Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

Korea Majors @ UP Asian Center Comprise Lone Graduate Panel in Korean Studies Conference in Manila

Details

Participants at the 7th KoSASA conference, 28 September, Novotel Manila Araneta Center. Photo grabbed from the Facebook page of the Philippine Korea Research Center.

Three Korean Studies majors of the UP Asian Center comprised the only graduate student panel at the 7th Korean Studies Association of Southeast Asia (KoSASA) conference, which was held from 28 to 30 September 2016 at Novotel Manila, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City and at the IESM Building, University of the Philippines Diliman.

The three papers covered a wide array of topics, including telecommunications, English language education, and female employment in Korea.

Ms. Clarissa M. Camaya presented “Still Buffering: A Comparison of Internet Service in The Philippines and South Korea in Both the Demand and Supply Perspectives.” Marshalling a wealth of statistics, she argues that “as much as we [Philippines] should police the performance and market actions of our telecommunications suppliers, we also need to study how demand itself can be grown. This is because an assured size of demand may help in encouraging additional investment into the telecommunications industry, which will also increase competition.” To stimulate demand, the Philippine government and businesses must “also...design policy that fits demographic, psychographic, cultural and political nuances.” Furthermore,  “government must incentivize innovation and investment rather than mandate performance requirements that may even be outside of the existing companies’ capital capacity....The findings suggest that Philippines' performance gaps with South Korea were affected not only by the differences in market liberalization but also by how the governments developed national policies that covered demand creation and long-term whole-of-government planning.

Ms. Gemdrei D. Navarro presented “Identifying Causes Through Patterns: Analyzing the Historical Development of English Language Education in South Korea,” where she tries to explains why there is a gap between Koreans’ English language proficiency (average) and their time and efforts to learn the language.  Following a historical survey of English Language Education in Korea, which began in the 1880s, Ms. Navarro argues that the gap can be “attributed to” several reasons:   the perception of the English language as a status symbol; the lack of correspondence between the efforts exerted and the overestimation of the value of the language language;” and, among others, the country’s resistance to change due to desire to preserve what is Korean.

Ms. Kathrina C. Francisco presented “Analects of a South Korean Working Woman: South Korean Economic Growth and Female Labor Force Participation, a Regional Analysis.” She examines the gross regional domestic product of two regions, Gyeonggi-do and Jeju-do, to “shed light on how South Korea’s economic growth affects the country’s female labor force participation. Through the lens of the modernization theory, [she shows] that there seems to be a positive correlation between the two variables: more females are employed as economic performance improves,” even while the entire “labor force remains to be male-dominated.”  

Joining them in the conference were several faculty members of the UP Asian Center: Dean Joefe Santarita; Associate Professor Rolando Talampas; and Drs. Michelle Palumbarit and Tina S. Clemente.Dean Santarita chaired several sessions including:

  • Special Session: Research Agendas in Korean Studies
  • Korean Studies Executive Forum

He also gave a presentation during the Session 2: Korean Studies Executive Forum: Sharing Visions for Korean Studies Education in Southeast Asia. Associate Professor Talampas presented in Session 4-3: Socio Cultural Changes and the Humanities in Korean Studies Research, while Dr. Palumbarit and Dr. Clemente co-chaired Session 6: Postgraduate Workshop.

About KoSASA

The institutional partners of the Korean Studies Association of Southeast Asia include nine leading universities in eight countries in Southeast Asia, comprising the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. There had been six KoSASA conferences, held every other year, since KoSASA was founded in 2003.  The 2016 conference was hosted by the University of the Philippines through the Philippine Korea Research Center,  which is headed by the former dean of the Asian Center, Dr. Eduardo Gonzalez. For more information on KoSASA, please visit their Facebook page.

The conference was organized by the Korea Research Institute @ University of New South Wales; the Academy of Korean Studies, and the Philippine Korea Research Center, University of the Philippines. 

The UP Asian Center offers M.A. programs in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. Get an overview of these programs. The Asian Center also houses a peer-reviewed, open-access journal, Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia. It has published several books and monographs, and hosts or organizes various lectures and conferences.