MARCH WEBINAR
THURSDAY, MAR. 18, 2021, 7 PM - 8 PM CDT
“HOME” AND “HOPE” FOR A FAMILY IN EXILE: PRACTICING EVERYDAY LIFE THROUGH JESSE’S DIARY (1938-1946)
This presentation will be about Che-si-ŭi ilgi, or Jesse’s Diary, a parenting diary co-written by a Korean Provisional Government (KPG) member Yang U-jo and his wife Ch’oe Sŏn-hwa from 1938 to 1946 for their daughter Jesse. Jesse’s Diary offers a first-hand account of everyday life in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War from the perspective of Korean intellectuals doubly displaced by colonialism and war. It is also unique in that it is co-written by a married couple about raising children during the war. The case of Jesse’s Diary demonstrates how the act of co-writing a parenting diary could provide a sense of “home” as well as “hope” for the diasporic family amidst continuous displacement. This webinar will be presented by Hannah Park (History PhD candidate at the University of Chicago) and moderated by Jay Kim (GKF Senior Advisory Council Member).
About the speaker, Hannah Park
Hannah Park received her BA in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and MA in social sciences from the University of Chicago. She then worked at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul. She is currently a PhD candidate in History at the University of Chicago. Her research interests are in early to mid-twentieth-century Korea, diasporic families and exilic communities, everyday life, and transnational identity.
About the moderator, Jay Kim
Jay Kim is an immigrant who was born and raised in South Korea, moving to the United States in his twenties. He has been practicing law since 1998. Prior to his legal career, he was a senior aerospace engineer with McDonnell Douglas/Boeing for eight years. His legal practice focuses on personal injury, business litigation, and immigration. He is a member of the Missouri, Maryland, and New Jersey Bar. He served as President (2004) and President of the Board (2005-2006) of the Korean-American Association of St. Louis. He is also one of the founding members of the Missouri Asian American Bar Association (MAABA), as well as a senior advisory member of the Gateway Korea Foundation.
Recommended Reading
If the topic of this webinar interests you, then GKF highly recommends picking up Pachinko by Min Jin Lee for additional insight into the lives of Koreans abroad during the 20th century. This novel follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan.
So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.
Book Talks by Min Jin Lee on Pachinko
Please note that both of the below talks are presented in English, but the second one has Korean subtitles.