Forum

Adapted: Korean Adoptees Living in Korea and Beyond

Kaomi Goetz

Professionalism and Precarity: Education for the Korean Culture Industries

Paul Swann

Street Kids: Representing Revolt across North and South Korea (1980-1994)

Douglas Gabriel

Eroding Patronage: Effects of Political Reform on Intra-party
Management and Inter-party Organization in South Korea and Taiwan

Jacob Reidhead

Rocking the Difference: Intercultural Acts of Music Making in South Korea
Kendra Van Nyhuis

Cultural Policies and Regime Longevity in 20th Century Korea
Meredith Shaw

This project collects and examines adoptee oral histories, consciously privileging the voices of adoptees in an adoption discourse that tends to silence them. Oral history provides adoptees with a medium to reject narrow, stereotypical renditions of adoption stories and construct their own complex narratives of real, lived experiences. In these oral histories, adoptees relate their personal experiences with the twists and turns of the birth family search process, their motivations for searching, and (for those who have reunited) the many ups and downs of birth family reunion.

The inquiry project seeks to understand English language education in Korea and its impact on effective communication to build globally competent citizens. Students become proficient in listening & reading but struggle greatly to communicate ideas in speaking & writing as they attempt to use language that goes beyond rote memorization and recall.