Turns out that South Korea is investing a lot of money into promoting the study of Korean history and culture in Spanish universities. Probably elsewhere too, because if they only did it in Spain, that would be a little random.
As a result, there are several presentations at this conference about South Korea. These presentations stick out like sore thumbs because they are in no way related to everything else that is done at the conference. There is a talk titled “Issues of Identity in the Literature of Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, and South Korea.” There are several students who are defending doctoral dissertations on Korea at the Department of Philology of the University of Salamanca. What they’re going to do with these dissertations after defending them is unclear. But the humanities are severely underfunded in Spain, and who can blame people for jumping at an opportunity to get funding?
South Koreans should be commended for investing money in promoting their culture overseas. This is what a strong national government does. Yes, the presentations at this conference sound a little random. But that’s okay. The important thing is to get people used to the idea that your culture is something worth researching and talking about.
Ukrainians constantly complain that nobody knows that Ukrainian literature and culture exist. But these complaints ring hollow. In the 30 years of pre-war independence nothing whatsoever was done to promote the study of Ukrainian culture overseas.
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