Dong-A University Gender and Affect Research Institute Hosts International Conference "Historical Perspectives After Posthuman"

Imagining Beyond the 'Posthuman'
Through Alternative Knowledge and Lives of Historical Beings

The Gender·Affect Research Institute at Dong-A University (Director Kwon Myung-ah) held the 2025 International Academic Conference titled "Historical Prospects After Posthuman."

Held over two days from the 10th to the 11th, this conference organized by Dong-A University’s Gender·Affect Research Institute was planned to reexamine the theme of posthuman through conditions such as gender, race, migration, and settlement.

Conducted via online video conferencing, the conference primarily focused on complex studies that identify the substance beyond the figure of the posthuman through alternative knowledge and lives of historical beings. Dozens of researchers, students, activists, and citizens engaged in lively discussions about alternative lives and knowledge.

On the first day, the 10th, under the theme "Spatiotemporal Studies of Alternative Existences," presentations included: "Wives of Disabled Veterans: Focusing on 'Gwiro' (1967) and 'Nun' (1979)" (Seoul National University, Lee Hwa-jin); "Mythical Biopolitics and the Affective Geography of Sanctuaries: Alternative Historicization of East Asian Bear Myths" (Dong-A University, Kwon Doo-hyun); "Women’s Knowledge and Community Ethics: Focusing on Female Wisdom Tales in Oral Folklore" (Inje University, Kang Sung-sook); "Digital Media Practices of Elderly Women during the Pandemic and the Meaning of 'Aging': Focusing on Experiences Participating in Self-Development Challenges" (Dong-A University, Choi Yi-sook); "The Arithmetic of Platform Labor: Moving Bodies and Affective Spatiotemporality" (Yongin University, Kim Na-hyun); and "'Counter' Therapy: Affective Politics and Temporality in Contemporary Taiwanese Breast Cancer Writing" (National Chengchi University, Taiwan, Chen Pei-jen).

On the second day, the 11th, under the theme "Nonhuman Studies and Counter Affects," passionate presentations and discussions continued. These included: "Modern Cities as Tourist Destinations?Settler Colonial Affects Surrounding Hot Springs and Entertainment Industries" (Dong-A University, Lee Ji-hyun); "'Morning Sea Gulls': Local Extinction and Internal Colonial Affects" (Dong-A University, Lee Ji-haeng); "Diffractive Exploration of Entangled Life and Death: Focusing on the Community-Based Art Practice Cultural Technology Journal 'Making a Shroud'" (Chonnam National University, Jung Jong-hyun); "The Reception of Psychoanalysis in the 1950s by Lee Kyu-yeop, Editor of the Magazine 'Useong'?Changes in the Concept of the Inhuman through the Intersection of Eugenics and Psychoanalysis" (Yonsei University, Kim Dae-hyun); "The Animacy of the 'Crowd' and the Affective Spatiotemporality of Physical Encounters: Foundational Research on Alternative Regionalism through Settler Colonialism and Critical Animacy Theory" (Dong-A University, Kwon Myung-ah); "Empire’s Fantasy and Optimized Bodies?Invisible Sexual Violence in Japanese Culture" (Otsuma Women’s University, Naito Chizuko); and "Drawing Race under U.S. Military Occupation?Ralph de Boissi?re’s 'Rum and Coca-Cola' and Socialist Realism" (Tokyo University of Science, Yoshida Yutaka).

Discussants included researchers such as Jo Seo-yeon (University of Tokyo), Jang Ki-young (Yonsei University), Jung Kyung-min (Korea Polytechnic University), Han Hee-jung (Kookmin University), Yoon Jong-hwan (Yonsei University), Eom Mi-ok (Sogang University), Jeon Sung-hyun (Dong-A University), Moon Jae-won (Pusan National University), Lee Soo-yoo (Academy of Korean Studies), Yeom Woon-ok (Kyung Hee University), Oh Eun-jung (Kangwon National University), Kim Hyo-jin (Seoul National University), and Ki Yoo-jung (Seoul National University).

Foreign language interpretation was provided by researchers Lee Jung-soon (Chung-Ang University) and Kagemoto Tsuyoshi (Ritsumeikan University), with online captioning services offered by AYUDI Social Cooperative.

A representative of Dong-A University’s Gender·Affect Research Institute stated, "Through this conference, we were able to reexamine various knowledges and lives that had been obscured by gendered, racialized, and indigenized frames. From this, we confirmed the possibility of different imaginations for the future."

The Gender·Affect Research Institute at Dong-A University combines research methods of affect and gender to attempt a paradigm shift in the humanities concerning subjects and bodies, life and death, illness, disability, minorities, and posthuman topics, while discovering and researching socio-cultural agendas surrounding 'connection' and 'dependency.'

'Historical Prospects After Posthuman'. Provided by Dong-A University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.