AAS Talks & APAGSO Luncheons with Guests

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Dr. Jung-Sun Park, Associate Professor, Asian-Pacific Studies, California State University-Dominguez Hills
APAGSO Lunch with Dr. Park @ 1200-100PM (AAS Conference Room)
Talk @ 200-300PM (AAS Conference Room)
Presentation Topic: Korean American Youths and Trans-Pacific Cultural Flows

s globalization and technological development have enabled rapid and extensive borderless cultural flows, cultural contacts and exchanges have taken on a new form, departing from Western culture's hegemony over non-Western culture. In recent years, for example, the visibility and popularity of Asian popular culture such as animation and films have noticeably increased in the West and new types of inter-Asian cultural flows, such as "Korean waves," have emerged in the Asian region, signifying more complex and multidirectional cultural flows. Through their multiple national and cultural affiliations and active transnational cultural
consumption, transnational (im)migrant youths, in particular, play a significant role in the contemporary transmission of cultural information and products across borders. Drawing on ethnographic accounts of Korean American youths' consumption of South Korean/Asian popular culture, this lecture explores the role of (im)migrant youths in the trans-Pacific cultural flows and its ramifications.

The foci of Dr. Park's inquiries are as follows: 1) How young Korean Americans consume, disseminate and construct popular culture across the Pacific; 2) How Korean American youths' consumption of South Korean/Asian culture is interrelated with their search for identity and community; 3) How the trans-Pacific cultural flows are affected by the interplay of various structural forces including the market and the state and how they signify the changing global cultural landscape and power relationships.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Dr. Eleana Kim, Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA Center for Korean Studies
APAGSO Lunch with Dr. Kim @ 1200-100PM (AAS Conference Room)
Talk @ 200-300PM (AAS Conference Room)
Presentation Topic: Reckoning Kinship, Recasting Diaspora: Transnational Adoptees Of and In the Korean Nation