Title
The Dreams of Male Gardeners: Urban Gardens on the Korean Homefront, 1941-1945
Abstract
In this talk, Dr. Sunho Ko delved into a wartime gardening campaign in colonial Korea between 1941 and 1945, exploring how urban food production intersected with the formation of male subjectivity within the domestic space during the war years. Rather than portraying subject formation as solely dictated by state directives, Ko highlighted the interplay between everyday gardening practices and diverse aspirations of the era. Specifically, he paid close attention to the class and gendered aspirations of male gardeners who aimed to cultivate an idealized sense of self and lifestyle.
Biography
Sunho Ko is Korean Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a historian of modern Korea with expertise in food and agriculture. Dr. Ko received his PhD in East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. He is currently working on a book manuscript, Food for Empire: Wartime Food Politics on the Korean Homefront, 1937-1945. His research focuses on the intersection between food, everyday life, war, and colonialism. He is also expanding his research interests into postcolonial, socialist food production and consumption with a focus on North Korea in the 1950s and 60s Cold War context.