Date and Time
February 18, 2005
12:00 PM

Availability
Open to the public
No RSVP required

Speaker
Hwa-Sook Nam - Assistant Professor at University of Utah

Using rich information found in the archives of the South Korean shipbuilding union, Professor Nam challenges the conventional view of the labor movement in 1960s South Korea. The labor movement from that time was viewed as being pro-state, pro-company, anti-labor and not worthy of serious study. During this time, Korean shipbuilding workers developed a militant union movement. They had a vision of nation-building that was egalitarian and democratic and at odds with the views of nation-building that were propagated by the Park Chung Hee regime. The attitudes, aspirations, and influence of these unionizing shipbuilders provides clues to understanding the explosive power of popular activism since the mid-1980s.

Professor Nam's book Labors Place in South Korean Development: Shipbuilding Workers, Capital, and the State in the Twentieth Century will soon be published. Nam received her B.A. and M.A. at Seoul National University and in 2003 received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington.