The Transnational (Re)Turn of Korean Studies

Abstract

What new kinds of knowledge are we to envision when an academic trend or a body of scholarship is established with the purpose of studying the culture, history, traditions, and, above all, language, of another nation? Such knowledge would be obtained through the crossing of national boundaries, minimally involving actual physical travel on the part of the scholar, the translation and transmission of printed or electronic data, or combinations of both. Such knowledge would involve skepticism, as well as the recognition of national boundaries. Most importantly, it would call for attentiveness in relation to the uneven power relations between the nations involved. As such, in common with many other intellectual endeavors, one that involves the study of another nation cannot avoid a process of engaging in political reflection and consciousness that is transnationally traversed. It is with this realization in mind that I begin this short essay on rethinking Korean Studies in the US.