• David Sanders - Founder of halfkorean.com
    Apr 30 2024

    David Lee Sanders is the founder of halfkorean.com, a website "dedicated to providing information and acting as an extended family and network for mixed Koreans." Over the last few decades, Sanders has interviewed and written about many notable mixed-race Koreans in arts, sports, entertainment, and other industries. During the conversation, he discusses the origins of his website, past interviews, current goals he has for the website, and the mixed-race Korean community. Sanders is also a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and works as a real estate property manager.

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    53 mins
  • David Chung - Koryo Saram, Film about Koreans in Central Asia
    Mar 11 2024

    Koryo Saram: The Unreliable People is a documentary released in 2006 by Y. David Chung, a filmmaker, visual artist, and faculty member at the University of Michigan. The documentary details the migration history of Koreans in Kazakhstan, including their deportation from Far East Russia to Central Asia, orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Along the way, the documentary also discusses the complex identity of Koreans in Kazakhstan and how they have integrated into Kazakh society. During the conversation, Chung discusses different aspects of his film and new insights he has about Koryo Saram, or the Koreans of Central Asia.

    Link: http://www.koryosaram.net/

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    45 mins
  • Emanuel Hahn - Koreatown Dreaming, Written by a Third Culture Kid
    Jan 29 2024

    Emanuel Hahn is an LA-based photographer and director who has recently released the second edition of his highly acclaimed book "Koreatown Dreaming," which depicts individual businesses in Koreatowns across the U.S. through photography and written narratives. Hahn, who is of Korean descent, grew up in Saipan, Singapore, and Cambodia before moving to the U.S. for college. During the conversation, Hahn discusses how his early life as a third-culture kid piqued his interest in the Korean diaspora and ultimately led him to document the Korean diaspora through photography. He also details the process of creating "Koreatown Dreaming" and the reasons behind its different aspects such as its structure and photography style.

    Koreatown Dreaming: https://www.emanuelhahn.com/koreatowndreaming

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Junko Takeda - Undocumented Immigrant with Japanese Korean Roots
    Oct 23 2023

    Junko Takeda is a history professor at Syracuse University with research interests in early modern European and Asian American history. Takeda was born in Japan to a Zainichi Korean father and Japanese mother and eventually moved to the United States in her father's efforts to flee ethnic persecution in Japan. Along the way, she and her parents faced issues regarding their immigration status and were undocumented for much of their lives. In the interview, Takeda discusses how she and her family handled difficulties from their undocumented status and bi-ethnic identity.

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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Sharon A. Suh, PhD - Korean American Religion and Buddhism
    Sep 6 2023

    Sharon A. Suh is a Theology and Religious Studies professor focusing on Buddhism at Seattle University. During the conversation, Suh touches upon Korean American religious demographics with discussion of the conversion of many Korean American immigrants to Christianity. She also highlights aspects of the Korean American Buddhist experience such as community building, double minority status, and the growing social awareness of young Korean American Buddhists.

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    47 mins
  • Benjamin Coz - A Korean Adoptee's Life within a Global Framework
    Mar 20 2023

    Benjamin Coz is an admissions consultant and avid breakdancer from Minnesota who currently lives in Korea. Growing up, Coz was confused by his Korean identity and felt alienated in a community with few to no Koreans. During the hour, he discussed how he learned to navigate his Korean and Korean adoptee identities through his education and life in Korea and how Korean adoptees' lives fit into a global framework of intercountry adoption and geopolitics.

    If you would like to learn more about Korean adoptees, you can visit the sites below:

    1. Global Oversees Adoptees Link (GOAL): https://goal.or.kr/

    2. Solidarity and Political Engagement of Adoptees in Korea (SPEAK): https://adopteesspeak.wordpress.com/

    3. Adoptee Solidarity Korea (ASK): https://www.facebook.com/AdopteeSolidarityKorea/

    4. Ibyang International Network (IbyangIN): https://www.ibyangin.org/

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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Albert Kim - Korean American Journalist in Seoul
    Feb 27 2023

    In this episode, host Joon Won Park interviews Albert Kim, a freelance journalist and filmmaker in Seoul. They discuss Kim's early life in America and his motive for moving to Korea. Later, they delve into his adjustment to life in Korea and the view of overseas Koreans or Gyopos in Korea, with a nuanced discussion of different Gyopo groups. Finally, they touch upon the duality of the Korean American identity and how it becomes pronounced for Korean Americans living in Korea. 

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    53 mins
  • Angela Park - Korean Brazilian Teacher from New York City
    Jan 8 2023

    In this episode, host Joon Won Park interviews Angela Park, a Brazilian graduate student of Korean descent at Teacher's College at Columbia University. Together, they talk about her Korean Brazilian background with a walkthrough of her early life along with how her background has affected her experience as a student and working professional in the United States. They also talk extensively about racial and ethnic identity and how such concepts compare between the U.S. and Brazil. Finally, the conversation ends with a chat about "futebol" and the recent World Cup match between Korea and Brazil. 

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    1 hr and 35 mins