News​​ – IZO Events

This workshop delves into an under-studied topic of the Korean youth in the South, focusing on the multiple trajectories and complexities of newer-generation Korean im/migrants in the Southern Hemisphere and the Global South. Unlike younger-generation Koreans in the Global North particularly in North America and Europe, who have tended to pursue professional careers and achieved mainstream-oriented mobility, young Korean im/migrants in the Global South have explored different options and followed multiple trajectories beyond the boundaries of their host societies. Hence, this workshop aims to understand how and to what extent these particular circumstances have shaped their lives and experiences of the Korean youth in the South. 

You can register for the Zoom link here.

The 4^th edition of the Korean Popular Culture Workshop will take place on the 16^th of November 2022 between 4 and 6 pm CET. The event will be held online on Zoom with prior registration being required (registration link below). The workshop aims to shed light on the new developments in Korean cinema, dramas and music in the digital globalized world. This year the focus of the workshop will be the Korean film industry in the context of globalization and the changes in K-drama content and production generated by the emergence of streaming platforms like Netflix. The guest speakers are Jimmyn Parc, Associate Professor at the University of Malaya, Malaysia and Hyejung Ju, Associate Professor of Mass Communication at Claflin University in South Carolina, USA.

Registration Link

"True love or a political marriage of convenience? China-Russia relations in light of the Ukraine war"

As we are approaching the end of the summer semester, the IZO is looking forward to our last event before the summer break: On 19 July, 18.30-19.45 CET,  Marina Rudyak will join Maria Repnikova and Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova to look behind the curtains of the China-Russia partnership, which has been repeatedly celebrated diplomatically over the past months.

The entire online event was recorded and is available on Youtube.

Abstract

China and Russia have declared a friendship “without limits" and with “no forbidden areas". Chinese official rhetoric appears largely supportive of the Russian legitimisation of the war on Ukraine. But does China really support Russia unconditionally? What can we read between the lines, and how are Russia and the Russian-Ukrainian war discussed in inner-Chinese spaces (in Chinese, not directed at foreigners?) And what role is there to play for Europe?

The IZO is glad to host a virtual conversation on these questions between IZO member Marina Rudyak (Goethe University Frankfurt/Heidelberg University), Maria Repnikova (Georgia State University) and Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova (Riga Stradins University). While observing China-Russia relations from Western Europe, the United States and Eastern Europe, respectively, what all three have in common is that they were born in the former Soviet Union. Their knowledge of both Chinese and Russian political discourses gives them a rare and unique perspective on analysing current China-Russia dynamics.

About the speakers

Maria Repnikova is an Associate Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on China's political communication, Chinese soft power, China-Africa relations and China-Russia comparisons. She is the author of two books, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism (2017) and Chinese Soft Power (2022). Since the eruption of the Russia-Ukraine war, she has been a regular commentator on China-Russia relations.

Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova is a political scientist, China scholar, Head of Riga Stradins University China Studies Centre and Head of the Asia program at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs. Her research focuses on PRC political discourse, contemporary Chinese ideology, EU-China relations, as well as Belt and Road and other transcontinental interconnectivity initiatives. She is the author of the book Perfect Imbalance: China and Russia (2022).

Marina Rudyak is an Interim Professor for Chinese Politics at Goethe University Frankfurt and Assistant Professor for Chinese Cultural Studies at Heidelberg University. Her research focuses on China's international development cooperation and the Chinese foreign policy discourse. Her 2020 completed doctoral Dissertation Becoming a Donor traced the formation of China's foreign aid policy. She is the co-creator of the Decoding China Dictionary.

____________________________

The discussion will take place virtually via Zoom. We kindly ask for registration in advance.

Image credit: Reuters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet in Denpasar, Indonesia (G20, July 5, 2022)

Date: 19 May 2022

Time: 6.15 – 7.45 p.m., followed by a small reception in the foyer

Place: Goethe University Frankfurt, Casino Building, R. 1811, Nina-Rubinstein-Weg 1

Please register for the talk and reception via e-mail to niepel@em.uni-frankfurt.de by 15 May at the latest.

On May 5th, the IZO is organizing a guest lecture on the following topic by Prof. Dr. Marta Hanson: "Understanding is Within One's Grasp, The World Within the Hands in the Classified Canon, 1624".

Time: 05. 05. 2022 – 18:00

Place: Seminarhaus 0.106