Sessions
Time: 9:30 AM
Location: Burke Theatre B
Welcome message by Dr. Mary Ingraham, Professor and Dean, 色花堂 of Arts, Saint Mary’s University (Introduction by Min-Jung Kwak)
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Burke Theatre B
In the context of accelerating demographic decline, intensifying global competition for talent, and the proliferation of transnational mobilities, the South Korean state has substantially expanded and recalibrated its diaspora engagement policies since the 1990s. This paper revisits and critically updates earlier analyses of Korea’s diasporic governance by examining developments from 2010 to 2025 within the framework of contemporary migration and citizenship scholarship. Employing theoretical lenses of transnational citizenship, diaspora governance and deterritorialised nationhood, Dr. Song’s study investigates how the Korean state seeks to reconstitute its national community beyond territorial boundaries through the incorporation of its 7.5 million-strong overseas population.
Drawing on case studies involving Korean adoptees in Europe, Koryo-saram labour migrants from the post-Soviet region, and second-generation professionals in North America, the analysis illuminates the differentiated modes of state outreach and the dynamics of selective incorporation. While these policies have yielded notable economic and cultural dividends, they also expose underlying tensions between essentialist ethno-nationalist paradigms and the fluid, contested realities of migration, integration and identity formation.
The South Korean case contributes to broader debates concerning the role of origin states in governing extraterritorial populations, the ambivalences of diaspora inclusion and the evolving meanings of nationhood in an era increasingly defined by global mobility.
Presenters/Speakers:
Time: 10:45 AM
Location: Burke Theatre B
Chair: Thomas Klassen, York University
Presenter 1: Ann Kim (York University)
Title: The Korean community in Canada and how intersectional dynamics affect Korean STEM professionals
Presenter 2: Millie Creighton (University of British Columbia)
Title: Multiplicities of Ethnic Consciousness among Korean Migrants and Descendants in Three Countries
Presenter 3: Hyun Jung Shin (University of Saskatchewan)
Title: Linguistic construction of Canada and Korea in late capitalism: the case of Korean international students in Canada
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Burke Lobby
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Burke Theatre B
The Open Door Policy promulgated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 started a rapid breakdown of Korean-Chinese traditional rural and community life. With the normalization of relations between China and South Korea in 1992, this process accelerated and the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian was co-opted into the capitalist system. These rapid changes were a tremendous shock to the sense of self-identity of the Korean-Chinese and become clearly visible in the cultural texts (literature, songs and movies) that the Korean-Chinese created from the 1990s onwards.
This lecture will trace the trajectory that Korean-Chinese identity took after these shocks and have a look at how the contemporary Korean-Chinese community perceives and represents its identity through culture. As a means of coming to terms with their newly emerging reality, we see that humour for the Korean-Chinese often serves an important function, even if its only use is to (briefly) overcome unresolved contradictions that they see building up within their identity and in their society.
Presenters/Speakers:Time: 1:45 PM
Emerging scholars’ session for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows
Chair: Mihyon Jeon, York University
Presenter 1: Hye Jin Kim (University of Toronto)
Title: “Will there be a future for us?” Youth as Future Subjects
Presenter 2: Minsun Kim (Dalhousie University)
Title: Missing Voices and Perspectives: Investigating the Shadows of the Canadian Working Holiday Program
Presenter 3: Jenny (Hyemin) Kim (York University)
Title: 鞓爠颂�, as is
Presenter 4: Kyrie Vermette (University of British Columbia)
Title: The Borders of Imagined 碍补箩艔苍驳: Women’s Feelings of Belonging in Colonial Korea
Time: 3:15 PM
Coffee and tea break
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Burke Theatre B
Remarks followed by the film screening: Past Lives (2023) by Celine Song – 106 minutes running time
The Predicament of (Korean) Diasporic Cinema: An Exploration of鈥�Past Lives
When Celine Song’s semi-autobiographical directorial debut Past Lives premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, critical acclaim poured in from major film critics and auteurs alike, who praised the film for its modest restraint (The New York Times) and subtle beauty (Christopher Nolan). Yet, as it enjoyed worldwide theatrical release, the response on social media among viewers starkly contrasted the rave reviews, particularly among the Asian American community who were angered by the film’s lines like “Korea is too small a country for your ambition” that conformed to the trite immigrant narrative of white hegemony. Their criticism is exemplified by Ian Wang on ArtReview, where he writes that the film’s characters “might be Asian American, but they’re keen to stress their Americanness first” (2023). The conflicting reactions to—and traits found within—Past Lives provide fertile grounds for examining the predicament of diasporic cinema today. Sylvia Shin Huey Chong (2017) has argued the category of Asian American cinema to be obsolete in the current “post-racial era,” where such films may be “desired” (as means of reaching/representing a demographic group) but are simultaneously “disavowed” (devoid of actual racial difference to not accentuate the continuing histories of discrimination).
While Past Lives follows Chong’s observation, Dr. An’s paper argues these very characteristics, in fact, represent a shift in diasporic identities within postcolonial modern lives. This transition in the nature of diasporic films is encapsulated by Korean American actor Steven Yeun when he states, “an immigrant mentality is where we are all headed.”
Trailer:
Presenters/Speakers: