Development, Dispossession, and Desires in Jeju with Youjeong Oh

Jeju is known as a popular international tourist destination, a filming location for K-dramas, an Instagrammable hotspot, and a site of trendy lifestyle experiments. Yet behind these images of paradise, pristine nature, and healing lie histories of forced development and dispossession. Highlighting diverse forms of activism, this presentation conveys the vivid and urgent voices of Jeju residents as they resist the extractive, predatory, and colonial dimensions of development.

Youjeong Oh, an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, will speak of her current research on Jeju Island's development. Yoon Sun Yang, Associate Professor of Korean & Comparative Literature at Boston University, will serve as moderator for the discussion, and Hyun Bang Shin, Professor of Geography at the London School of Economics & Political Science, will serve as discussant.