On May 4, 2017, an international conference titled "Ethnic Enclaves and Urban Regeneration" was held at Global Leadership Foundation in Flushing, Queens. This event was co-organized by the BK21+ Ethnic and Koreatown Urban Regeneration Research Team at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Seoul, South Korea) and the Research Center for Korean Community at Queens College. This international conference featured presentations by researchers from China, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Topics included transnationalism, cultural contents, Hallyu (The Korean Wave), digital mapping, ethnic retention, and other interesting subjects related to Korean ethnic enclaves all over the world.

This conference was sponsored by the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Global Cultural Contents Research Center. 

We would like to express our appreciation to Professor Young Sang Yim of the Department of Global Cultural Contents at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies for all of his hard work organizing the conference. We also thank members of the community who attended this conference in the middle of a weekday.

Click the photo at the top of this newsletter or here for a link to a full schedule of the conference presentations.   

On Wednesday, April 19, 2017, Professor Pyong Gap Min of RCKC and Queens College gave a talk titled "The Advantages of Suburban Enclaves Over Urban Enclaves in Community Empowerment: A Comparison of Korean Enclaves in Queens Borough and Bergen County in the NY-NJ Area." This event took place at Global Leadership Foundation on Parsons Blvd in Flushing from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Approximately twenty people attended this talk, including three of RCKC's 2017 visiting scholars, the co-director of the MinKwon Center for Community Action, and a reporter for Korea Central Daily News.

Professor Min's talk focused on the advantages of suburban enclaves over urban enclaves in community empowerment, using Korean immigrant communities in the NYC borough of Queens and New Jersey's Bergen County as case studies. Using census data, newspaper articles, and personal interviews with Korean politicians and community leaders, the talk covered three components of community empowerment: (1) electoral politics, (2) the promotion of the Korean language to American public schools, and (3) erecting "comfort women" monuments. Professor Min also discussed some of the advantageous benefits of other suburban Korean enclaves in the U.S. 

On Saturday, November 5, 2016, RCKC held its 7th annual conference at the Rosenthal Library at Queens College. The theme of the conference was "Korean Religious Experiences in the U.S." Presenters included Ruth H. Chung (University of Southern California), Grace Ji-Sun Kim (Earlham School of Religion), Rebecca Kim (Pepperdine University), Pyong Gap Min (Queens College and RCKC), Jerry Z. Park (Baylor University), Hye Sung Park (Won Institute of Graduate Studies), Andrew Cha (St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang Roman Catholic Church), Hyoung Keun Kim (Modern Buddhism magazine), and Jin Eun Park (Won Buddhist Temple of New York). Dr. David Yoo of UCLA and Thomas Chung of RCKC moderated the conference sessions.

RCKC would like to thank Queens College, Research Foundation for Korean Community (RFKC), the presenters, and everyone who attended the conference.

On Tuesday, September 27, 2016, Professor Edward J. W. Park of Loyola Marymount University in L.A. gave a talk titled "Divergent Paths: Korean American Politics in an Age of Globalization" at KCS. This event was part of RCKC's ongoing seminar series. KCS is located at 35-56 159th Street, Flushing, NY 11358. Approximately 20 people attended this event.  

In the 1980s, Korean American political attention shifted away from democratization in South Korea to urban politics in large American cities. From New York, to Chicago, to Los Angeles, Korean Americans struggled with their middlemen minority position as merchants in inner-cities, situated between indifferent white power structure and hostile African American activists. Punctuated by the Los Angeles Civil Unrest of 1992, Korean Americans committed unprecedented attention and resources to increase their political visibility and influence in American cities. By 2015, this effort to claim their rightful place in mainstream American politics resulted in modest success measured in electoral victories and significant appointments. However, this familiar pattern of American ethnic political incorporation has been complicated by dramatic changes in laws and policies by the Korean and the U.S. governments. From the Overseas Korean Act of 1999 to the ratification of the Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement in 2012, transpacific politics are once again pulling Korean American attention and resources as these changes redefine the terms and conditions of being Korean American in a globalizing world. Korean Americans have vigorously pursued their interests on this front, seeking to maximize their professional opportunities as bilateral trade and relationships grow while minimizing the personal disruptions of pursuing transpacific lives. Once again, Korean American politics stand at the crossroads.

Edward J.W. Park is director and professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His publications include “Competing Visions: Political Formation of Korean Americans in Los Angeles” (Amerasia Journal, 1988) and “Labor Organizing Beyond Race and Nation: The Los Angeles Hilton Case” (International Journal of Sociology and Social Research, 2004).

Click the link below to access an article that Professor Park wrote reflecting on Korean Americans in L.A. after the 1992 Uprising:

From an Ethnic Island to a Transnational Bubble