On October 22, the K-Future Team organized a colloquium with Professor Bodrae Kwon (Department of Korean Language and Literature, Korea University), focusing on modern and contemporary Korean literature and futurity. Introduced by Professor Jungha Kim (Department of English Language and Literature, SNU), who chaired the session, Professor Kwon delivered a lecture titled “Korean Literature and Comparative Studies: The Possibility of a Centerless Periphery or an Existing Absence.” The talk traced the trajectory of her research to date.

Professor Kwon highlighted her long-standing exploration of how systems of knowledge in modern Korea were reconfigured through the formation and reception of translated terms. She argued that translation must be understood not merely as linguistic transfer, but as a redistribution of knowledge and power. Reframing translators as active producers of knowledge rather than passive intermediaries, she suggested, opens up new possibilities for globalizing scholarly discourses emerging from non-Western contexts.

Attended by over thirty participants—including K-Future Team researchers, fellow scholars, and undergraduate and graduate students—the event further raised questions about translation as a mode of resisting imperial knowledge production, the possibility of encounters without comparison, and the potential of transcending area studies. These discussions invited reflection on how Korean studies might reconfigure its relationship with the global academy.