Chosun University Disaster Humanities Research Group to Host International Joint Academic Conference

The Disaster Humanities Research Group of the Institute for Humanities at Chosun University announced on May 22 that it will jointly host the 2025 International Academic Conference with the Institute for Disaster Recovery Systems at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan and the Tamla Culture Research Institute at Jeju National University.

The conference, which will be held over two days on May 23 and 24, is themed "Disaster, Migration, and Community Solidarity in East Asia." It will feature a keynote lecture and three thematic presentation sessions. Multinational researchers from Korea, Japan, China, the United States, and Germany will participate to discuss migration phenomena caused by disasters and the potential for community recovery.

The keynote lectures will be delivered by Professor Yama Yoshiyuki of Kwansei Gakuin University (Director of the Institute for Disaster Recovery Systems), who will speak on disaster migrant communities and solidarity in local societies, and Professor Kim Chiwan of Jeju National University (Director of the Tamla Culture Research Institute), who will address the patterns of disaster migration discourse: from diaspora to mobility. Presentations and discussions will also cover a variety of topics, such as exiles or fugitives depicted in Korean literature.

This international academic conference aims to share the wounds and memories left by disasters through migration cases from various countries, and to explore the possibilities of community solidarity and recovery.

Kang Heesook, head of the Disaster Humanities Research Group, stated, "This spring, extreme climate change and abnormal weather phenomena are occurring around the world," adding, "The Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict are by no means unrelated to the emergence of climate refugees and war refugees."

Meanwhile, since 2019, the Disaster Humanities Research Group at Chosun University has been carrying out the Humanities Korea Plus (HK+) project of the National Research Foundation of Korea for seven years under the theme 'Memory, Narrative, and Healing of Disasters in East Asia: Establishing Disaster Humanities.'