Founding Ideals of a Nation
When lecturing on “What is a Nation”, French scholar, Ernest Renan, suggested that building a nation required acceptance of the past and choosing new realities for a shared future. He explains: A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feeling...
Religion in the Public Square
In the Guardian’s religion section, renowned author, Karen Armstrong, debunks the myth that politics and religion should never mix. Her thesis would seem to be a daring one, especially amidst the growing threat of extremist groups around the world. Yet for Armstrong,...
Koreans in China Visit South Korea for History and Cultural Tour
Nearly 40% of the Korean diaspora lives in China. A large concentration resides in Yanbian, making up 32 percent of the prefecture’s total population. The autonomy the region enjoys as a whole is also closely linked to the large Korean population. Korean is...
Loving the Place You Live
Sometimes it takes someone from outside to show us new perspectives on how to live at home. Bahrain is a small island country situated near the western shores of the Persian Gulf, located over seven thousand miles from the Korean peninsula. There a humble middle-aged...
Korean Diaspora in Seeking Independence
While most Koreans are very familiar with the March 1919 Korean Independence Movement, it is easy to forget the seminal role the Korean Diaspora played in the drive for self-governance. The non-violent demonstrations against Japanese colonizers on March...
Three Bows
A university professor invited a former colleague to tea. They hadn't seen each other for years, so the latter was surprised with the call. As they settled down in the warm sunshine streaming into the tea house and enjoyed the warm aroma that wafted up from their...
What Religion Did for East Germany’s Peaceful Revolution
Many have criticized religion as the reason for violence and writers from Richard Dawkins to Sam Harris cautions us on the dangers of religion. And yet one could point to pivotal moments in history where religion has been the only thing that could have moved a...
We are All Related
Imagine a society where everyone was related to each other as one big family. What would that look like? There are many good cultural examples around the globe that hint at what that might be like. Korea is one place where this notion of human interconnectedness can...
Washington DC Forum Exmines Role of South Korean and US Civil Society and Humanitarian Efforts in Global Development
A recent forum hosted by the Center for International and Strategic Studies and the Global Peace Foundation highlighted South Korea's growing role in global humanitarian development. In less than 50 years, South Korea has transitioned from a aid-receiving nation to...
Potential of Engaging Koreas Diaspora in Unification
Koreans in the diaspora suffer from divided families the same as Koreans on the peninsula. We are affected by and engaged in the fate of a divided homeland and often can bring a broader perspective to meeting the challenge of unification. I believe that the diaspora...
Koreanness – Finding Transnational Connections as One People
The prospect of Korean Reunification and the building of a vision of a unified Korea points to the need for an exploration of what it actually means to be Korean. The experience of Koreans in Japan makes for a particularly interesting study of this. Having lived apart...
Calling on the Korean Diaspora
“As I reflect on the memories of my father, I think of the Korean people, who, like the salmon, need to return to their original hometown, the place of their birth to begin the next cycle of life. That place begins with our founding mythology of Dangun and is...