[KS] news re: the korean program at uc berkeley

[Henry Em]

Dear Christine,

Both as an expression of thanks and as a self-critique (not having done
anything about the treatment of language instructors) I want to say how much
I admire the way you and your colleagues are approaching this issue
-- raising *under-discussed issues of inequity* and building an
impressive student-based coalition.   It's smart, principled, and
inspiring.

Henry Em
Associate Professor
Department of Korean History
Korea University
Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu,
Seoul 136-701, Korea


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Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 10:40:19 -0700
From: Christine Hong <cjhong at berkeley.edu>
Subject: [KS] news re: the korean program at uc berkeley
To: <
Message-ID: <BAY111-W35C162D79F4F23E353EEDB8CC0 at phx.gbl>
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hello everyone,
in the wake of the surprisingly dismissive response (at least from some)
generated by my alert three weeks ago concerning the plight of the korean
program at berkeley, i debated whether or not to follow up with a response,
if only to clarify some larger misconceptions out there which conflated
berkeley's department of east asian languages and cultures and its center
for korean studies.
i'm writing, now, less to attempt to correct circulating misconceptions than
to present you with heartening news concerning a movement that has blossomed
here on the berkeley campus--a movement spearheaded by the ad hoc,
student-based committee to save east asian languages and korean studies at
berkeley.  in the past two weeks, students have mobilized en masse, in no
small part because their interests, like those of the language lecturers,
have been left out of the top-down administrative discussions that dealt
disproportionately high budgetary damage to berkeley's ealc department.
although our advocacy was initially motivated by our desire to ensure the
full protection of the existing korean program within ealc and to raise
awareness of the lack of institutional will that has characterized the
development of the korean program at berkeley, we have come to realize that
the dire fate of korean as well as other many other asian languages at cal
(including chinese, japanese, thai, tagalog, hindi, and tamil) enables us to
raise a spectrum of under-discussed issues of inequity particular to this
campus and arguably elsewhere.  for one, we--and many institutional actors
behind the scenes--have been advocating for a robust asian languages
curriculum that speaks to
berkeley's 45% ethnic asian student demographics and to its identity as
a california public institution and a pacific rim university.  without
question, central to the advocacy and recent actions (including a press
conference and a student rally) of our student-based coalition has been our
aim to bring into view the ghettoization of korean within berkeley's ealc
department and to assert the non-negotiability of a strong korean program
within a vibrant east asian languages curriculum.
we've also had an opportunity to highlight the retrograde language
lecturer/literature professor labor hierarchy within this and other language
and culture departments that, by default, prioritizes literature professors
over language lecturers.  this, of course, is the flipside of the
non-heritage question discussed in recent postings--i.e., the necessity of
non-heritage interest in korean studies to the viability of the field
otherwise prone to what one writer deemed its balkanization.  when budget
crises loom, it bears noting, the institutional casualties quite frankly are
less those (often) non-heritage interpreters of korean culture than the
language lecturers who, by virtue of their non-permanent funding status, can
claim little job security--this despite the fact that language instruction
is typically the primary service offered by such departments to larger
campus communities.  yet, just as few would dare suggest that literature
professors are easily
replaceable, so too do we argue that berkeley's asian language
lecturers are not easily replaceable.  i want to add, here, that the korean
language program at berkeley is absolutely top-notch, and the korean
language lecturers are truly amongst the very best that i've encountered in
my own language learning experience--at ucla, sogang university, and
elsewhere.  i cannot speak highly enough of the berkeley sunsaengnims and
the student testimonials that our student coalition gathered speak volumes
about how deeply berkeley students value their chinese and japanese
teachers, as well.
for both updated information (including calls to action, downloadable files,
press coverage, etc.) on our movement and to add your voice to ours, please
go to our blogspot: savekoreanstudies.blogspot.com.  to sign an online
petition regarding the ealc budget cuts, please go to petition.berkeley.edu.
we greatly appreciate your support and your goodwill.
many thanks,
christine

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