Fall 2025

Jaewon Kim’s Dissertation Defense

Join us on Monday, October 20th, from 1:30pm-3:30pm HST for doctoral candidate Jaewon Kim’s dissertation defense! Her project, titled “Resisting the Occupation: The Jeju April Third Uprising of 1948 and the Origin of Anti-Americanism on Jeju Island,” is under the direction of Professor Cheehyung Harrison Kim.

The defense will be held virtually, and is free and open to the public. The Zoom information can be found below:

Below is an abstract of Jaewon’s project:

This dissertation contextualizes colonial and post-colonial Korea, focusing on the actors of the resistance movement. The South Korean government’s prolonged anti-Communist policy constructed a persistent narrative of the Jeju April Third Uprising in 1948, distorting its memory and demonized the resistance. For this reason, this writing aims to deliver a more precise understanding of the origins of the Jeju Uprising, while rehabilitating the Communist in post-colonial Korea. Weighing the significance of the political complexity in the Korean Peninsula immediately after its liberation, this writing asserts the Jeju people’s unique colonial experience derived from geographical proximity to Japan; which resulted in their development of strong radicalism attracted by communism and anarchism as a means for Korea’s independence, and their anti-imperialist sentiments, transitioning to anti-American sentiment under the governance of the United States Army Military Government in Korea. By doing so, this research presents a new perspective on the Jeju Uprising and radicalism in post-colonial Korea.

The event flyer is viewable at the link here.