[KS] 93rd Yonsei-KF Korean Studies Forum - October 13

[Yonsei-KF Korean Studies Forum]

The Korean Studies Program at the Yonsei Graduate School of
International Studies and the Korea Foundation would like to invite
you to attend the 93rd Yonsei-KF Korean Studies Forum.

Refreshments will be provided. Please refer to the details below. Ms.
Vogel's bio and abstract are at the end of this email.

Title: "Cosmopolitan Conversions: Peruvian Labor, Religion, and
Belonging in South Korea"
Speaker: Erica Vogel, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology,
University of California, Irvine
Date: Tuesday, October 13
Time: 6 pm
Location: Room 702, New Millennium Hall, Yonsei University campus

No RSVP required. For directions, please refer to
http://gsis.yonsei.ac.kr/html/content.asp?code=001007.

Questions? Contact kimhall at yonsei.ac.kr or at 010-4800-4895

Forum Schedule for the Fall Semester:
94th - October 29, Thursday
"Deregulation of Television Broadcasting in South Korea", Dr. Ki-Sung
Kwak, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, School of Languages and
Cultures, University of Sydney, Australia

95th - November 10, Tuesday
"Seeking Restoration of Honor: Women's Petitioning on Behalf of Dead
Husbands in Late Choson Korea", Dr. Jisoo Kim, Columbia University,
Visiting Scholar at the International Center for Korean Studies, Seoul
National University


We hope to see you on the 13th of October.

Sincerely,

Hyuk-Rae Kim
hyukrae at yonsei.ac.kr
Professor of Korean Studies
Graduate School of International Studies
Yonsei University

ABSTRACT:

This paper explores the connection between transnational labor
migration and religious participation through the experiences of
Peruvians who have converted to Protestant Christianity while working
in South Korea. While nearly all of the estimated 850 to 2,500
undocumented Peruvian migrant workers in Korea today originally sought
factory jobs, many have begun careers as evangelists, missionaries and
even pastors in Protestant Korean churches. Before migration, these
Protestant leaders were non-practicing Catholics with limited formal
educations. Now, rather than focusing on making money, many of these
converts dedicate their time to studying theology, proselytizing, and
planning missions to Peru. I will explore how newly converted
Peruvians negotiate their identities as both undocumented laborers and
cosmopolitan travelers through their participation in transnational
Korean churches. I argue that in reanalyzing their past and future
migration choices through a religious framework (rather than
economic), Peruvians highlight and assert their roles in cosmopolitan
networks.

BIO:

Erica Vogel is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of
California, Irvine. Her multi-sited dissertation research takes place
in both South Korea and Peru, and focuses on ways undocumented
Peruvian migrant workers come to participate in and create religious
networks between Asia and Latin America. Her interest in the subject
of Latino migrants in Korea began when she worked as a teacher in
Korea from 2000 to 2004 and witnessed the cancellation of the E-9 visa
for unskilled laborers. She found that despite their exclusion from
subsequent visa programs, many Peruvians have found alternative ways
of asserting their belonging through their participation in Korean
churches. For this project she conducted research in Peru (Jul-Sep
2007 and Oct-Dec 2008) and South Korea (Jul-Sep 2006, Jun-Jul 2007,
and Jan 2009-present). She has received grants from the Pacific Rim
Research Foundation, the Korea Foundation, the Center for Asian
Studies, the Center for Law and Society and the Department of
Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. She received a
BA in Creative Writing and Social History from Carnegie Mellon
University.