This talk explores the interplay between aesthetics, performance, and diasporic politics. Dr. Elizabeth W. Son will focus on the peace advocacy of Women Cross DMZ, a Korean diasporic-led collective of feminist activists who are calling for a formal end to the Korean War and the centering of women in peacebuilding processes. During peace symposia in North Korea and South Korea and walks in 2015, Women Cross DMZ utilized objects - scarves, banners, and quilts - inspired by jogakbo, a Korean patchwork-style cloth that originated during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Looking at the multiple crossings of Women Cross DMZ through jogakbo as an object and process attunes us to the temporal and scalar aspects of varied practices of peace advocacy.

Dr. Elizabeth W. Son is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University, with faculty affiliations in Asian American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Performance Studies. She is an award-winning author, educator, and public scholar dedicated to researching and uplifting Korean and Korean diasporic women's involvement in the performing arts and activism. Dr. Son is the author of the award-winning book Embodied Reckonings: "Comfort Women," Performance, and Transpacific Redress (2018), among other articles, book chapters, and public scholarship. She is currently completing her next book titled Diasporic Care: Performance, Histories, and Communities, which looks at how Korean diasporic women artists and activists navigate the enduring reverberations of war, militarization, and displacement. Dedicated to working with Asian American community organizations on gender-based justice issues, Dr. Son also partners with Chicago-based KAN-WIN as a co-founding member of their "comfort women" justice advocacy team.

The 2026 Global Korea Awards celebrate individuals and groups who have made significant contributions to cross-cultural understanding, global education, and the well-being of Korean communities around the world. Established in 1995 by the Council on Korean Studies at Michigan State University, the awards recognize exceptional dedication to strengthening global connections, advancing education, and promoting greater understanding of Korea and its impact on the international community.

Join us in honoring this year's awardees and celebrating their remarkable contributions to bridging cultures and fostering global engagement.

Join Federico Marcon of Princeton University for a discussion of the contested history of fascism in Japan. The question of when Japan "turned fascist" has no single answer and may be impossible to answer definitively. This talk examines the historical record, changing scholarly interpretations, and broader questions about whether "fascism" is an appropriate category for understanding modern Japanese history.

Yanniv David Levy is a researcher and curator in the Coin Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), with a specialty in experimental technologies and numismatics. In addition to managing the Mediterranean's largest collection of ancient coins with archaeological provenance, Yanniv has worked extensively with computer scientists on machine learning applications for the study of Roman and Hellenistic coins. He also works in the field with IAA excavations, such as the recent Old City dig at the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, Davidson Center, which uncovered a rare coin minted by Jewish rebels in the months before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

Limited seating. Contact Ariana Mentzel if you would like to reserve a seat: mentzela(at)msu.edu.

Inspired by The Vegetarian, the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Han Kang, Transfigurations is an interdisciplinary work performed by the Lisa Sung Ensemble and created, composed, and curated by Korean American jazz pianist and composer Lisa Sung. Centered on Sung's original song cycle and contemporary improvisations, the performance brings selected passages from the novel into dialogue with music, voice, and movement.

For this presentation hosted by the MSU College of Music, Sung collaborates with theatre director Ji Won Jeon, whose staging integrates spoken text, expressive movement, and musical performance. Through passages drawn from the novel, actors and musicians explore the experiences of the novel's main character, tracing her resistance to the expectations imposed on her body, family, and identity.

Presented with support from the Asian Studies Center and Council on Korean Studies at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan's Nam Center for Korean Studies, the Lisa Sung Ensemble brings Transfigurations to life through sound, language, and movement, exploring themes of silence, violence, resistance, and transformation.

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The Maccabean Crisis that ended in Hanukah (164 BCE) is often remembered as a famous cultural conflict against or over Hellenism. But to truly understand what the Maccabees were fighting for or against, we need to know what the arrival of Seleucid rulers in 198 BCE meant for regular people, and coinage can provide that perspective.

During the Roman Civil War of 49-45 BCE that pitted Caesar and his party against Pompey and his supporters, Jews in Asia Minor (Turkey) and on the east Greek island of Cos found themselves caught in the middle. Here, too, the images on coins provide unique historical insights.

Noah Kaye is an associate professor in the History Department at MSU and an affiliate faculty member of the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel. He has published articles on the world of the Maccabees in journals such as Historia and the Journal for the Study of Judaism. He is currently working with Israeli archaeologists to find new ways of seeing the past by using data science to investigate the coin archive of the Israel Antiquities Authority.