building
1855 West Mall
Praise for South Korea's transformation from a "mission-receiving" country to the second largest "mission-sending" country in the world is typically accompanied by applause for Korea's economic growth and advancement in the capitalist world order. In such triumphant narratives, Korea is seen as having successfully progressed from poverty to prosperity as a result of Christianization and capitalist development. How do Christians missions nurture such faith in capitalist deliverance, and what is at stake in this evangelical-capitalist assemblage at the present moment? This talk draws primarily from ethnographic research of missions inTanzania and Uganda where Korean/American missionaries taught economic development seminars based explicitly on Korea's Saemaul Undong, a particularly "leader-centered" and austerity-oriented model of modernization from the 1960s and 1970s. I will discuss how the missionaries offered the model as a blueprint for both economic and spiritual progress, recasting its authoritarian roots in Christian terms and using it as a wellspring for a distinctly Korean/American political theology of capitalist development.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Tags: Academic, dissertation, Personal, presentationNorth Carolina State University in Incheon, Korea
This was old news in Korea, but has recently been getting some attention in the US, though with a different focus. Gyeonggi Radio briefly reported on April 17, 2008 as follows (my translation):
North Carolina State University of the United States plans to establish an "extended campus" in Incheon. Ahn Sang-su, the Incheon Mayor, visited the US from April 10 to April 15, and reached an agreement with NC State University. All classes will be conducted with the same form and content, and students will be able to participate in exchange programs between the extended and home campus. The graduation diploma will be the same as the one issued in the US, attracting many Asian students to pursue their studies in Incheon.
More details about the Incheon mayor's itinerary here. So basically, students can study abroad without... actually studying abroad. Unlike the focus on overseas education in Korean-language press, the US press coverage focuses on the financial subsidies attached to the deal:
NC State considers S Korea campus
The university will get a $1 million grant from the nation's government to study the proposal.(Raleigh) News & Observer
Friday, Jan. 09, 2009CHAPEL HILL N.C. State University got thumbs up Thursday to accept $1 million from the South Korean government to study the idea of building a campus at a $200 billion economic development park taking shape near the port city of Incheon, and next door to Seoul.
It would be the university's first overseas campus, though it has programs in a host of other countries, including India and China.
South Korea already is a key trading partner for North Carolina, buying more than $400 million goods from the state annually. The state has one of its six overseas economic development offices there.
The new campus would not only give N.C. State an Asian hub of operations but also could expand the state's economic development reach, university officials told members of a UNC Board of Governors committee.
The committee endorsed the idea unanimously. Approval by the full board today was expected to be little more than a formality.
The campus would be built in a new park called the Incheon Free Economic Zone, which N.C. State's proposal to the board of governors describes as a $200 billion next-generation version of Research Triangle Park.
The feasibility study would include developing a business plan so that the new campus wouldn't need any financial support from North Carolina. The South Korean government has told university officials it's willing to pay at least $1 million annually for five years for planning and startup costs. It's also expected to build the campus, including laboratories, research facilities and housing for students and faculty.
So basically, and another article confirms this, the South Korean government will foot the bill for the whole development deal.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, education, Korea/Diasporahonorable mention… and a resolution
Awwww... I just came across a very nice blog entry about my "Missionary" comics in Suyeon in NYC blog. This is the latest of a recent flurry of attention -- like here and here, and on the anthropology group blog, Savage Minds.
To say the least, it's very gratifying and flattering that people are taking the time to read it, think about it, and write about it -- even recommend it. But it's also scary, like I gotta really live up to this. All the more reason to get my butt in gear and get this dissertation finished in the new year!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, comics, dissertation, missionaryPHD Comics: Average time spent writing one e-mail
PHD Comics: Average time spent writing one e-mail
Is this right on, or is this right on?
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tags: Academic, ComixMissionary comics published!
Yay. It's finally out -- the comics version of my dissertation was published in the June issue of Aether, the journal of media geography. It's peer-reviewed and all that good stuff. Here's the full citation, in case you want to use it.
Han, J.H.J. (2008) 'Missionary', Aether: the Journal of Media Geography, 3: 58-83.
And the editors wrote nice things in their introduction:
Comics and sequential art have only recently become the subject of study in geography, let alone become an acceptable venue of presenting research. However, part of Aether's remit is to push the boundaries of academic discourse, and publishing Ju Hui Judy Han's work is part of that. Judy has created a sequential art overview of her dissertation that not only provides a fascinating overview of her work but also lends an element of invitation and accessibility that, if we're being honest, most dissertations lack. Obviously, not everyone has Judy's flair for art (note that she drew the entire comic in 24 hours!) but her example will hopefully inspire other geographers and scholars to think of alternative methods of disseminating their work. Aether is pleased to be a part of this.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Tags: Academic, Comix, missionarysquirrel
Silly but cute little story in eGrad, a newsletter for Berkeley grad students.
Punky and Notch, two campus squirrels who regularly visited the Cory Hall office window where Mary Byrnes supplied them with peanuts, don’t come around anymore. They may be on a hunger strike. Byrnes, a three-decade campus employee, announced she was leaving in May, and the bushy-tailed rodents she named and fed (mouth-to-mouth!) have been notable by their absence.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, BerkeleyFOREIGN faculty wanted
Here's another Seoul National University (SNU) faculty position announcement specifically seeking FOREIGNERS (in bold, mind you). This one defines FOREIGN simply as "not Korean." See the earlier post about the other position in geography.
SNU: Foreign Faculty PositionThe Department of Korean Language Education of Seoul National University(SNU) invites applications for 1 position full-time, open rank, and tenure track positions in "Theory & Research Methodology in Korean Language Education" (esp. in Korean Language Acquisition, Contrastive-error analysis, Inter-language, Comparative culture education and others in KFL). SNU seeks international scholars with outstanding research and teaching credentials who will play an integral role in the development, growth, and diversity of their respective programs.
Requirements
Each candidate must have earned a Ph.D. by the 3. 2008 start date and will be expected to lecture in English, also must have FOREIGN (not Korean) nationality (Overseas Koreans who don't have Korean nationality may apply). Excellent competence in oral and written English is essential for each position, and native-level competence will be regarded as highly desirable in assessing applications.
The list of job benefits appears pretty standard, but there are some unusual details about service requirements, like fidelity, obedience, and dignity:
Benefits
- a rewarding and stable career structure for productive faculty members
- a twelve-month based salary
- a comprehensive medical insurance program
- on campus housing at substantially below market cost
- one semester paid research leave out of every seven semesters
- intra-university research grants
- reimbursement of relocation expenses
- the opportunity to work with dedicated student assistants of extremely high ability
Service
The faculty of Seoul National University reflects the outcome of the integration of public educational staff of the Republic of Korea. As a consequence, Seoul National University faculties should observe the Government Officials Act and the Rule for the Public Educational Personnel and Staff Act.
- teaching, research and guidance for students full-time faculties shall in principle nine hours every week on the basis of thirty weeks per school year. teach 9 hours per week for 30 weeks each year. (Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act Art. 6)
- Duty of Fidelity (State Public Officials Act, Art.56)
- Duty of Obedience (State Public Officials Act, Art.57)
- Prohibition of Deserting from Office (State Public Officials Act, Art.58)
- Duty of Maintain Dignity (State Public Officials Act, Art.63)
- Prohibition of Lucrative Business and Concurrent Office (State Public Officials Act, Art.64)
- etc.
All members of the faculty, also as Public Educational Staffs of Korea, shall respect the duties of Government officials including duty of confidentiality and duty of integrity.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, foreign, Korea/DiasporaElite Korean Schools, Forging Ivy League Skills – New York Times
The New York Times printed this silly little letter in response to last week's story about Korean students getting into Ivy League schools:
To the Editor:
Re “Elite Korean Schools, Forging Ivy League Skills” (front page, April 27):
As a Stuyvesant High School student, I do not agree that “relentless studying” should be the main ingredient for academic success.
Although studying hard for 11 months a year and taking “nine Advanced Placement tests” may get South Korean students like Kim Hyun-kyung into the top American colleges, such striving may deprive students of essential aspects of being a teenager, such as free time for self-discovery and, yes, even rebelling against one’s parents.
While students want the best education and opportunities possible, the joy of learning for learning’s sake should also not be forsaken in the process.
If students in these elite Korean schools can find a healthy balance between study time and free time, they can still get into the Ivy Leagues and have fun along the way.
Rebecca Temkin
New York, April 27, 2008
I thought the article, Elite Korean Schools, Forging Ivy League Skills (April 27, 2008) revealed no real surprises. After all, the fact that top-ranked Korean students at super competitive "elite schools" study all the time is hardly an insight. And that these students who spend their entire school-age years learning the fine art of test-taking do well on tests... why is that news?
But it did make me think about the normative American conceptions around childhood and adolescence. The idea that high school students should learn rudimentary romance or drinking 101, for instance, is awfully normative, no? And fun? I say fun is over-rated.
No doubt I feel badly for these kids. They're groomed to think they're superstars just because they get admitted into an Ivy League school, but you know how many of these kids I've actually come across over the years? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Sure, that could be my problem -- these overachieving super-testers don't typically end up studying women's studies or ethnic studies or get involved in political activism or any arena that requires social engagement and critical thinking.
And that's my point. It's not just that study time should be balanced against free, fun time. (I bet only the boys are encouraged to play sports, by the way, whereas physical fitness for girls is constantly minimized.) It's also about what kind of study, and what kind of disposition. These "elite" environments are geared towards producing some of the most conformist, deadeningly boring students who contribute maddeningly little to society -- in the US or Korea.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, education, Korea/DiasporaOath refusing teacher reinstated
Follow-up to a previously blogged story here.
Looks like they came up with an individual alternative for her and the issue was swept under the rug this time, but shouldn’t somebody working to remove this oath requirement altogether?!?
Instructor fired over loyalty oath reinstated
Cal State East Bay teacher refused to sign on religious grounds.
By Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 8, 2008HAYWARD, Calif. — A Quaker math instructor who was fired by Cal State East Bay after she refused on religious grounds to sign a state loyalty oath has been reinstated, university officials said Friday.
Marianne Kearney-Brown, a pacifist, was concerned that signing the oath to “support and defend” the California and U.S. constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic” could commit her to take up arms. She was fired Feb. 28 after she inserted the word “nonviolently” before “support and defend” and signed that version.
The university, averting a showdown over religious freedom, agreed to rehire Kearney-Brown after the office of state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown helped draft a statement declaring that the oath does not commit employees to bear arms in the country’s defense.
Kearney-Brown, 50, said she was relieved that the issue was resolved and excited to return next week to teaching her class in remedial math. “I just want to teach kids who hate math,” she said. “That’s all I want to do.”
The idea that someone could be fired for refusing to sign a loyalty oath came as a surprise to many Californians who were unaware that public employees are still required to sign it. The pledge was added to the state Constitution in 1952 at the height of anti-Communist hysteria and has remained a prerequisite for public employment ever since. All state, city, county, public school, community college and public university employees are required to sign the 86-word oath. Noncitizens are exempt.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, news, oathProtesters arrested at UBC
More links, firsthand accounts, and video footage can be found here.
UBC students arrested after development protest bonfire
Apr 5, 2008
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — Nearly 20 people at the University of British Columbia face a series of charges including assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest after a protest escalated into a confrontation and arrests. About 100 people with Students for a Democratic Society and Trek Park for People gathered outside UBC’s Student Union Building to demonstrate against the redevelopment of a nearby grassy knoll, a popular student hangout, for a bus loop.
Students protest RCMP arrests at UBC
April 7, 2008
24 Hours Vancouver
UBC students are demanding answers after 19 of their colleagues were arrested Friday night in what police called a “volatile” protest. But if you ask Steven Klein, a student who witnessed the police crackdown at UBC’s “grassy knoll,” the only thing volatile about the incident was police reaction. “There was no threat of violence or aggression,” Klein claims. “Students feel the arrests were unjustified and want to know why police dealt with it the way they did.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tags: Academic, activism, Canada/Vancouver, ubc, vancouverCategories
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