주제: 계측되는 신체, 식별되는 정신: 20세기의 과학, 인종, 신체와 근대 한국(인)

일시: 2019년 11월 25일 (월) 오후1시-6시

장소: 규장각한국학연구원 1층 회의실

Assessing Modern Korea(ns): Science, Race, and Bodies across the Twentieth Century

This workshop is aimed to gather four scholars who research colonial/modern (1910-1945) and post-colonial/Cold War/contemporary (1945-1990) Korea to place our historical research into productive dialogues. Our common interests include the under-studied place of biomedicine, science, and technology in Korean society and culture. In that sense, the workshop offers a unique opportunity to interface Korean Studies with fields that often do not intersect; these include science and technology studies, disability studies, and queer studies. The specific focus of the workshop will be on the historical practice and embodied effects of bodily assessments. As any student will know, Koreans face a litany of tests to measure their aptitude. Those performing military service will also have faced a series of ongoing measurements of their bodies and minds. Those who visit hospitals will also understand the importance of assessing their health. In addition to addressing such mechanisms of assessment, our papers will also focus on its myriad and uneven effects across time and various subpopulations. For example, many Korean citizens (and, more recently, non-citizens residing in Korea more than six months) today benefit from the fruits of biomedical modernity, receiving relatively affordable healthcare. But, as several court cases about gender confirmation surgeries and concomitant legal battles from the turn of the 21^st century have revealed, transgender Koreans still suffer from a heteropatriarchal system that assumes people have only one (largely unalterable) sex and a gender embodiment that should match that anatomical (if not reproductive) morphology. Our papers seek to address the implicit interests promoted by such assessments and the politicized meanings they hold for a variety of “Koreans” and “non-Koreans.”

문의처: 국제한국학센터 Tel. 02-880-9378 Email icks@snu.ac.kr