Dr. Eun Ah Cho, assistant professor of Korean language and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Kansas, will examine how North Korean female refugees’ narratives against the established images and stereotypical stories that have shaped their representation. She juxtaposes autobiographical accounts—both written and spoken—by well-known North Korean female refugees with recently published short stories and works of science fiction written by North Korean female defector authors. Through this comparison, Cho discusses how these fictional counter-narratives perform a kind of literary vengeance on the solidified imagination of readers.
Dr. Cho’s lecture, “Post-border Poetics: North Korean Refugees and Politics of Narratives,” will take place on Thursday, February 5, 2026.
Dr. Eun Ah Cho is the assistant professor of Korean language and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Kansas. Her work explores literary, cinematic, and media representations of marginalized individuals, with a focus on how discourses of (ab)normalcy are constructed in Korean society. She is currently completing her book project, Post-Border Poetics: North Korean Refugees and Politics of Narratives, which examines the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of North Korean refugee life with an emphasis on gender. Her second project explores the intersection of sexuality and disability in aging bodies. Her work has appeared in Positions: Asia Critique, Situations, and CrossCurrents among other journals.
The Korean Studies Research Network aims to bring together scholars whose research focuses on Korea-related topics and to provide mentoring to emerging scholars. It serves as a platform for collaborative and interdisciplinary research among scholars and graduate students at the University of Iowa and other institutions across the Midwest through seminars, speaker series, and workshops.
This event is made possible through generous support from the Stanley University of Iowa Foundation Support Organization and International Programs.