For the final Theory Atelier of 2024, the K-Future Team hosted Professor Hang Kim (Department of Cultural Anthropology, Yonsei University) on December 5. Professor Kim presented his newly published book, Civil War and Hygiene (released in September), recontextualizing his research trajectory within the broader framework of Korean Studies.

The event drew an engaged audience of around 30 participants, including graduate students and fellow scholars, many of whom actively participated in the subsequent Q&A and discussion.

In Civil War and Hygiene, Professor Kim critically examines the civil war-like political logic that seeks to exclude the “other” by persistently posing the question, “Who are you?”—a logic that, he argues, underlies a collective obsession with hygiene. He uses this framework to illuminate patterns of violent exclusion in Korean society, as seen in cases such as the Yemeni refugee crisis in Jeju and public responses to queer pride parades. These dynamics, Kim contends, are deeply entangled with critiques of capitalism and colonialism.

Professor Kim also presented a thought-provoking analysis of how categorical generalizations and acts of hate-driven violence are often interconnected. His talk offered a compelling perspective on the paradox whereby universalist notions of human rights can, in practice, serve to suppress those very rights. He further explored how such contradictions relate to “the political” and shape both human life and broader social structures.