From March First to April 19th: Enacting Memories of Anticolonial Resistance in Cold War South Korea

Date: 

Thursday, March 7, 2019, 4:30pm to 6:30pm

Location: 

Thomas Chan-Soo Room (S050), CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Special Korea Colloquium (100th Anniversary of March 1st Movement)
3.7 Korea Colloquium

Charles R. Kim
Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Korean Studies, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Charles Kim is a cultural historian of modern Korean society. His research and teaching interests include narratives, memory, media, and social relations. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


Chaired by Carter Eckert, Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History; Interim Director, Korea Institute, Harvard University

Abstract:
In 1960, South Korean students overthrew the government in the April 19th Students’ Revolution. In this talk, historian Charles Kim advances a cultural explanation of that seminal event. After Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, and especially after the Korean War, media and statist texts called upon students to serve the rebuilding nation by emulating the youthful protestors who had participated in the anticolonial resistance movement of March First (1919). This patriotic education inadvertently prepared students for the antigovernment protests of April 19th and helped solidify upstanding youth protest as a cornerstone of national identity.

Generously supported by the Min Young-Chul Memorial Fund at the Korea Institute.