Book launch: East-West Reflections on Demonization (online)

“North Korea Now, China Next?”

Edited by Geir Helgesen and Rachel Harrison, NIAS Press, 2020

Join us for this online book launch featuring the editors who will elaborate on their ideas behind the book and presentations of select chapters by the respective authors. Following the presentations, there will be time for comments and questions from the audience.

About the book

Although the rapid spread worldwide of the coronavirus in 2020 has focused minds everywhere on the dangers of a global pandemic, other dangers facing the world have not diminished. Failure to resolve issues relating to the divided Korean peninsula is one of these. In East-West Reflections on Demonization: North Korea Now, China Next?, 18 scholars from Asia, the United States and Europe share their insights as they strive to get beyond the everyday rhetoric clouding the situation. They address the demonization issue as a multidimensional problem, exploring its different aspects from Western and Eastern perspectives. However, North Korea is not the only country in the cross-hairs of heavyweight media organizations. The intensifying great power struggle between China and the United States is being played out on television, online and in the print media of both countries and beyond. In this developing conflict the two Koreas play a minor, almost bystander role. 

The book is available for purchase at NIAS Press.

Registration

Sign up for the event here.

You will receive an email with a link to the webinar upon registration.
Registration closes on 2 December at 10am CET.

Programme

14:00-14:05: Brief opening remarks Marie Yoshida, ADI

14:05-14:20: A few words on the book by the editors
Geir Helgesen, Cross-Cultural Solutions, formerly NIAS and Rachel Harrison, SOAS, University of London

14:20-14:55: Presentation of individual chapters

• Myungkoo Kang, Seoul National University
• Gyuseog Han, Chonnam National University
• Chunrong Liu, Fudan Centre, University of Copenhagen
• Daniel A. Bell, Shandong University
• James Wertsch, Washington University in St. Louis

14:55-15:00: Summing up

15:00-15:30: Comments and questions

About the Speakers

• Myungkoo Kang is Emeritus Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Seoul National University, ROK.
• Gyuseog Han is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, ROK.
• Chunrong Liu is Associate Professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, Shanghai, PRC, and co-director of the Fudan-European Centre for China Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Daniel A. Bell is Professor and Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration, Shandong University, PRC.
• Rachel Harrison is Professor of Thai Cultural Studies at SOAS, University of London, UK.
• Geir Helgesen is cultural sociologist, retired director of NIAS, University of Copenhagen and head of the consulting company Cross-Cultural Solutions, Denmark.
• James J. Wertsch is Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and of International and Area Studies, and Director Emeritus of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis, USA.

Organizer: NIAS Press, Fudan Centre, SOAS, NIAS and ADI