Korea Foundation–UO Pacific Northwest Korean Studies Forum
Conference Program | Thursday, November 12, 2026
University of Oregon, Eugene
Wednesday, November 11
6:00-8:00 PM — Dinner
Thursday, November 12 - Crater Lake South, EMU 145
9:00-9:30 AM — Registration, Welcome, Opening Remarks
9:30-10:30 AM — Research Flash Talk 1
Korean Studies Then and Now: Intellectual Trajectories, Institutional Histories, and Future Directions
Moderator: Jina Kim (University of Oregon)
Ross King (University of British Columbia)
Korean Language, Literature, & Linguistics Before 1910 and Since 1990: One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward?
Language training infrastructure; sinographs and Literary Sinitic; paradoxes of growth
Steven Lee (University of British Columbia)
The Evolution of Korean Studies in Canada: An International History
Decolonization, connections, and comparisons
Yong-Chool Ha (University of Washington)
Beyond Western Paradigms: From Indigenization to Deprovincializing Korean Studies
Deprovincialization; contextualized universalism, Korean modernity
Yookyung Lee (Boise State University)
Korean Studies Without a Korean Community: Building from the Classroom Up in Idaho
Undergraduate pedagogy, student demand, and institutional sustainability
10:30-10:45 AM — Break
10:45-11:45 AM — Research Flash Talk 2
Korea in a Global Age: Culture, Society, and Contemporary Korea
Moderator: Dong Hoon Kim (University of Oregon)
Ji-yoon An (University of British Columbia)
“Made in Korea” to “Made by Koreans”
Cinema, diaspora, K-drama
Jungmin Kwon (Portland State University)
Contested Popularity: Feminist and Queer Perspectives on Transnational K-Culture
K-Culture, Feminist and Queer Critique, Transnational
Hyeyoung Woo (Portland State University)
Advancing Sociology through Research on Gender, Family, and Health in Korea and Building Korean Studies at Portland State University
Gender, Family, and Health in Korea
HyeRyoung Ok (University of Oregon)
AI Filmmaking - Theory and Practice
Digital Screen Culture, Expanded Cinema, Global Media Technology
11:45 AM-1:15 PM — Lunch & Visit to the JSMA
1:15-2:15 PM — Research Flash Talk 3
Interdisciplinary Futures: Korea in Regional and Global Perspective
Moderator: Gyoung-Ah Lee (University of Oregon)
Hajin Jun (University of Washington)
Religion and the Limits of Empire in Colonial Korea
Religion, secularism, and state power
Soo-Hyung Kim (University of Washington)
적지적작: Right Climate, Right Soil, And Right Crop - A Crop Modeling Approach
Crops, agriculture, climate change, phenology, historical data
Susanna Lim (University of Oregon)
Racing the Subempire: Race, Modernity, and South Korea in the Global Cold War
South Korea; global racial hierarchy; Global Cold War
Tuong Vu (University of Oregon)
Robust Republican Institutions in South Korea Viewed from South Vietnam
Republicanism, South Korea, South Vietnam
2:15-2:30 PM — Break
2:30-5:00 PM — Collaborative Planning Workshop: Mapping and Building the Future of Korean Studies in the Pacific Northwest
All participants and Juhn Ahn (University of Michigan).
2:30-3:30 — Part I: Mapping the Regional Landscape & Korean Studies Global E-School
3:30-3:45 — Break
3:45-4:45 — Part II: Strategic Planning and Future Initiatives
4:45-5:00 — Closing Reflections and Next Steps