[KS] Fwd: [CALL FOR PAPERS] Religion, Politics and Happiness in Korea Conference

Mon Aug 27 16:58:17 EDT 2018

Could you please send this announcement that the deadline for submissions
has been extended? The link to submit is at the bottom of the message.

Thank you!

*----------*
*Do-Hee Morsman | 정도희*
Center Administrator  | 실장

Suite 400 Weiser Hall | 500 Church St. | Ann Arbor,  MI  48109-1042
office: 734.764.1825 direct: 734.936.6791 fax: 734.936.2948 web:
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OCT 25-27, 2018. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI. Submissions due
2018/27/08
<https://umich.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f882dcf6ab063572b2dcdc517&id=7a15b707d0&e=a554a4d71d>
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO:
SUNDAY *SEPTEMBER 9*, 2018 | 11:59 EST
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*CALL FOR PAPERS*
*Religion, Politics and Happiness in Korea Conference
<https://umich.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f882dcf6ab063572b2dcdc517&id=bba0e14f23&e=a554a4d71d>*
*Perspectives on Contemporary Korea Conference Series VIII*

October 25-27, 2018
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
The preamble to Korea’s founding constitution of 1948 made the solemn
promise to provide freedom, happiness, and the steady improvement of the
quality of life for all citizens. This promise proved to be difficult to
keep under decades of authoritarian rule and rapid industrialization. As
part of Korea’s effort to successfully transition to democracy, the revised
constitution of 1987 tried to grant fresh life and legal weight to this
promise in its new tenth article, which underscored human worth and dignity
and defined the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental and inviolable human
right.
But this renewed commitment to happiness has yet to pay dividends. Korea
currently has the highest suicide rate among OECD member countries and,
contrary to the global trend, this rate has not shown significant signs of
decline. Korea has also consistently received relatively low rankings in
the Better Life Index published by the OECD since 2011 and the World
Happiness Report published by the United Nations Sustainable Solutions
Network since 2012. Both studies rely in part on information gathered in
the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder to measure subjective
wellbeing. According to this poll, Koreans themselves give the quality of
their lives a rather low evaluation that places Korea just above the world
average.
Under these conditions, new happiness-related words such as welbiing
(“wellbeing”), hilling (“healing”), yollo (“you only live once”), and
worabel (“work-life balance”) have come to function as keywords of Korean
society. According to Trend Korea 2018 published by the Consumer Trend
Analysis Center of the Research Institute of Human Ecology at Seoul
National University, the “worabel generation” will exert the greatest
influence on Korean society and economy in 2018. Not coincidentally,
predictions like these are being made as scholars argue for the importance
of the humanities in addressing the happiness crisis and the government and
policy makers continue to make various efforts to transform Korea into a
robust welfare state. Some concrete examples of these efforts include the
“humanities crisis” declaration of 2006 and the creation of Humanities
Korea (HK) in 2007, the launch of Hannara Party’s “Common People’s
Happiness Promotion Headquarters” (Sŏmin haengbok ch’ujin ponbu) in 2009,
the beginning of the Korean-style welfare model debate in 2013, the
establishment of the “Seoul-style happiness index” in 2015, and the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport’s ongoing Happiness Village
projects.
Should the difficult task of defining and ensuring happiness be entrusted
to the state and the law? Or would it make more sense to entrust this task
to religious institutions, practices, and traditions that have continued to
function as the source of enduring values? Can religion offer sustainable
solutions to the happiness crisis in Korea as it claims to be able to do,
or is it a part of the problem? The conference welcomes papers from any
discipline that examine how religion may have shaped the discourse on
happiness in Korea and how efforts to thwart the crisis of happiness may
have shaped and redefined religion in Korea and can address some of the
driving questions above and more specific phenomenon listed below (but not
limited to these).

   - Are the various debates about happiness related to the transformation
   of the religious landscape in Korea?
   - Why are “secular” studies such as the Better Life Index and the World
   Happiness Report cited more frequently in Korea than other related studies
   such as Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index and the World Values Survey
   (started in 1981), which played an important role in first promoting the
   investigation of the relationship between changing values, religion,
   politics, and the quality of life?
   - What can we expect from the rise of the so-called worabel generation,
   especially with regards to the fate of religion, politics, and happiness in
   Korea?
   - Is happiness universal and rooted in Enlightenment principles such as
   individualism, freedom, and progress, or is happiness in Korea inflected
   heavily by the nation’s unique culture, religions, and history?

This conference, Religion, Politics and Happiness in Korea, aims to bring
scholars from various fields and disciplines together to explore these and
other questions. This is the eighth annual conference on contemporary Korea
sponsored by the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the University of
Michigan. Previous conferences in the series have examined the phenomenon
of Hallyu in the age of social media, transgressive practices in Korean
society, the politics of sports, cultural products of the Yushin era, new
communication technologies, economic and demographic changes in families,
and large social changes in present-day Korea.
Travel grants to defray the costs of attendance may be available to
accepted participants, one per paper by application.

*ORGANIZERS*

   - Juhn Ahn (Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of
   Michigan)
   - Nojin Kwak (Department of Communication Studies, University of
   Michigan)

*GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION*

*Submission and Deadline:* Submissions should be submitted our online
conference management system
<https://umich.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f882dcf6ab063572b2dcdc517&id=d4cdffdb09&e=a554a4d71d>
by* Sunday, September 9 2018 *11:59 EST.
*Short Abstract:* A short abstract (no more than 200 words) should be
included. Please copy and paste the abstract into the <Abstract> field of
the application form.
*Extended Abstract:* An extended abstract in 2-3 pages (single-spaced,
Times New Roman 12-point font, 1-inch margins) should be substantial enough
to present research questions clearly, explain their significance, and
outline data and methods to be used, in addition to providing a brief
literature review. If needed, tables and/or figures can be included (they
will not be counted toward the page limit). References do not count in the
2-3 page limit. Please upload the extended abstract into the
<Paper Uploads> section of the application form.
 *Final Papers:* For accepted abstracts only, complete papers will be due
to organizers by Sunday, October 14, 2018 11:59 EST. Instructions will be
sent to accepted participants for file upload.

*Questions may be directed to ReligionPoliticsHappiness-Korea at umich.edu
<ReligionPoliticsHappiness-Korea at umich.edu>. Note that submissions will not
be accepted at this address.*
Click Here to Submit by SEPT 9, 2018
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