East Asian Studies/Sociology lecture: Hae Yeon Choo

Description

Dr. Hae Yeon Choo, an associate professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, will give a talk entitled "The Dictatorship of Capital: Urban Redevelopment and the Question of Violence in Post-Authoritarian South Korea." This event is co-sponsored by the East Asian Studies Program and the Sociology Department.

Abstract:

This talk examines the relationship between democratic citizenship, capitalist profit-making, and violence. In particular, it focuses on an evictee protest against urban redevelopment in Yongsan, South Korea, in 2009, resulting in a fatal police raid. Based on the parliamentary hearings, court documents, and oral history from protesters in the aftermath of what has been called the Yongsan disaster, I delve into how evictee protesters theorize the conditions of displacement and exclusion from urban space and citizenship as "the dictatorship of capital." Situating the Yongsan disaster in the socio-political context of South Korea, I pay attention to the social movement legacy of evictee movements and their increasing isolation and unexpected revitalization in post-authoritarian South Korea. By examining the voices of evictee activists, this talk sheds light on the limits of formal democracy and the vision of radical democracy based on the politics of "the have-nots."