The Making of Korean Studies in the United States

In December of 2020, Friends of Korea joined with the Korea Economic Institute, the University of Washington Center for Korean Studies, Indiana University Institute for Korean Studies to sponsor  for a two-part webinar series examining the impact of Peace Corps service on the lives of volunteers, as well as the impact of these experiences on the development of Korean studies in this country. ​

From 1966 through 1981, the Peace Corps sent more than two thousand volunteers to South Korea, to teach English and provide health care. In the recently published ​Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies in the United States (University of Washington Press), returned Peace Corps volunteers and their colleagues shared what it was like to live and work in South Korea during that time.

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Remembering Peace Corps – Korea
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In this panel discussion, Peace Corp Korea volunteers will share their experience with the pro-democracy movement in Gwangju, authoritarianism, and the country’s evolution after the Korean War. The panelists will also talk about what it was like to deal with the Peace Corps as an institution, study a new language, come to understand a people, and make lifelong friends.

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The Peace Corps and the Making of Korean Studies

In the 1970s to 1980s, a small yet significant number of the Peace Corps Korea volunteers returned to the United States and entered academia, forming the core of a second wave of Korean studies scholars. How did their experiences in an impoverished nation still recovering from war influence their intellectual orientation and choice of study—and Korean studies itself?

Several of the contributors to the Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies in the United States will share more about their experiences that led to a lifelong passion for the country. In addition to discovering more about Peace Corps Korean Studies scholars, we will also have an opportunity to learn more regarding volunteers’ experiences working with North Korea.