Free Hybrid Book Presentation
From SPAM™ to K-Pop: The Korean War and the Rise of Modern South Korea
Thursday, April 23, 6:00–7:00 pm ET, Advance registration recommended for online and in-person attendance
Speakers:
Sean C. Kim, Professor of History, University of Central Missouri
Ilisa Barbash, Curator of Visual Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
South Korea has recently jumped onto the global stage through its economic rise and export of popular culture. Drawing on their new book, The Forgotten Home Front: Roger Marshutz’s Photographs of Pusan, South Korea, 1952–1954 (Peabody Museum Press and KMEC Books, 2026), coauthors Lisa Barbash and Sean Kim will visually explore a key moment of transition in the development of South Korea: the Korean War (1950–1953). This conflict ruptured Korea’s traditional and colonial past and ushered in new political, economic, and cultural opportunities—under American influence—that have shaped modern South Korea. By examining this moment of change through photography, the lecture illuminates South Korea’s rise from a war-torn peninsula to an economic powerhouse and global cultural trendsetter.
Copies of The Forgotten Home Front will be available for purchase and signing following the program.
Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 5:00 pm. Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture in collaboration with the Harvard Korea Institute.
Detail of photo by Roger Marshutz. Gift of Roger Marshutz, 2003. © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 2005.11.1