From heart-to-heart chats to 'national conversations', dialogue is often held up as a model of responsible and productive interaction. Yet at times, calls for more dialogue seem to mask monological presuppositions that 'everyone' will end up agreeing to the same thing.

In this talk, Professor Matt Tomlinson examines the different meanings of monologue and dialogue and the ways they are related in political and religious speech. Drawing on detailed and long-term ethnographic research in Fiji, Samoa, and Australia, he describes the ways in which political and religious speakers make claims about what counts as dialogue, who gets to participate, and what happens when dialogue fails to take shape or falls apart. Examples come from diverse contexts ranging from casual kava-session conversations to formal chiefly oratory and from spirit mediums’ dialogues with the dead to preachers’ assertions of what they consider universal truths. In examining the relationship between monologue and dialogue, Matt explores themes of challenge, vulnerability, consensus, and commitment. Ultimately, monologue and dialogue can be seen as always co-present tendencies in particular political and religious speech genres.

Agenda

6-7pm Academic Lecture

7-7.30pm Networking drinks & canapes

About the Speaker

Matt Tomlinson is Professor at the School of Culture, History and Language in the College of Asia and the Pacific.

He is a sociocultural anthropologist who studies the relationship between language, politics, and religious ritual. His work focuses on how people organise themselves to communicate with 'extrahuman' figures (including God, ancestors, and spirits) and what social effects such ritual communication has.

Matt's diverse research interests encompass various aspects of Oceania, including Fiji, Samoa, and Australia. He delves into language, culture, religion, ritual, theology, Christianity, and spiritualism.

Read more about Matt's profile here.

Professorial Lecture Series

This public lecture is the second in a series of four lectures that aim to celebrate our esteemed academics and showcase their areas of expertise in research and teaching.

The ANU Korea Update is the University’s flagship annual conference on Korea. This year’s Korea Update is introducing a hybrid format. The ANU Korea Institute is bringing together academics from all over the world to talk about all things Korea, whilst also presenting the event online. We are lucky enough to have esteemed economist Ruediger Frank deliver the opening keynote, and renowned cultural geographer Ju Hui Judy Han deliver the closing keynote.
 
Spread across two days, the 2022 Korea Update is a public event bringing together key representatives from the academic and policymaking communities to discuss current socio-cultural, political, diplomatic, gender and security issues related to the Korean peninsula.

Recordings of all the sessions are available on this CAP Vimeo showcase page.

Program

Monday 21 November

4pm-4.30pm Light refreshments

4.30pm WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

• Ambassador His Excellency Jeong-sik Kang, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Australia
• Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt, ANU
• Moderators: Associate Professor Ruth Barraclough and Dr Eunseon Kim, ANU

5pm OPENING KEYNOTE: North Korea after Ukraine (Video)

• Professor Ruediger Frank, Vienna University
• Moderator: Associate Professor Roald Maliangkaij, ANU

Tuesday 22 November

9am PANEL ONE: Korea's relations with the world (Video)

• Korea-Australia relationship: Focusing on people to people links - Professor Kyounghee Moon, Changwon National University
• The Korea-Japan relationship - Dr Lauren Richardson, ANU
• Russia and the Two Koreas - Dr Leonid Petrov, ANU
• Moderator: Dr Peter Lee, University of Melbourne

10.40am - 11am Morning tea break

11am PANEL TWO: Global North Korea (Video)

• 'Global' North Korea, gender politics, and family as a metaphor - Dr Eun Ah Cho, University of Sydney
• An unusual isolation: North Korea's international economic ties - Professor Justin Hastings, University of Sydney
• Moderator: Professor Kyung Moon Hwang, ANU

12pm-1pm PANEL THREE: Politics in South Korea (Video)

• Protesting Seoul: Mega-protest events and place-making in the global city - Associate Professor Jennifer Chun, UCLA
• Scenes from the Political Culture in South Korea - Professor Kyung Moon Hwang, ANU
• Moderator: Professor Kyounghee Moon, Changwon National University

1pm-2pm Lunch break

2pm PANEL FOUR: Economy (Video)

• Manna from Mars: The 'Miracle' of South Korea’s militarised capitalism - Assistant Professor Peter Kwon, University at Albany
• The next (green) miracle on the Han River: Understanding the rise and rise of Green Growth in South Korea’s democratic polity - Dr Sung Young Kim, Macquarie University
• Moderator: Ms Georgina Carnegie, Australia Korea Business Council

3pm PANEL FIVE: Culture (Video)

• From cybernetics to mass surveillance: North Korea's technological history and our digital future - Dr Benoit Berthelier, University of Sydney
• From Chosŏn (Joseon) to Gen Z: Gugak’s place in 21st Century Korea - Dr Hilary Finchum-Sung, Association for Asian Studies
• Moderator: Dr Eunseon Kim, ANU

4pm-4.30pm Afternoon refreshments

4.30pm CLOSING KEYNOTE: Queer throughlines: Activist lines and uneven geometries in South Korea and the diaspora (Video)

• Assistant Professor Ju Hui Judy Han, UCLA
• Moderator: Associate Professor Ruth Barraclough, ANU
   

How to Register for the 2022 Korea Update, using the Zoom Events platform (pdf)