“Few White Men (and No Women) Ever Trod That Mountain”: Climbing Mt. Baekdu in the Early 20th Century and the 1931 Underwood Home Movie

SPEAKER: Jihoon SUK

DATE: Tuesday. October 10, 2023. 7:30PM (Seoul)

VENUE: KOTE in Insa-dong (Insadong-gil 7, Jongno-gu, Seoul)

ADMISSION (Online & In-person): Free for Members; W10,000 for Non-members; W5,000 for Non-member students (Student ID requested)

• If you would like to attend online Zoom, please RSVP by October 9 (Monday). We will email you the link on Tuesday.
• To attend in-person, RSVP is not required.

SUMMARY:
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Mt. Baekdu (Baekdu-san), located on the northeast corner of the Korean peninsula and the highest mountain within the peninsula, has been identified as a “sacred” mountain for the Korean nation, often employed as a symbol of Korean pride. Naturally, climbing the mountain itself had a unique Nationalistic connotation attached to it, as evidenced by the numerous published accounts of the climb during the colonial era. Few visual records exist, however, of the climbing of Mt. Baekdu from the era, and only one pre-1950 film footage of Mt. Baekdu exists: a 3-reel 16mm home movie, filmed by Horace Horton Underwood during his family “excursion” to the mountain in June-July 1931. Not only the film serves as the unique “video documentation” of the mountain and its surroundings, it also gives interesting insights on the perception of “Things Korean” among the expats living in Korea in the early 20th century. Excerpts from this film will be shown during the length of the lecture, which will discuss about the history of Korean nationalism associated with Korean geography, the development of modern geographical knowledge, and the process of “knowledge-making” related to them, done by various subjects (Koreans, Japanese, “Foreigners”) in the early 20th century.

BIO:
Jihoon Suk received his BA and MA in Korean modern history in Yonsei University. After studying in Asian Studies program at the Asian Languages and Cultures (ALC) department at University of Michigan, he is currently doing his Ph.D. in Korean modern history in Yonsei University. His primary research focuses on the role of modern (non-textual) media in the creation of the “sense” of cultural Korean-ness in the 20^th He is also an avid collector and archivist of vintage sound recordings and film, having been working with various museums and archives in Korea and around the world, including The Independence Hall Museum of Korea, The National Archives of Korea, The National Library of Korea, The Korean Film Archive, The National Gugak Center, U.S. Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

VENUE: Online Zoom & In-person 

In-Person: First floor of KOTE (인사동 코트), located in Insadong-gil 7, Jongno-gu, Seoul (a short walk from Exit 3 of Jonggak Station (Line 1) or from Exit 5 of Jongno-3(sam)-ga Station (Line 5))  * No RSVP required. 

• Guide Map Link:
  From Exit 3 of Jonggak Station (Metro LINE 1)
  From Exit 5 of Jongno-3(sam)-ga Station (Metro LINE 5)

Online Zoom: Please RSVP by October 9 (Monday) to receive the link

☞ Payment to be remitted to the following account:

• SHINHAN BANK #100-026-383501 (왕립아세아학회, RAS-KB)
• PAYPAL: https://paypal.me/RASKorea

* Free for Members of RAS Korea and RAS Associates (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and London)