The series is designed to introduce students and faculty to recently published and emerging research on North and South Korea and their relations with their Northeast Asian neighbours, such as China and Japan. Over the last decades, the number of Korean studies specialists at 91亚色 and in the Toronto area has grown exponentially from a few faculty members to a few dozen, says Kim. The series hopes to highlight this change and offer a forum for researchers, students and the local Korean-Canadian community.

The first year of the series will focus on 20th-century Korean history, with scholars speaking on imperialism, the Second World War, the Korean War, forced migration and the social issues associated with the formation of the DPRK and the ROK.

Takashi Fujitani will present the first lecture of the series Monday, Nov. 26 at 3pm at 280A 91亚色 Lanes, Keele campus. His talk, co-presented with the Department of History, examines 鈥淩eflections on Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II鈥�. Fujitani is the Dr. David Chu Professor and Director in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan (1998) and co-editor of Perilous Memories: The Asia Pacific War(s) (2001). His most recent book Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II (2011) will form the basis for this lecture.

Fujitani will reflect on his reinterpretation of nationalism, racism and wartime mobilization during the Asia-Pacific war. He uses parallel case studies of Koreans recruited or drafted into the Japanese military and of Japanese Americans mobilized to serve in the US Army, to examine how the US and Japanese empires struggled to manage racialized populations while waging total war. He demonstrates that the United States and Japan became increasingly alike over the course of the war, perhaps most tellingly in their common attempts to disavow racism even as they reproduced it in new ways and forms.

Kim will discuss her research on everyday life in Pusan as a refugee capital Feb. 7, 2013 when she delivers her talk, 鈥淩efuge, Relief, and Resettlement in the Temporary Capital Pusan, 1950-1953鈥�. She will focus in on the most salient characteristics of wartime Pusan: overwhelming poverty, increasing marketization that was predominantly illegal or informal and its role as a US military base.

The final speaker in the series is Andre Schmid, a professor in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. His current research interests include the history of the cultural Cold War in post-Korean War peninsula, as well as early 20th century peasant movements. He is the author of Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919 (Columbia University Press), winner of the Association of Asian Studies John Whitney Hall award, and has published in journals such as Journal of Asian Studies, South Atlantic Quarterly and Yoksa munje yon'gu. In his talk, Schmid will examine the reconstruction of North Korea and the role of socialist living. The date of this talk in late March 2013 is to be confirmed.

The second year (2013-2014) of the series will concentrate on issues of labour, migration, mobility and cultural change experienced at the turn of the 21st century. The 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) hopes to turn the series into a larger project inviting international scholars by 2014, says Kim.

For more information about the YCAR Korea Speaker Series, contact the 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research at ycar@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Xiang鈥檚 talk, 鈥淭he Intermediary Trap: International Labour Recruitment, Transnational Governance and State-Citizen Relations in China,鈥� will take place Nov. 5 at 519 91亚色 Research Tower, Keele campus. A reception will begin at 2:30pm, followed by the lecture at 3pm. Everyone is welcome to attend the event hosted by the 91亚色 Centre of Asian Research (YCAR).

Xiang Biao

鈥淒r. Xiang is a young and exciting anthropologist working on migration in Asia. His work comprises detailed ethnographic studies in multiple contexts including India, China, Singapore, Korea, Japan and Australia. He epitomizes the 'open' and 'non-territorial' concept of Asia-as-region that we espouse at YCAR,鈥� says Philip F. Kelly, YCAR director.

Xiang鈥檚 forthcoming book Making Order from Transnational Mobility (Princeton University Press) is the result of four years of field research across East Asia.

Beyond the appeal of Xiang's pan-Asian ethnographies, his work on the transnational governance regimes that regulate migration will also be of interest to a wide range of scholars at 91亚色, says Kelly.

Xiang鈥檚 lecture will trace how transnationally-linked commercial labor recruiters gain a dominant position in cultivating, facilitating and controlling migration.聽 These intermediaries render themselves indispensable both for migrating workers and for the states seeking to make order from migration.

The intermediary trap is more dynamic and complex than a simple 鈥渃apture鈥� by identifiable interest groups and is deeply implicated in changing state-citizen relations in China. Rooted in Chinese and other Asian states鈥� agenda to liberalize socioeconomic life without compromising sovereign power, the intermediary trap may become a worldwide phenomenon with the resurgence of state power alongside a continuing neoliberal hegemony beyond Asia.

Through its Asia Lecture Series, YCAR showcases some the best of scholarship on Asia and initiates discussion in both academic and non-academic communities about major issues relating to Asia in a global context.

For more information about YCAR, visit the YCAR website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Right: Thomas Klassen

The has asked Klassen to conduct research on new policies for Korea鈥檚 labour force and to share his findings聽with decision-makers. The institute is responsible for contributing to public policy and raising awareness of labour issues through timely and analytical research. As well, Klassen will spend several months聽studying Korea's retirement policies. Specifically, he will examine how the changing labour market, particularly a rapidly aging population, impacts mandatory retirement practices.

His research in Korea will also provide insights for Canada, which also has a rapid increase in older workers.

An expert on retirement policies, Klassen聽teaches courses on the politics of aging. He is the co-editor of (2005), the only book on mandatory retirement in Canada. Last year, Klassen聽co-edited with Jae-jin Yang the book聽.

This will not be Klassen's first working stint in South Korea. In 2006-2007, he taught at Yonsei University in Seoul and wrote about the lighter side of the聽experience for 91亚色U magazine聽under the title .

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Slowly, over the past 12 years, the landmark book 鈥� critical of Islamic fundamentalism and its treatment of women 鈥� has become increasingly available in Muslim countries. A year after it first came out, Oxford University Press released it as part of its millennium series in Pakistan. Last year, it was translated for Korean audiences (see YFile, Oct. 6, 2010).

, which won the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award in sociology in 2000, was translated and released in Indonesia by the Jakarta-based International Centre for Islam and Pluralism and publisher LKiS Yogyakarta.

Moghissi, who teaches 聽women鈥檚 and equity studies, couldn't be more pleased about her book's release in Indonesia, which has blossomed into聽democracy since the overthrow of President Suharto in 1998. 鈥淚ndonesia is the largest Muslim country on Earth," she points out. 鈥淥bviously, the ideas remain current and of concern if publishers are making available a book that is critical of fundamentalism and of its treatment of women."

Neighbouring Malaysia long ago banned Moghissi鈥檚 book. 鈥淭he fact that it is being published next door in Indonesia makes me even happier,鈥� she says. No doubt copies will filter across the Strait of Malacca.

In her ongoing effort to illuminate the experience of Muslims in the West, Moghissi on the subject, .

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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An excerpt from Klassen's original article follows:

South Korea (henceforth Korea) faces a challenge quite distinct from any other: the world鈥檚 most rapidly ageing population. The speed of population ageing in Korea is unprecedented in human history. From a population profile that resembled a pyramid (with many younger individuals and few older individuals) in 1990, the profile is now diamond-shaped (with a large middle-aged population). In another couple of decades, the country鈥檚 population will be an inverse pyramid: few young people and many older ones.

By 2050, the median age of the population of Korea is projected to be 57 years, making it the most elderly nation in the world. In contrast, at present, Japan has the oldest median age at 43 years, while Korea鈥檚 stands at 37years.

Population ageing is not unique to Korea. Many European nations, and Japan, have faced it. However, as Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Director-General of the World Health Organization, noted: 鈥淲hile the developed countries became rich before they became old, the developing countries will become old before they become rich.鈥� That is the dilemma for Korea, and for other rapidly ageing nations such as China.

For Korea, things were never meant to turn out this way. Its government and people never aimed for the distinction of the world鈥檚 most rapidly ageing country. Indeed, Koreans were not supposed to stop have babies, especially since there was never a one-child policy as in China. Rather, as the economy grew and consumption increased over the past several decades, couples making their individual choices began to opt for fewer and fewer children. By the mid-1980s, the fertility rate (the average number of births per woman) dropped below the replacement rate of 2.1, and by the mid 1990s below 1.5. For nearly the past decade, it has not exceeded 1.3 giving Korea the distinction of having the lowest fertility of any country.

Klassen's complete article is available on .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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