Sexuality, Relationships and a History of Queer Korea

Since the end of the nineteenth century, Korea has faced waves of foreign domination, authoritarian regimes and divided development and, throughout these turbulent times, “queer” Koreans have been ignored, minimized and erased in historical narrative. But a new collection of academic writing is challenging this marginalization through critical analysis of non-normative sexuality and gender variance. On episode 96 of The Korea File academic Todd Henry, editor of ‘Queer Korea’ and an authority on Colonial Era Seoul, joins host Andre Goulet to explore a pathbreaking work of scholarship that brings Korean queerness fully into the mainstream of Korean and East Asian studies. Find out more about the book at Read 'Queer Korea', courtesy of Duke University Press at Order Todd's 2014 book 'Assimilating Seoul: Japanese Rule and the Politics of Public Space in Colonial Korea, 1910–1945’ at This episode was produced in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society- Korea Branch. To find out more about the RASKB, and to see a schedule of upcoming lectures and events, follow them on Facebook or go to You can watch previous RASKB lectures at This conversation was recorded on September 25th, 2020.

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Sexuality, Relationships and a History of Queer Korea is an episode from The Korea File by The Korea File.

This episode is 44:54 long.

This episode was published on Sep 25, 2020.

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