9th International Conference of NextGen Korean Studies Scholars (NEKST)

2022 NEKST | Program

All times listed below are in the Eastern Time Zone (Ann Arbor, Michigan).

FRIDAY, MAY 13

9:15 – 9:30 Welcoming Remarks

9:30 – 11:30 Panel 1: Discourses and Practices of Modernization Across Time and Space

Pyongyang in Ink and Concrete: North Korean Urban Modernism in Kim Il Sung Period Fiction, 1967- 1994
—Alek Sigley (Stanford University)

Fishing Among the Mountains: Labor in Hamgyŏng Province’s Pollock Empire from Late Chosŏn to Colonial Korea
—Gene Kim (Harvard University)

Who Sings the Nation-State for the Dictator? Alternative Narratives of Expressway Modernity in 1970s South Korean Literature
—Hyowon Park (University of California, Los Angeles)

Discussants:

Kongdan Oh (Independent Scholar)
Youngju Ryu (University of Michigan)

13:00 – 15:00 Panel 2: Power and Solidarity: Situating Korea within the Global Order

Beyond diaspora: racial capitalism and empire in Kim Young-ha's Black Flower
—Michelle Ha (Stanford University)

Whose Chŏng (정/情)?: From Yi KwangSu (1917) to J.M.G. Le Clézio (2017)
—Jaeyeon Jeon (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Embracing a Thorn: Diasporic Identity and Zainichi Experience in the Documentary Films Our School
—Jane Lee (University of Virginia)

Discussants

Mitchell Lerner (Ohio State University)
Jin-kyung Lee (University of California, San Diego)

15:15 – 16:45 Professional Development Workshop

SATURDAY, MAY 14

9:00 – 11:00 Panel 3: Plural Masculinities within Korean Society

“Stop the Hate”: How South Korean Anti-feminist YouTubers Appropriate Feminist Discourses
—Yoon Jung Jeong (Louisiana State University) 

“It’s more authentic”: Queer Korean men’s affect, meaning-making, and engagement with online pornography
—Shawn Suyong Yi Jones (Concordia University)

Food, Identity, and Womanhood: Comparing the Relationship Between Women, Food, and Eating in Kyuhap Ch’ongsŏ with Contemporary South Korean Sources
—Niamh Calway (University of Oxford)

Discussants

Jaeeun Kim (University of Michigan)
Christina Klein (Boston College)

12:30 – 13:20 Chapter Workshop 1: Becoming Yugajok: A Process Model of Movement Participation

Presenter: Minyoung Kim (University of California, Irvine)
Discussant: We Jung Yi (Vanderbilt University)

13:30 – 14:20 Chapter Workshop 2: Semiotechnologies of Life: Trees, Forest Sciences, and Becoming Climatic Sentinels in South Korea

Presenter: Sumin Myung (Johns Hopkins University)
Discussant: Juhn Ahn (University of Michigan)

14:30 – 15:20 Chapter Workshop 3: How repeated unpredictability shapes inequality: Exploring the time-space of nomadic workers in Seoul, South Korea

Presenter: Yoonai Han (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Discussant: Rory Walsh (University of Michigan)

15:30 – 16:20 Chapter Workshop 4: Self-governing and cooperative ideals as carceral tactics of Hope village

Presenter: Hyun-Chul Kim (University of Toronto)
Discussant: Anna Lee (University of Michigan)

2022 NEKST | Call for Papers

Current graduate students as well as those holding a terminal master’s degree are eligible to apply. We welcome submissions from all disciplines as long as the research topic is related to Korea.

To apply, please submit an abstract (250-word limit) by following the link below. Abstracts should clearly state the research question, main argument, methodology, results, and conclusions. The deadline for submission is February 4, 2022. You should expect to receive the results of your application by March 4, 2022.

Applicants can choose to participate in one of two formats:

Panel presentation:

The panel presentation format is open to all graduate students. Graduate students who are accepted for this format will be arranged into panels to give a twelve-minute presentation based on a research paper that can range from 2,000 to 10,000 words. (The appropriate length of a paper written for a twelve-minute presentation may vary by discipline). Participants will receive comments about their paper from an assigned faculty discussant. If accepted, completed papers will be due by April 29, 2022.

Chapter/Article workshop:

The chapter/article workshop format is open to PhD students who have achieved candidacy. Manuscripts submitted for this format should be a dissertation chapter or a polished pre-submission journal article, no more than 10,000 words. Make sure you are submitting an abstract for the chapter (not for the entire dissertation project), but please do include a note that explains how the chapter relates to your dissertation project. Each forty-minute workshop will be dedicated to the discussion of a single manuscript, and an assigned faculty mentor will provide detailed feedback on that manuscript. Manuscripts will be pre-circulated to all faculty and graduate participants of the conference, who will also be invited to provide comments. If accepted, completed manuscripts will be due by April 15, 2021.