Kim Koo Forum on Korea Current Affairs; Co-sponsored by Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Alexis Dudden
Professor of History, University of Connecticut
Alexis Dudden received her BA from Columbia University in 1991 and her PhD in history from the University of Chicago in 1998. She is currently writing a book about Japan’s territorial disputes and the changing meaning of islands in international law.
Chaired by Carter Eckert, Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History, Harvard University
Abstract:
The reality and idea of Korea — South and North — have increasingly become a necessary foil to Japanese debates over the meaning of Japan. With Japanese society profoundly divided over the course of its future, debates concerning the nation’s legal redefinition of its military are at the center of the conversation, and security concerns over North Korean weapons testing weigh heavily in the mix. Additional rifts over questions about the emperor’s role and the reach of the state, for example, also often reference Korea — at least the idea of Korea and Koreans — in their discussion. This talk addresses present realities, real histories, and the use of Korea in Japan today.
The Korea Institute acknowledges the generous support of the Kim Koo Foundation.