Prestigious international subsidy for Korean language and culture
The department of Korean Language and Culture has been awarded a prestigious Korean subsidy of 700,000 euro for the project on History as Social Practice: Unconventional Historiographies of Korea. The subsidy will be spread over a period of five years.
The subsidy is part of the Strategic Initiative for Korean Studies The Academy of Korean Studies, a research institute supported by the Korean government, which also has a graduate school charged with promoting the study of Korean abroad. The Academy of Korean Studies supports such initiatives as the biennial conference of the Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE), which is due to take place in June 2009 in Leiden. The agreement was signed on Friday 5 December by the Rector Magnificus and Professor Kim Jung-Bae, President of the Academy of Korean Studies, who made a visit to the Netherlands specially for this purpose.
Image: Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board, Paul van der Heijden, and Kim Jung-Bae, President of the Academy of Korean Studies, signing the agreement.
Competition
'The Leiden project was competing with top universities from Asia, Europe and the US in the attempt to win this prestigious award,' explained Professor Boudewijn Walraven of the Department of Korean Language and Culture. 'Our project focuses on the complex web of interactions between academic high history and popular low history. Attention is paid to those involved in both levels and the products typical of both levels. We intend to analyse a broad range of historic representations in different media in order to shed light on the social relevance and the social production of history.'
Internet and film
We not only look at the more traditional forms of expression such as literature and visual arts, but expressly also at unorthodox historical sources such as internet, analogue and digital media and films.' As regards the film medium, the department also received a major subsidy earlier this year from the Korean Film Council with which the department is building up the best equipped library outside Korean in the area of Korean film.
Image: Painting by Korean artist Shin Je-Nam. The work shows all kinds of icons from modern Korean history. It forms a good illustration of how the image of history is formed by means of diverse other media than the formal professional recording of history.
Thorough screening
The award of the subsidy by the Academy of Korean Studies was only made after a strict selection procedure. Walraven: ‘The department underwent a thorough screening of the three core areas: research, teaching and international co-operation. A South Korean Scientific Commission also spoke with the Rector Magnificus, the three academics who had applied for the subsidy (Professor Boudewijn Walraven, Dr Koen De Ceuster and Dr Remco Breuker, Director and Deputy Directors of the project respectively), Myoungsuk Chi, language teacher, and with the Director of the new Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Professor Ivo Smits.’ A select number of universities with top-level institutes have previously received subsidies: Harvard University, the University of California in Berkeley, UCLA in Los Angeles and the University of London (SOAS). The department is setting up a range of international partnerships in the context of this project.
Five monographs
A postdoc and two PhD researchers will be appointed within the project. They will produce five monographs which will form the basis for a lecture series. There are also plans to organise a conference, workshops and an international lecture series. The award also means that Leiden will become the basis for an innovative peer-reviewed e-journal: Korean Histories.
Walraven: ‘This subsidy will clearly strengthen the position of Korean research and teaching, internationally as well as nationally. We are delighted with the award.'
From l to r: Professor Lee Wan-Bom, Head of the International Support Division of the Academy of Korean Studies, Dr Koen de Ceuster, TLanguages and Cultures of Japan and Korea, Professor Paul van der Heijden, Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board, Professor Kim Jung-Bae, President of the Academy of Korean Studies and Professor Boudewijn Walraven, Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea.