A Graduate Student Perspective: Marissa Hauser, G1, RSEA, KI Graduate Summer Research Grant, Summer 2024

Thanks to the generous Korea Institute summer research grant I received this year, my summer research was incredibly fruitful and proved to be even more productive than I had initially planned for. My thesis project traces the genesis of the New Heart Movement, or saemaǔmgatki undong, in the 1970’s to its ultimate dissolution in late 1980, and its affiliated organizations such as the Crusaders to Save the Country (kuguksipchagun), aiming to paint a more complete picture of a particular moment in history, on which much research in both Korean and English has yet to be conducted. Consequently, much of the work I had undertaken prior to arriving in Korea had been restricted to reviewing both the existing secondary literature and analyzing primary sources that had already been digitized by the National Archives of Korea. Thanks to the direction of Mikyung Kang, Harvard-Yenching’s librarian for the Korean collection, I was able to identify resources in the National Assembly Library as well that were inaccessible outside of the library’s facilities that held great potential for my work. Upon arriving in Korea, I was immediately shocked to discover that one of thesources I’d bookmarked to read into at the National Assembly Library in Yeouido waspractically the fulfillment of my ‘dream list’ of questions I wanted answers to. A magazine published from 1978-1980 by an affiliate, the Women’s Volunteer Group toSave the Country (kugukyǒsǒng pongsadan), included anything from detailed lists of participating corporations and groups, provincial, county, and city leaders across the entire country, and participating schools, to ‘Good Housekeeping’-esque articles and op-eds written by government leaders, school principals, and participating studentsalike. I was able to learn much more not only about the rhetorical goals and organizational structures of the New Heart Movement and its affiliates, but also gained clearer understanding of who both leaders and participants were, and how its goalswere implemented throughout the country. I was also able to find multiple academic articles written by professors that explored and extolled the New Heart Movement’s ideological values, and others written by schoolteachers that created sample syllabi for other schools to follow.

Additionally, I was able to visit the National Archives in Sǒngnam, Daejeon, and Sejong City to directly view the materials I had previously found through their digitizedcollection. As I was traveling extensively, including to Jeonju and Busan, I was also fortunate enough to converse with a wide range of people as I searched for people who had direct experiences with this movement. Although it was a struggle to find such people, I am extremely grateful for the help I received from my friends, peers, and mentors who live in Korea who were able to ask those within their families and communities for help on my behalf. These oral histories were extremely helpful for gaining clarity on how impactful this movement was and is, as many more were familiar with this movement in the wake of impactful exposés written by journalists in the wake of former President Park’s impeachment in 2016, as Park was the chairwoman of the New Heart Movement and held a range of positions of power in various affiliated organizations.

The opportunity to research this topic in Korea has been extremely useful, not only for my thesis project, but also in transforming it into a wider range of academic pursuits that will continue to drive my career at Harvard and beyond. I am forever grateful to the Korea Institute for its generous grant and support for research by those inevery stage of their careers as it has been truly transformative both personally and professionally.