New Books Network Podcast

Korean Studies November 12, 2023

Constructing Student Mobility

How Universities Recruit Students and Shape Pathways between Berkeley and Seoul

Stephanie K. Kim

Hosted by Leslie Hickman

Constructing Student Mobility: How Universities Recruit Students and Shape Pathways between Berkeley and Seoul (MIT Press, 2023) challenges the popular image of the international student in the American imagination, an …

Chinese Studies October 20, 2023

Birth of the Geopolitical Age

Global Frontiers and the Making of Modern China

Shellen Xiao Wu

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

From the 1850s until the mid-twentieth century, a period marked by global conflicts and anxiety about dwindling resources and closing opportunities after decades of expansion, the frontier became a mirror …

Asian Review of Books October 12, 2023

Excavations

A Novel

Hannah Michell

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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Sae, former journalist turned a young mother of two in 1992 Seoul, is waiting for her husband, an engineer for a small construction company. He’s late. A neighbor rushes down …

Asian American Studies October 4, 2023

Warring Genealogies

Race, Kinship, and the Korean War

Joo Ok Kim

Hosted by Ann Choi

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“[W]hat is our relationship to the Korean War and to the affinities” of different institutions that produce knowledge about the Korean War? (130) In her book, Warring Genealogies: Race, Kinship …

Korean Studies September 27, 2023

Celluloid Democracy

Cinema and Politics in Cold War South Korea

Hieyoon Kim

Hosted by Anthony Kao

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Before South Korea became the democracy and media powerhouse that it is today, it underwent several decades of authoritarian rule during the Cold War from the late 1940s to late …

Women's History September 4, 2023

Among Women Across Worlds

North Korea in the Global Cold War

Suzy Kim

Hosted by Rebecca Turkington

In Among Women across Worlds: North Korea in the Global Cold War (Cornell University Press, 2023), Suzy Kim follows Korean women’s engagement in a broader international women’s movement from the …

Korean Studies August 28, 2023

K-pop Dance

Fandoming Yourself on Social Media

Chuyun Oh

Hosted by Leslie Hickman

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K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media (Routledge, 2022) is about K-pop dance and the evolution and presence of its dance fandom on social media. Based on five years of …

East Asian Studies August 17, 2023

Slavery in East Asia

Don J. Wyatt

Hosted by Dong Wang

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Today I talked to Don J. Wyatt about his book Slavery in East Asia (Cambridge UP, 2022). In premodern China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, just as in the far less culturally …

Korean Studies August 5, 2023

Flower of Capitalism

South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads

Olga Fedorenko

Hosted by Leslie Hickman

An ethnography of advertising in postmillennial South Korea, Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads (U Hawaii Press, 2022) details contests over advertising freedoms and obligations among …

East Asian Studies July 28, 2023

Territorializing Manchuria

The Transnational Frontier and Literatures of East Asia

Miya Qiong Xie

Hosted by Linshan Jiang

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Xiao Hong, Yom Sang-sop, Abe Kobo, and Zhong Lihe—these iconic literary figures from China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan all described Manchuria extensively in their literary works. Now China’s Northeast—but a …

Asian Review of Books July 27, 2023

Korea at War: Conflicts That Shaped the World

Michael J. Seth

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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The Korean War “ended” exactly fifty years ago at Panmunjom. On July 27, 1953, United States and United Nations commanders on one side, and the North Koreans and Chinese commanders …

Korean Studies July 23, 2023

The Other Great Game

The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia

Sheila Miyoshi Jager

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents dramatic new telling of the dawn of modern East Asia, placing Korea at the center of a transformed world order wrought by imperial greed and …

Asian Review of Books July 13, 2023

Korea

A New History of South and North

Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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As a member of the U.S. National Security Council, Victor Cha flew over the DMZ separating North and South Korea in 2007, following negotiations with Pyongyang. He writes in Korea …

Korean Studies July 5, 2023

Surviving Squid Game

A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix, and Global Streaming Wars

Suk-Young Kim

Hosted by Leslie Hickman

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In Surviving Squid Game: A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix, and Global Streaming Wars (Applause Books, 2023), scholar Suk-Young Kim reflects on Netflix's most-viewed series and one of the most influential Korean …

Asian American Studies June 3, 2023

The Allure of Empire

American Encounters with Asians in the Age of Transpacific Expansion and Exclusion

Chris Suh

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi

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The Allure of Empire: American Encounters with Asians in the Age of Transpacific Expansion and Exclusion (Oxford UP, 2023) traces how American ideas about race in the Pacific were made …

Asian Review of Books June 1, 2023

Black Girl from Pyongyang

In Search of My Identity

Monica Macias

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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Monica Macias, the youngest daughter of Equatorial Guinea’s first president at just seven years old, lands in Pyongyang, North Korea in 1979. Her father had sent her to the country …

Nordic Asia Podcast May 26, 2023

Sweden-North Korea Relations

Neither Friend nor Enemy

Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein

Hosted by Myunghee Lee

Welcome to the fourth NIAS-Korea episode. We invite Dr. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein to discuss Sweden-North Korea relations. It may seem odd that among the Western countries, Sweden is the one …

Japanese Studies March 19, 2023

The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan’s Cultural Memory

Ancient Myths and Modern Empire

David Weiss

Hosted by Raditya Nuradi

The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan’s Cultural Memory: Ancient Myths and Modern Empire (Bloomsbury, 2022) traces reiterations and reinterpretations of the deity Susanoo regarding his relationship with Korea vis-a-vis Japan. Through …

Political Science March 3, 2023

Narratives of Civic Duty

How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia

Aram Hur

Hosted by Anthony Kao

Especially within the last decade, the word "nationalism" often evokes images of bombastic demagogues and democratic backsliding. But does nationalism always hurt liberal democracy? In Narratives of Civic Duty: How National …

Women's History February 17, 2023

The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory

Kevin Blackburn

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

"Comfort women" or ianfu is the euphemism used by the Japanese military for the women they compelled to do sex work in the Second World War. The role of comfort …