J. Scott Burgeson to speak at Gwangju International Center on November 14th.

J. Scott Burgeson, author of the new book More Nasty Korean Studies and commenter here as "King Baeksu" (website here) will be at the Gwangju International Center next Saturday, giving the weekly GIC Talk. Here's a summary of his presentation, titled "Multiculturalism in the ROK: Myth vs. Reality," from the GIC website:

In both the national South Korean media and from the South Korean government itself, we often hear these days that South Korea has entered "a new era of multiculturalism." However, such rhetoric is often belied by actual reality, and in terms of allowing national discussions on such issues, the South Korean media remain overtly nationalistic, and reluctant to allow non-Koreans space in national conversations to express themselves as autonomous individuals. In other words, it can be said that more often than not, non-Koreans are only allowed to exist in the national Korean media as a reflection of the Korean identity, rather than as autonomous subjects in their own right. Using the media reception of his new Korean-language book "더 발칙한 한국학" as a kind of case study, J. Scott Burgeson will offer a deconstruction of the myth of "multiculturalism" in today's South Korea, and offer his own suggestions on how Koreans and non-Koreans alike can better understand one another, thereby helping lead to a truly multicultural Korean society of the future.

You'll find a review from the Korea Times, and mention on The Marmot's Hole of some of the positive press it's been getting.

Gusts of Popular Feeling posted a few days ago about a talk on the same topic Burgeson was slated to give November 5th, so refer to that for further summary and for a lengthy comment section.