Free and Open to the Public! Learn more about the conference at: http://www.unendingkoreanwar.org
Why doesn’t the Korean War end? An academic conference, art exhibit, and series of film screenings examine this war, and the ways in which it has reconfigured memory, political economies, knowledge and culture on both sides of the Pacific, leaving legacies of uprootedness and unending conflict. From Cold war culture to national security policies, “The Unending Korean War” will contextualize the current crisis with new scholarship, films and art in a two day event and a month long art exhibit.
Please note: You must register in order to gain access to the conference. To register, please email apa.rsvp@nyu.edu or call 212-992-9653. For conference-related inquiries, please contact us at: info@unendingkoreanwar.org
Friday, April 22, 2011: All Day Conference
19 West 4th St (between Mercer and Greene)
8:30am: Conference registration
9:00am: Keynote Address: Prof. Bruce Cumings, Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History and the College, University of Chicago
10:00am: Conference panels
Panel I: Cultures of War With Rebecca Karl, Daniel Kim and Monica Kim
Panel II: Cold War Epistemologies With Yongwook Chung, Eun Heo and Christina Klein
Panel III: Decolonization and Empire With Christine Hong and Jodi Kim
Friday April 22nd at 6 :15 PM: Reception and Films
19 University Place
In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee (90 min, 2010)
In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee is acclaimed filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem’s search for the truth about her past. One legacy of the Korean War was the massive transnational adoptions of Korean children. When Liem was adopted, she was given a new name and told to keep that a secret. She returns to Korea to find out why her identity was switched and to find the real Cha Jung Hee, in a moving and provocative documentary that probes the ethics of international adoptions and reveals the cost of living a lie. Part mystery, part personal odyssey, it raises fundamental questions about who we are…and who we could be but for the hands of fate. Filmmaker Liem will speak.
Memories of Forgotten War (10 min, 2010)
For Korean American survivors and their children, the Korean War remains a source of shared pain and national division. Co-directors Deann Borshay Liem and Ramsay Liem present.
Saturday April 23, 2011: Panel and Films
19 University Place
12:00pm PANEL: THE CRISIS NOW IN KOREA
Scholars, experts and activists on the situation on the Korean peninsula. Christine Ahn, Executive Director, Korea Policy Institute, Hyun Lee , Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, Dr. Stephen Noerper, Senior Vice President, The Korea Society, Jae-Jung Suh, Director, Korea Studies Program/SAIS at John Hopkins University. Refreshments will be served.
1:45pm: Film Screenings on South and North Korea
Grandmother’s Flower (2008, 89 minutes) by Jeong-hyun Mun
Director Mun accidentally discovers his family’s secret history in the small South Korean village where they lived, filled with wounds from both the Japanese occupation and the Korean War, a mirror of the entire country.
Tiger Spirit (2008, 78 minutes) by Min Sook Lee
Korean Canadian director Lee’s search for both the real and symbolic “Tiger Spirit” of Korea leads her on an amazing journey along the Koreas’ border where she encounters a wild-eyed tiger hunter, a North Korean refugee, a bus guide who shuttles across the DMZ border everyday, and many hopeful families dreaming of being reunited with their lost loved ones.
Saturday April 23, 2011: Art Exhibit Panel
41-51 East 11th Street, 7th floor, NY NY 10003
6:00pm: Still Present Pasts – Korean Americans and the “Forgotten War”
A multi-media exhibit that combines installation and performance art, documentary film, archival photographs, and oral histories to explores memories and legacies of the Korean War. Project director Ramsay Liem will speak, along with artists: Sukjong Hong, Hosu Kim and Yul-san Liem. Exhibition runs from April 7-May 13th at NYU.
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