BAKS
Newsletter Spring 2006
!!! DON? FORGET TO LOOK AT THE ?ONFERENCES?PAGE
FOR NEWS OF THE NEXT BAKS CONFERENCE IN SEPTEMBER!!!
Council changes and news
At the
AGM in December, Professor James Grayson (University of Sheffield) was elected
President and Emeritus Professor Keith Pratt (Durham) Secretary. They succeeded
Dr James Hoare and Mrs Beth McKillop, who were warmly thanked for their work
over the previous years. Dr Euan Graham has joined the Council as FCO
representative.
The
2005 Workshop was thought to have been one of the
best ever. Attendance (58) was good; papers were varied and good; and there was
even some optimistic news, about the future of Korean studies at Oxford, the
number of students registered around the country, and a generous grant of
US$5,850 to BAKS for 2006 from the Korea Foundation. This is mainly to produce
another set of BAKS papers, but also includes a small amount to cover payment
of fares and accommodation for speakers at study days/conferences.
The latest
set of BAKS Papers (BAKS 10) has been published,
and work has started on BAKS 11. A two-volume reprint by Paul Norbury
Publications of selected past papers is due to appear shortly.
Following
a request made at the January Council meeting, the Secretary has looked into
the history of BAKS Conferences and Workshops.
BAKS itself was reborn after a 3-year hiatus in March 1987 (membership five
pounds, which makes today? membership look even better value for money!). The
first conference was organised later that year, in Sheffield. Papers were given
by Werner Sasse, James Cotton, Dieter Eikemeier, Rob Provine, Kim Hak-jun,
Kyongsoo Lho, Jin Park, and Jim Hoare. Thereafter, there has been either a
conference or a workshop/symposium virtually every year, as follows:
1988
London, 1989 Durham, 1990 Leeds, 1991 Cambridge, 1992 Sheffield, 1993 V &
A, 1994 JEAS Leeds, 1995 Newcastle, 1996 London, 1997 JEAS Durham, 1998 Oxford,
1999, London, 2000 Sheffield, 2001 JEAS Edinburgh and London Study Day (British
Museum), 2002 London (British Library), 2004 London (British Library), 2005
London (British Museum), 2006 Sheffield (forthcoming). Not a bad record! And
with the mounting sequence of conferences, the content and authority of the
BAKS Papers series has gone from strength to strength: in recent years, the
Korean Embassy and the Korea Foundation have given both conferences and Papers
generous support, and successive organisers and editors have earned well-deserved
praise for their unstinting contributions.
BAKS
has been awarded the pleasant duty of allocating annual bursary funds made
available to UK students by Samsung/Korean Veterans?Association. A
sub-committee consisting of Professor Grayson, Dr Koh and Dr Lewis met in
February 2006 and awarded five grants of one thousand pounds each to the
following:
Andrew
Blake (SOAS), Laura Dyson, Patrick Ellen, Emanuela Nalaskowska, and Susanne
Sutherland (all Sheffield).
Korean Studies
A brief flurry of parliamentary activity took place
last autumn when HEFCE announced an enquiry into subjects ?f strategic
national importance?in UK universities, including Chinese and Japanese but
without reference to Korea. Sir John Stanley MP tabled a House of Commons question
and received a non-committal reply from Bill Rammell on 25 October. Lord
Richard wrote to Sir Howard Newby (HEFCE) and received a reply on 17 October,
in which Sir Howard expressed the hope that some additional funding might be
made available for Korean in the next round of funding, if not this. Lord
Richard also tabled a question in the House of Lords and wrote to Ian Pearson,
Minister of State at the FCO, on 31 October.
None of this, so far, seems to have borne noticeable
fruit.
BAKS Members?Work in Progress
Three
members have sent the Editor information about work in progress, as follows:
Okkyoung
Jeeyeon Kim has almost completed a PhD thesis at Sheffield University, using
internet community articles to examine female inter-generational conflict in
Korea. The provisional title is 'Changing generation and unchanged ideology: A
voice that needed to be heard'.
Owen
Miller? thesis on ?uild and Government in 19th c. Choson: the Case of the
Myonjujon Silk Merchants?will be submitted in the autumn. He is also working
with Vladimir Tikhonov (Oslo University) on a volume of translated writings by
Buddhist philosopher, activiost and poet Han Yong-un.
Susan House Wade (University of Brighton) is working for a PhD entitled ?quot;Not One Whit Europeanised"--Representing Korea in Print and Visual Imagery and Material Culture in Britain, 1883-1933.?o:p>
Contacts with North Korea
British Parliamentary Visit To North Korea, Sept 2005
The British-North
Korean All-Party Parliamentary Group (APG) sent a delegation led by General the
Lord Guthrie to visit North Korea from 24th September to 1st
October 2005. The delegation was
hosted by the North Korean Supreme People? Assembly. Click here for its Report.
EUCCK delegation visit to Gaesong, Nov.2, 2005
The
European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea (EUCCK, http://www.eucck.org), in association with the
Ministry of Unification, organized a field trip for European Investors to
Gaesong Industrial Project Complex in North Korea on November 2nd 2005.This was
the first time that the complex had thrown open its doors to a delegation of
foreign investors from South Korea, so that they get a first hand feel of the
development that is taking place.
An
article about what it called this ?andmark event?was posted at the website of
the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea and reposted on the KOIS
website (and
circulated to Electronic BAKS members) with the permission of the European Union Chamber of
Commerce). Likewise, Electronic BAKS members should have seen the e-
bulletin of the DPRK Embassy in London, dated 7 April 2006. Any member who did not see
either of these, for whatever reason, and would like to do so, please let me
know and I?l email copies.
Museum of London archaeological project in Gaeseong
At the
BAKS Workshop on 5 December members heard an interesting paper by Dave Lakin on
the joint archaeological project being conducted in Gaeseong by the Museum of
London and the North Korean authorities. Click here for a brief description.
Journals
North
Korean Review
is a new, academic journal focusing on contemporary North Korean developments
and looking for interesting contributions from all academic fields of
contemporary North Korea. The first volume has been published, and can be
viewed for free at: www.northkoreanreview.com
There
also, subscription information and information for authors are included. For
more information, contact:
Dr. Bernhard
Seliger
Hanns
Seidel Stiftung - Seoul Office
Room
501, Soo Young Bldg., 64-1, Hannam 1 Dong, Yongsan-gu
Seoul,
Republic of Korea
Tel.+
82 2 790 5344
Fax. +
82 2 790 5346
The
latest issue of Pyongyang Report is also now available online at
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~caplabtb/dprk/pyr_index.html
The
objective is to attempt to redress the balance in news about the DPRK. Space is severely limited but much of
the material comes from the Web, and references are given.
*****
Korean Studies Grants 2006
'Korean
Studies Grants' were transferred from KRF to AKS in 2006. An announcement was
made on the website of The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), but briefly, the
information given there is as follows. (Some deadlines are now past, but we
reprint the information below as a guide to future years?timetables.)
Support
Programs
-
Visiting Lectureship : to encourage Korean Studies instructors to take teaching
positions at foreign universities or academic institutions.
-
Research : to sponsor projects related to Korean Studies including research
papers, translation works, and books.
-
Academic Forums : to invigorate academic forums hosted by Korean Studies
research organizations.
-
Journal Publication : to promote publication of Korean Studies papers.
Application
deadline : March 31, 2006
For
more details : Go to http://www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home,
or contact Ms. Jeon at congress@aks.ac.kr
The
14th Cultural Program for Foreign Students and Scholars in Korean
Studies was announced early this year, when most universities were on winter
vacation. Therefore, we would like to release the news again.
Period
: July 3 - July 28, 2006
Courses
: special lectures on Korea, intensive readings and discussions in Korean,
field trips, excursions, and traditional cultural activities.
Financial
Support : all expenses are fully covered by AKS. Participants are only
responsible for their airfares.
Qualifications
-
Undergraduate students of second year or above and/or graduate students in
Korean studies
-
Professional researchers and/or university lecturers in Korean Studies
Application deadline: March 31, 2006
For
more details : Go to http://www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home,
or contact Ms. Lee at culture@aks.ac.kr
International
Support Division
The
Center for Information on Korean Culture
The
Academy of Korean Studies
Tel :
+82-31-709-9843
Fax :
+82-31-709-9945
*****
New academic group blog on Korean history
http://www.froginawell.net/korea
Owen
Miller announces the opening of a new academic group blog on Korean history.
The blog is part of the 'Frog in a Well' group of blogs on East Asian history -
the first two, on China and Japan have been up and running for some time. The
organisers would like to attract contributors from all areas of Korean history
and from all over the world, the ultimate aim being to have contributions in
both English and Korean.
It
is hoped that this will become a good arena for both graduate students and
teachers to exchange ideas, both within the Korean history world and amongst
those studying East Asian history more generally.
Any
historians who are interested in participating in the blog should contact the
administrator, Konrad Lawson, at: kmlawson@froginawell.net
*****
http://www.londonkoreanlinks.net is
the work of Philip Gowman. An enthusiast for Korea, he provides links in a
range of areas:
What?
new
What?
on in London
Books
Film
& DVD
Music
Art
& Archaeology
Food
& Restaurants
Conference
Reports
Newspapers
& Journals
Academia
Cultural
Organisations
Koreans
in London
Travelling
to Korea
*****
Bibliographical matters
The Newsletter has
received news of the following publications by BAKS members:
James
Grayson:
"A
Quarter-Millennium of Christianity in Korea" in Robert E. Buswell, Jr.,
and Timothy S. Lee, eds., Christianity in Korea (Honolulu, University of
Hawai? Press, 2006), pp. 7 - 25.
"Christianity
in East Asia; China, Korea, Japan" (Korea and Japan sections) in Sheridan
Gilley, Brian Stanley, eds., Cambridge History of Christianity,
v. 8, World Christianities: 1815-1914 (Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2006).
"Korean"
in Keith Brown, ed. The
Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics, Second Edition (Oxford, Elsevier, 2005), v.6,
pp. 236-239.
"Korean
Writing Systems" in Keith Brown, ed., The Encyclopaedia of Language and
Linguistics, Second
Edition (Oxford, Elsevier, 2005),
v.6, pp. 239-244.
Owen
Miller:
?orth
Korea? Hidden History: Recent Writing on North Korea from South Korea?
Internationalist Left? International Socialism Journal 109 (Jan. 2006)
?he
Myonjujon: a Silk Merchants?Guild in Late Choson Korea? BAKS Papers 10, 2005
(with
J. Doucertte) From APEC to WTO: Trajectories of Protest in Korea and East
Asia? Japan Focus (December 7, 2005)
Jane
Portal:
Art
under Control in North Korea (London, Reaktion Books, 2006)
Keith
Pratt:
?ational
Museum of Korea Reopens? Asian Art News, January 2006, 4-5
*****
Saffron Korea
Library Series, published by EAP Group (Eastern Art Publishing, PO Box 13666,
London SW14 8WF, www.eapgroup.com), includes 6 titles on Korean arts and
history, all translated from the Korean.
*****
The Diamond Sutra
Recitation Group, an organisation based in Seoul, maintains a website devoted
to Admiral Yi Sun-sin (www.koreanhero.net).
Its London agency is currently offering free copies of its 88-page booklet
Admiral Yi Sun-sin, A Brief Overview of His Life and Achievements. BAKS members
who would like a copy should contact Matthew Jackson at admiralyi@hotmail.co.uk
*****
Bruce
Fulton has compiled a list of Korean Fiction in English translation
(Korean
American Historical Society, published online in 1999): http://www.kahs.org/downloads/99KoreanFic.pdf
Meanwhile
Brother Anthony of Taize is the compiler of
English Translations of Korean Literature Published since 2000
(http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/TranslationList.htm)
He
writes: I am grateful to those who have written to me with corrections and
additions to the list. I would like to take the list back to the year 2000, but
find very little published in the years before 2002. I have added what I know
of, and would be most grateful for help in completing that early section of the
list. I am limiting the list to poetry, fiction and drama, because I really do
not have the time to expand it to cover all the other types of publication that
Frankfurt especially is bringing out of the woodwork. Perhaps someone else . .
.?
Thank
you in advance
Br
Anthony
Sogang
University, Seoul, Korea
*****
Submissions
are requested for a new journal of Korean literature. Azalea will publish translations, essays, photos, art work. Its primary focus will be on on
contemporary literature.
Please
send submissions or queries to David R. McCann, Dept. of East Asian Languages
and Civilizations, Harvard University, 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138.
*****
signandsight.com
(http://www.signandsight.com) is the
English service of Perlentaucher (http://www.perlentaucher.de),
Germany's largest independent online cultural magazine. Every day
Perlentaucher's editors scour the pages of the quality German-language cultural
press for the best articles of note, translate them into English and put them
online. Recently they have put three stories on Korean literature online.
* * * * *
The
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation has announced the launch of its Asian
Opinion Poll Database. This new
research tool, located on its website (http://www.mansfieldfdn.org),
gives researchers, journalists, Asia specialists and others who struggle to
track trends in Northeast Asia a one-stop shop where they can find
top-of-the-line results, in English, of public opinion surveys from Japan,
Korea and (to a lesser extent) China.
* * * * *
Sogang
University has asked that this information be distributed:
The
Kim Chong Hee Fellowship in Korean Studies
at the
Center for Korean Studies
Sogang
University, Seoul, Korea
1.
Benefactor of the Fellowship
Mr.
Kim Ho Youn , Chairman of Binggrae
Co. Ltd., has endowed a significant fund for promoting international exchanges
in Korean Studies, in memory of his late father, Chairman Kim Chong Hee, known
as the "Nobel of Korea" for his role as the founder of the renowned enterprise, "Hankook Dynamite
Company"
2.
Purpose of the Fellowship
In
order to respond to the practical and academic demands that will arise in the
"Pacific Era" of the 21st century, this fellowship will provide
international scholars and researchers in Korean Studies with on-the-spot
experience through research and teaching in the heart of the capital city of
Korea.
3.
Eligibility
A
Ph.D., holding a teaching or research position in an institution of higher
education in the broadly defined field of Korean Studies that includes, but is
not limited to, history, literature, philosophy, politics, economics, business,
and international relations.
4.
Position
1) Kim
Chong Hee Chair Professor for a most competent scholar
2) Kim
Chong Hee Visiting Professor for junior and advanced scholars
3) Kim
Chong Hee Research Fellow for doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars
Each
professorial receipiant will serve for an academic year (ten month period) at
the Center for Korean Studies in Sogang University in Seoul, Korea. All
research fellows will receive a housing grant as well as an airfare up to 3
months.
5.
Duration
Candidates
may have the option to serve either from February 20 to December 20 or from
August 20 to June 20.
6.
Supports
1)
Stipend : $40,000-$45,000 for the Chair Professor; $30,000-$40,000 for the
Visiting Professor, based on an evaluation of the candidate's qualifications
and rank, in ten equal monthly payments.
2)
Housing (part of utilities included)
3)
Round-trip transportation (economy class)
7.
Obligations
1) Up
to three 3-credit courses teaching in English of his or her own specialty (one
graduate course may be included)
2)
Participation in reqular academic meetings, workshops, seminars and conferences
(additional honoraria may be paid for special lectures)
3) Final
report to the Commission upon completion of the Fellowship obligations
8.
Procedure of application and selection
1)
Applications to the Fellowship Commission in the Center for Korean Studies,
Sogang University by April 30 for an August appointment or by October 31 for a
February appointment.
2) The
Fellowship Commission will announce the list of final fellows either by May 31
or by November 31.
3)
Documents to be submitted: a C.V., graduate transcripts, diploma, recent
syllabi or research projects, 2 reference letters, and a personal statement of
research and teaching interests.
4) Address: The Kim Chong Hee Fellowship
Commission
Center
for Korean Studies
D-209
Sogang University
Seoul,
Korea 121-742
Non-official
documents may be sent via email: scks@sogang.ac.kr
Tel) +82-2705-7871