Book Talk Series on Chosŏn Korea, Epistolary Revolution in Chosŏn Korea

Founded in the year 2016, the GW Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) is a university wide Institute housed in the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. The establishment of the GWIKS in 2016 was made possible by a generous grant from the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS). The mission of GWIKS is to consolidate, strengthen, and grow the existing Korean studies program at GW, and more generally in the greater D.C. area and beyond. The Institute enables and enhances productive research and education relationships within GW, and among the many experts throughout the region and the world.

GW Institute for Korean Studies

Book Talk Series on Chosŏn Korea: Epistolary Revolution in Chosŏn Korea

While discussing his book The Power of the Brush: Epistolary Practices in Chosŏn Korea (University Washington Press, 2020), Hwisang Cho will give a survey of the “epistolary revolution” that shaped Korean society from the sixteenth century to the end of the Chosŏn dynasty and beyond. By examining the physical peculiarities of new letter forms, the cooptation of letters for other purposes after their communicative functions, and the rise of diverse political epistolary genres, this talk will illuminate how innovation in epistolary practices allowed diverse writers to move beyond the limits imposed by the existing scholarly culture, gender norms, and political systems. While emphasizing how the epistolary revolution posed new challenges to traditional values and already-established institutions, it will demonstrate that new modes of reading and writing developed in the seemingly mundane and trivial practice of letter writing triggered a flourishing of Neo-Confucian moral thought, the formation of new kinds of cultural power, and the rise of elite public politics.Registered guests will receive the following confirmation email with details for joining the virtual event.This event will be live streamed via Zoom. This event will not be recorded.Win a book giveaway! We will send one copy of <a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295747811/the-power-of-the-brush/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">the book </a>to one of the guests who submit their questions during the event!

<h3>Speaker</h3>Hwisang Cho (left) is an assistant professor in Korean studies at Emory University. He received his Ph.D. in premodern Korean history from Columbia. Cho’s areas of specialization include the cultural, intellectual, and literary history of Korea, comparative textual media, and global written culture.

<h3>Moderator</h3>Jisoo M. Kim (right) is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures. She currently serves as the Director of the Institute for Korean Studies and the Co-Director of the East Asia National Resource Center at GW. She also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Korean Studies. She is a specialist in gender, law, and emotions in Korean history. Her broader research interests include gender and sexuality, crime and justice, forensic medicine, literary representations of the law, history of emotions, vernacular, and gender writing. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2015), which was awarded the 2017 James Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is also the co-editor of The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation by JaHyun Kim Haboush (Columbia University Press, 2016). She is currently working on a book project tentatively entitled Sexual Desire, Crime, and Gendered Subjects: A History of Adultery Law in Korea. She received her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University.

Book Talk Series on Chosŏn Korea, Epistolary Revolution in Chosŏn Korea

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Book Talk Series on Chosŏn Korea, Epistolary Revolution in Chosŏn Korea

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