You are warmly invited to an upcoming webinar hosted by the Korean Studies Research Hub at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne:

Policy Transfer as Transcoding: The Context of German-Korean Research on Transformation 

Prof. Eun-jeung Lee (Freie Universität Berlin)

Thursday, 18 March 

6-7PM AEDT / 4-5PM KST

Online via Zoom.

Register here.

Under what conditions is a successful intercultural policy transfer possible? Is there a “golden rule” for policy transfer? If yes, what would this rule be?

Intercultural policy transfers have occurred quite often in human history. In some cases at least, they have been successful. For a long time, such processes have been characterized as processes of “learning,” “implementation,” or “lessons.” In investigating the unification and transformation of Germany and Eastern Europe, the terms used most often in Korea have been the ones of “lessons” and “learning.” However, it is said that since Germany and Europe have different cultures and institutions, Korea cannot simply adopt German unification policies. Such skepticism is warranted when framing the debate in terms of “transfers,” “lessons” and “implementation.” 

In contrast, the concept of “transcoding,” which consists in an active process of interpreting and transforming other cultures within their specific historical contexts, is less subject to such criticism. It is useful not only in the context of German-Korean unification knowledge transfer, but also to explain all kinds of intercultural transfer processes. "Transcoding" is not an established term within the humanities and social sciences. But we prefer the concept of "transcoding" over the more common term "translation," as it expresses more clearly the methodological issues involved. 

Bio:

Prof. Eun-Jeung Lee is the Director of Institute of Korean Studies, and Director of the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her research focuses on the intercultural history of political ideas and political culture. She is a Member of Academy of Art and Science Berlin-Brandenburg (former Royal Prussian Academy) as well as Academia Europea. Lee is a Member of German-Korean Advisory Council for Unification. She has served also as a Member of German-Korean Advisory Council for Foreign and Unification Policy (2014-2017). She was a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Institute for Political Science, University Halle (1994-1995); Fellow of State Sachsen-Anhalt Germany (1997-1999); and Fellow of Japan Foundation at the Aoyama Gakuin University Tokyo (2001-2002). In 2019, the South Korean Government bestowed Prof. Lee with the Order of Civil Merit (Moran Medal) for her Work in the Field of Peace and Unification.

 *Bookings are required for this webinar. Please register here. You will receive a Zoom link following registration.