Memory, Hope, and Transnational Identities: Pachinko Book Discussion (Tuesday, May 11, 2021)

Celebrate Asian and Pacific American Heritage month by honoring stories of Asian immigrant women who showed strength and resiliency against colonialism, occupation, and displacement. While this has been the narrative of millions of Asian immigrant families, seldom have stories told in the mainstream centered the voices and sacrifices of the women who held it all together.

Join us for this special discussion of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, led by two BU faculty. Associate Professor Thomas Berger will kick off the discussion with an overview of the complex history and current political significance of complex Korea-Japan relations, as well as the role of the United States under the Biden administration. Associate Professor Yoon Sun Yang will then offer a classroom-style discussion of the book’s themes of language, memory, and power, followed by a chance to continue the discussion with your fellow Terriers in breakout rooms.

Pachinko was selected as one of the New York Times’ 10 Best of 2017 and a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. It has recently been adapted by Apple TV+.

About the book:
“Lee’s stunning novel, her second, chronicles four generations of an ethnic Korean family, first in Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century, then in Japan itself from the years before World War II to the late 1980s. Exploring central concerns of identity, homeland and belonging, the book announces its ambitions right from the opening sentence: “History has failed us, but no matter.” Lee suggests that behind the facades of wildly different people lie countless private desires, hopes and miseries, if we have the patience and compassion to look and listen.”

The New York Times Book Review (2017)

Pachinko is available through your library, local bookstore, or online retailers, including an e-book edition on Kindle.

Event Schedule:

5:30 pm | Event starts
5:35 pm | Presentation by BU faculty
6:00 pm | Breakout room book discussion
6:30 pm | Reconvene
6:45 pm | Event ends

Presenters:

Thomas Berger
Associate Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for the Study of Asia,
BU Pardee School of Global Studies

The author of War, Guilt and World Politics After World War II and Cultures of Antimilitarism: National Security in Germany, Thomas Berger joined the Department of International Relations in 2001 after teaching for seven years at Johns Hopkins University.  He is co-editor of Japan in International Politics: Beyond the Reactive State, and his articles and essays have appeared in numerous edited volumes and journals, including International Security, Review of International Studies, German Politics, and World Affairs Quarterly.

Yoon Sun Yang
Associate Professor of Korean & Comparative Literature
BU College of Arts & Sciences
Yoon Sun Yang teaches Korean and comparative literature, as well as Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies. She is the author of From Domestic Women to Sensitive Young Men: Translating the Individual in Early Colonial Korea, which won the 2020 James B. Palais Book Prize of the Association for Asian Studies, and the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean Literature. She is currently translating early colonial Korean short stories and essays, as well as working on two book-length studies: “Transpacific Palimpsests: Toward the Study of Korean-language Literature” and “Beyond the Medical Gaze: Sexuality and Illness in Korean Literature.”

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The webinar will be conducted using the online Zoom webinar platform. Access information and additional instructions on using the Zoom platform will be provided via email upon successful registration. This webinar is open to all members of the BU community including alumni, students, faculty, and staff.