RAS-KB Lecture on "Categorizing Migrants" in Korea tomorrow night

Tomorrow night (October 23), Daisy Y. Kim will be giving a lecture for the Royal Asiatic Society titled "Categorizing Migrants: the Making of Multicultural Society in South Korea."

Until very recently, nation-building in South Korea, whose existence assumes the permanent division of the peninsula following the Korean War, had been based on ethnic homogeneity. Migration trends in the past few decades have challenged the traditional roots of the Korean nation-state. In particular, the prevalence of international marriages between South Koreans and foreign spouses—multicultural families—has debunked the "myth" of ethnic homogeneity. In response to these trends, both state and society have employed the language of multiculturalism to incorporate certain groups of migrants (migrant spouses), while excluding others (migrant workers) through deliberately constructed images and portrayals of migrants in the mass media as well as through politico-ideological apparatuses. By seeing how public and private actors and institutions incorporate migrants in broader Korean society, this lecture explores ways of categorizing and labeling migrants and the consequences in the making of a multicultural society.

I'll definitely be checking it out. More details about the lecture can be found here. The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Residents' Lounge on the 2nd floor of the Somerset Palace in Seoul, which is north of Jogyesa Temple, and is 7,000 won for non-members and free for members.