[KS] Early Koreanists listserve

[Bale Martin T.]

Dear List,
Greetings.
I did a bit of research on behalf of the Early Korea Project at Harvard University (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ekp/ , http://www.facebook.com/Early.Korea.Project , http://twitter.com/EarlyKorea) in the United States and found that there are currently between 35-40 people worldwide who do research on Early Korea (c. Palaeolithic to the 10th century AD) as the major part of their scholarly work and who do much of such research in English, French, or some other European language. An additional characteristic of this group is that those who meet the criteria do research from western theoretical or methodological perspectives. This group includes archaeologists, early historians, art historians, and linguists.

In the summer I created a listserve for the group at Google Groups called 'Early Koreanists' so that such scholars could discuss their work, pose questions, and have a place to discuss issues that they have in common. A large number of the members are graduate students and recent PhDs. Senior scholars have also joined.

Of course, there are hundreds of scholars in Korea and Japan who do research on Early Korea. However, very few of them are oriented toward conducting research outside of their native languages and using western approaches to research.

Recently, in consultation with the Project Director of the Early Korea Project, Dr. Mark E. Byington, I decided to open the listserve membership further to Koreanists who may be interested to discuss the period between the beginning of the Palaeolithic and end of the 10th century AD in a scholarly way.

I would be happy to the core membership. If any of you would like to join the 'Early Koreanist' Google Group, please send me an email and I will add you. My name it M.T. Bale (kojengi70 at hotmail.com). Please keep in mind that the group is explicitly for the discussion of *Early Korea* from a scholarly perspective *only*. It may be easier for you to fully participate if you have a gmail account, although it is not necessary for most. 

Those of you who teach that seemingly ubiquitous course, 'Korean Civilisation 101' or the like, and who spend only the first five minutes of the first class meeting in September or January on Early Korean topics are especially encouraged to join.

Thank you.

Best regards,
M Bale