#  Sean C. Kim & Ilisa Barbash | From SPAM™ to K-Pop: The Korean War and the Rise of Modern South Korea 

 



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####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 23, 2026** 

 06:00PM - 07:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138**  



 

 [ here arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vdQzohp4QHuRkwKZtGj4nQ#/registration) 

 



 

*Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture Free Hybrid Book Presentation*  
*Co-sponsored by the Harvard Korea Institute*

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**Sean C. Kim****,** Professor of History, University of Central Missouri

**Ilisa Barbash**, Curator of Visual Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

**Abstract:**  
South Korea has recently jumped onto the global stage through its economic rise and export of popular culture. Drawing on their new book, *The Forgotten Home Front: Roger Marshutz’s Photographs of Pusan, South Korea, 1952–1954* (Peabody Museum Press and KMEC Books, 2026), coauthors Lisa Barbash and Sean Kim will visually explore a key moment of transition in the development of South Korea: the Korean War (1950–1953). This conflict ruptured Korea’s traditional and colonial past and ushered in new political, economic, and cultural opportunities—under American influence—that have shaped modern South Korea. By examining this moment of change through photography, the lecture illuminates South Korea’s rise from a war-torn peninsula to an economic powerhouse and global cultural trendsetter.

Copies of [*The Forgotten Home Front*](https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674294196) will be available for purchase and signing following the program.

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To attend this event in-person, please register [here](https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=9CL6b2hFBUGtQy461HJpVwaEfAvKIKRHjDqup5ZqIVNUQUM2TzNSSjM0UVc2VEdBWEhWMzM5T1QyRS4u&route=shorturl).  
To attend this event online, please register [here](https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vdQzohp4QHuRkwKZtGj4nQ#/registration).

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For more information, please visit [here](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/calendar_event/from-spam-to-k-pop-the-korean-war-and-the-rise-of-modern-south-korea/).



 

 



 

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