<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Frank,<div><br></div><div>Thank you for showing such deep interest in our conference. If possible, I would like to refrain from defining the key terms such as secular so that the conference participants can have more freedom to develop their own views on this topic. </div><div><br></div><div>Personally, I am more interested in the assumptions (or, more specifically, the historical nature of the assumptions) that undergird the notion of the secular and also transgression. Just as the notion of "myth" changed on account of German Higher Criticism - I am thinking specifically of Talal Asad's more recent work and his observation that, as part of this secularization process, myth withdrew from the materiality of the senses into the spirit - I am curious to know if we can see the same or at least similar assumptions at work in transgression as well. These assumptions (about agency etc.), I think, are critical to understanding the secular (which may not be something we should refer to in the singular).</div><div><br></div><div>I hope this is enough (for now) to sustain your interest and support in our conference.</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you again for the thoughtful comments and questions. Please let me know, if you have any further questions or suggestions.</div><div><br></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div>Juhn</div><div><br></div><div><div apple-content-edited="true">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div>------------------<br>Juhn Ahn<br>Assistant Professor of Buddhist and Korean Studies<br>University of Michigan<br></div>202 S. Thayer St. Suite 5145<br>Ann Arbor, MI 48104<br><a href="mailto:jahn@umich.edu">jahn@umich.edu</a><br><br><br></span>
</div>
<br><div><div>On Apr 21, 2012, at 12:00 PM, <a href="mailto:koreanstudies-request@koreaweb.ws">koreanstudies-request@koreaweb.ws</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Send Koreanstudies mailing list submissions to<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a><br><br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>http://koreaweb.ws/mailman/listinfo/koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws<br>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>koreanstudies-request@koreaweb.ws<br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>koreanstudies-owner@koreaweb.ws<br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of Koreanstudies digest..."<br><<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. Upcoming Symposium at SUNY Binghamton (Center for Korean<br> Studies) (Chungse Jung)<br> 2. Transgression & secular values in Korea? (Frank Hoffmann)<br><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">"Chungse Jung" <chungsejung@hotmail.com><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>[KS] Upcoming Symposium at SUNY Binghamton (Center for Korean Studies)</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">April 20, 2012 8:27:37 PM EDT<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br></span></div><br><br>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Upcoming Symposium at SUNY
Binghamton</font></font></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">After</font></span><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'">
Neoliberalism</span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">: Democracy and Class in South
Korea</font></span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Date: May 11-12,
2012</font></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Organized by the </font></span><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'">Center for
Korean Studies </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ">and sponsored by</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"> the Academy for
Korean Studies </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ">Grant for </span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">the Overseas Leading University Program for Korean
Studies</font></span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Keynote
Speaker</font></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Hagen Koo (Univ. of Hawaii): “</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Class Restructuration after East Asia’s ‘Growth with
Equity’”</font></span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Roundtable</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">: “Reassessing Democracy and
Development in East Asia”</font></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Chair and </font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Discussant: Fredric Deyo
(SUNY-Binghamton)</font></span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Kyung-Sup Chang (Seoul National
Univ.): “Illiberal Bourgeoisie and Democracy under Late Development: The Korean
or Asian Dilemma”</font></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">SangJun Kim (Kyung Hee Univ.):
“Overlapping Modernities and East Asia”</font></font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Panel 1:</font></span><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
</span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">“Democracy and Politics in Neoliberal
Korea”</font></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Chair and discussant: Yoonkyung Lee
(SUNY-Binghamton)</font></font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Rakkoo Chung (SUNY-Albany): “</font></span><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: tahoma">The
Third Wave of Democratization: Consolidation of Nominal
Democracy?</span></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">”</font></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Oh-Jung Kwon (Rutgers Univ.):
“Hegemonic Discourse and Institutional Ethos in the Politics of the Korean
Economic Crisis”</font></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Woo Chang Kang (NYU): “Electoral
Cycles in Patterns of Tactical Allocation: The Analysis on the Intergovernmental
Transfers in South Korea 1989-2008”</font></font></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Panel 2: </font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">“Class and Social Structure in Neoliberal
Korea”</font></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Chair and discussant:</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> SangJun Kim (Kyung Hee
Univ.)</font><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"></i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Myung Ji Yang (Brown Univ.): “The
Making of the Urban Middle Class in South Korea”</font></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><font face="Cambria"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">SeongSoo Choi (Yale Univ.): “</font></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Occupational Mobility in the Economic Crisis: The
Example of South Korea”</font></span></font><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: text1"></span></i></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Bongoh Kye (Cornell Univ.):
“Population aging and socioeconomic development in South Korea”</font></font><br style="mso-special-character: line-break"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break"></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; word-break: break-all; "><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">For more information, email Organizer
Yoonkyung Lee (</font></font></span><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><a href="mailto:yklee@binghamton.edu"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font color="#0000ff" face="Cambria">yklee@binghamton.edu</font></span></a><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria">) or Research Coordinator Chungse Jung (</font></span><a href="mailto:chungse.jung@binghamton.edu"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font color="#0000ff" face="Cambria">chungse.jung@binghamton.edu</font></span></a></font><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">).</font></font></span></div><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; WORD-BREAK: break-all" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Malgun Gothic'"><font face="Cambria"><font style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></font></font></span> </p></div></div></div>
<br><br><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann@koreaweb.ws><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>[KS] Transgression & secular values in Korea?</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">April 21, 2012 6:12:37 AM EDT<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(127, 127, 127, 1.0);"><b>Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br></span></div><br><br>Dear Professors Juhn Ahn and Nojin Kwak:<br><br>Since this is not directly about the conference <br>itself (your 'call for papers' quoted below) I <br>changed the subject line.<br><br>I am fascinated (but also partially confused) by <br>the terms you use. All this is also very <br>important for contemporary art. So I wonder if <br>you, or others on the list, could possibly <br>explain and discuss more about these terms and <br>how you define them?<br><br>Let me start with this to explain why this is so <br>fascinating, but also why some of your <br>terminology is (until now) confusing: Wu Hung, <br>now at U of Chicago and one of the important <br>scholars in the area of theorizing contemporary <br>East Asian art, writes the following under the <br>sub-header "Subverting Painting":<br>----<br>A chief strategy employed by many Chinese artists <br>to make their works explicitly "contemporary" is <br>to subvert established artistic genres and <br>mediums. Originating in Western avant-garde art, <br>this strategy of transgression is now prevalent <br>on a global scale (...). "Experimental artists" <br>(...) from China (...) actively contribute to <br>this burgeoning international art. At the same <br>time, these artists attain their local identity <br>and respond to China's reality in their works--it <br>is in this sense that they can still be <br>considered "Chinese artists." [Wu Hung, 2008]<br>----<br><br>You all have seen those contemporary Chinese art <br>works, in/from the 1990 and early 2000s mostly, <br>may it be a Mao Zedong in depicted like Marilyn <br>Monroe looking like a work of American Pop Art, <br>or Song Dong's traditional classroom installation <br>showing pupils seemingly reading traditional <br>scriptures and books that, however, consist of <br>blank pages. You are also aware of, that what Wu <br>Hung calls "strategy of transgression," has also <br>inspired many critical voices stating that this <br>very strategy has become a market gimmick for <br>Chinese artist, helping them to sell their works <br>overseas, exactly because this "attain[ed] (...) <br>local identity" is exactly what the West is <br>expecting: large-scale Pop Art alike artwork with <br>often easy to understand, clear political or <br>social political messages, works that fit <br>perfectly into every U.S. corporate office <br>lobby--art that has a highly entertaining value, <br>is playful yet critical, local and global at the <br>same time, thus perfectly post-modern in its <br>concept.<br><br>This same strategy is also widely be found in <br>music videos. See for example the music videos <br>from the successful Russian band 'Leningrad.' The <br>same "strategy of transgression" can bee found <br>here, also a perfect example of a post-modern <br>group, a post-modern Gesamtkunstwerk using all <br>the same strategies of quoting past culture and <br>politics (here, as in China, often socialist <br>phrases or typical situations, jokes, or genres <br>[e.g. reworking Vladimir Vysotsky song texts or <br>specific formats of performances, etc.]), binding <br>them into a transgressive strategy that thereby <br>attains local identity while being highly <br>entertaining and (often) having international <br>appeal.<br>Two recent examples:<br>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7NMsywVQhY<br>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPCyR-tR4_M<br><br>Now, what I do not yet understand from your <br>conference (call for papers) announcement is how <br>you are using--in connection with "transgression" <br>and "contemporary Korea"-- all these terms: <br>"secular, "secularization," "demystification," <br>and the phrase "transgression as a secular <br>value." I do understand that "transgression" <br>seems originally, etymologically speaking, a word <br>related to theology. But it seems hardly being <br>used this way today when talking about <br>contemporary society. I therefore also have <br>problems understanding what you refer to with <br>"secular" and "secularization" when talking about <br>contemporary Korea--or "demystification." To me <br>these terms all make some sense when talking <br>about e.g. the 14th or 15th centuries in Europe <br>(or East Asia?), but I am at a loss in this case. <br>Please do not necessarily understand this as <br>criticism, I might just not understand how you <br>use these terms and would like to hear more.<br><br>And a last note: my above examples from art and <br>video art as regards to the use of transgression <br>were not coincidentally from China and Russia, <br>and not from Korea. As most of us here on the <br>list I know much better about Korean culture than <br>Chinese or Russian, but I see relatively little <br>of applied "strategies of transgression" in <br>Korean culture, **if** compared to what's going <br>on internationally. A simple indicator: graffiti. <br>Graffiti, supposed to be sub-culture, has made <br>its way's to the modern art museums since a few <br>years. Some time ago I stumbled over a small book <br>on graffiti in East Asia, and the author who had <br>interviewed some of the Korean graffiti sprayers <br>pointed out that Korea was the only country he <br>had visited where graffiti art was not <br>provocative but rather decorative and trying to <br>please the passers by, and that was also what an <br>interviewed graffiti sprayer told him they wanted <br>to do. To me it would then possibly be a reverse <br>question--why are there so few Korean artists, <br>musicians, writers using strategies of <br>transgression in a society that has seen so such <br>huge social political and economic changes in <br>such a short period of time?<br><br>This is a big topic, and a very interesting one! Thanks.<br><br><br><br>Best,<br>Frank<br><br><br><br><br><blockquote type="cite">Perspectives on Contemporary Korea Conference Series 2<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Call for Papers<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Transgression as a Secular Value: Korea in Transition?<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oct. 26, 2012<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Sponsored by the Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Crossing over limits, infringing the law, and <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">ignoring convention are often cited as examples <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">of transgression. In traditional Korea where <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">religion played a vital role in demarcating <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">social and personal boundaries transgressive <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">acts (e.g. engaging in illicit sexual behavior, <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">challenging gender norms, defying social <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">hierarchies, defacing icons and symbols, using <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">excessive violence etc.) often served as a <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">critical means for testing these boundaries of <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">social acceptability, identity, power, and <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">truth. But what happens to these transgressive <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">acts after the ³demystification² and <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">³secularization² of society? Do they become <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">obsolete? If they still test boundaries, then <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">whose boundaries do these transgressive acts <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">test?<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Taking cue from the proliferation of successful <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Korean films that take transgression as their <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">central theme, the international conference, <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">³Transgression as a secular value: Korea in <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">transition?,² hopes to bring together scholars <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">from both the social sciences and humanities to <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">address these and other similar questions about <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">the significance of transgression in modern and <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">pre-modern Korea. The chief objective of this <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">conference is to investigate the possibility of <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">reading the surging interest in transgression, <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">which has arguably attained an air of sacredness <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">in mainstream culture, as an instance of a <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">search for a ³secular² value. The conference <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">will therefore encourage its participants to <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">ask, when and how did transgression become so <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">desirable and consumer friendly (and not just <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">possible) in Korea? And, should we associate <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">this attitude towards transgression with ³the <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">secular²?<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The conference will explore the notion of <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">transgression as a ³secular² value from a <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">comparative perspective‹both temporal and <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">spatial‹to underscore and contribute to the <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">growing debate on the heterogeneous nature of <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">secularity as a way of life. The organizers of <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">the conference therefore welcome papers that <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">critically examine transgression in either <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">modern or pre-modern Korea and also papers that <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">discuss transgression in a broader Asian or <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">global context.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">words to conference organizers at <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">transgression@umich.edu by June 4, 2012. Please <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">include name, institutional affiliation, and <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">contact information.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Selected participants will be asked to submit <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">completed papers by September 28, 2012.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The Nam Center for Korean Studies will award <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">travel grants to accepted participants to defray <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">costs of attendance. Lodging and onsite meals <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">will be provided by the conference. Conference <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">organizers plan to have selected papers <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">published in an edited volume.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Organizers: Juhn Ahn (Department of Asian <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan, <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">jahn@umich.edu) and Nojin Kwak (Nam <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Center/Department of Communication Studies, <br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">University of Michigan, kwak@umich.edu)<br></blockquote><br><br>--<br>--------------------------------------<br>Frank Hoffmann<br>http://koreaweb.ws<br><br><br><br><br></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>