Professor Brandon Hamber
Director of INCORE
Cordially invites you to the next seminar in the
Accounts of the Conflict Seminar Series
by
Ramsay Liem
entitled
'The Art of Remembering: Evoking Memories and Legacies of the Korean War'

At 12.00 p.m. on Thursday 19 June 2014
In The MAC, 10 Exchange Street West, Belfast, BT1 2NJ
A light lunch will be served after the seminar at 12.45p.m

Followed at 1.15pm

By a Screening of Ramsay Liem's 2013 film - Memory of a Forgotten War (37 minutes)

RSVP by 12 June 2014 to Janet Farren, JE.Farren@ulster.ac.uk or tel 028 7167 5575

The Korean War (1950-1953) is un-ended. It was temporarily halted by an armistice agreement that has never been replaced with a peace agreement. In the United States the war has been virtually erased from collective memory in spite of its appalling human and material costs, the command of allied forces by the U.S. military, and the war's pivotal role in shaping U.S. Cold War foreign policy. In the popular culture the fighting in Korea is remembered, paradoxically, as the "Forgotten War". Especially missing from public discourse are the voices of Korean Americans, civilians during the conflict who eventually immigrated to the United States. The focus of Ramsay Liem's work has been to uncover survivor memories and create spaces where personal stories can engage public dialogue and mobilize support for a long overdue reckoning of the stalemated Korean War. Toward these ends he has conducted oral histories with Korean American elders and their children, organized a collective of artists to create a multi-media exhibit embodying themes from these interviews, and co-directed a documentary film interweaving war memories, the history and chronology of the war, and archival footage. Ramsay Liem will focus on the multi-media exhibit Still Present Pasts: Korean Americans and the "Forgotten War" during the seminar using the interactive, online website (www.stillpresentpasts.org) to illustrate the oral history work.

Ramsay Liem is professor emeritus of psychology and visiting scholar at the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College. His interests include the intergenerational transmission of historical trauma and the social and historical contexts of Asian American identity formation. He served as co-coordinator for the Asian American Studies Program, continues to teach a seminar on Culture, Identity, and Asian American Experience, and mentors student organizations e.g. the Asian Caucus and Korean Student Association. He is responsible for the oral history project Korean American Memories of the Korean War and served as project director for the multi-media exhibit, Still Present Pasts: Korean Americans and the "Forgotten War" (www.stillpresentpasts.org). The documentary film, "Memory of Forgotten War", is the most recent product of his work on Korean American legacies of the Korean War. Liem also works on related issues outside the university with organizations devoted to U.S.-Korea relations, Korean reconciliation and unification, Asian American media arts, and human rights and mental health.

Accounts of the Conflict will create an on-line digital archive which will offer long-term storage and preservation of a range of personal accounts relating to life in Northern Ireland and the border region during the period of the conflict.

Individuals, groups and organisations will be able to deposit digital copies of personal accounts with the new archive.

The Accounts of the Conflict project is a 2 year project funded by the European Union's PEACE III programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

The project will be delivered by INCORE (International Conflict Research Institute), based at the University of Ulster. Work on the project commenced in January 2013 and will be completed in December 2014.