Yongho Kim

Category: english

  • refreshed

    Yongho Kim: I drink coffee for strictly caffeine absorption purposes
    Sung Kyu Lee: i once drank 5 coffees in one sitting and got really sick, diaharrea and everything
    Yongho Kim: I got diarrea too out of eating two meals of cereals in a row
    Sung Kyu Lee: ahahaha
    Yongho Kim: green stuff
    Sung Kyu Lee: oh man
    Sung Kyu Lee: that’s nasty

  • Gender – China

    Intro. To talk about current issues of gender inequality in China is to talk about the consequences of a quickly developing socialist society with a patriarchal, agriculturally intensive and confucianist tradition.

    (more…)

  • Critical Book Review of Tracing the Veins

    History of Modern Latin America
    Profesor Javier Morillo-Alicea
    November 11th, 2002
    Yongho Kim

    The book Tracing the Veins: Of Copper, Culture, and Community from Butte to Chuquicamata by Janet Finn is a study of two mining societies owned by one company. She intends to break off from the traditional way of viewing local histories as the stories of nations, and to instead approach a company, Anaconda, which exercised heavy influence over both Butte and Chuquicamata, as the analytic unit. By doing so, she is arguing that to bracket objects of study in terms of nations is not as obvious as we might think, but that it even produces confusion in places like Chuquicamata, in which the prevalent social issues not only arise from the local situation but of a larger situation.

    In her first two chapters, Janet outlines the history of Butte’s laboral movement in relationship with the Anaconda Corporation. She then proceeds to define the history of Chuquicamata, the background of the region as a producer of nitrates and later copper. The particular domestic political history of Chile and the international background of such events as the Vietnam War are provided as a reference to domestic situations, ending with Salvador Allende’s nationalization of the mines, and the following military government. In doing so she follows a more or less official storyline along with remarks on superficial social inequalities within the mining industry, particularly Chuquicamata.

    In the next chapters, Finn delves into the daily lives of the people and the organization of the labor movement in both Chuquicamata and Butte. She describes the propagandistic methods of the Anaconda Corporation to create a contrasting image of developed Yankees and underdeveloped Chileans, and the tradition being continued after the nationalization, the military government, and the “democratic” civil government. Particularly, I believe the author had more to say about the chapter on “the crafting of everyday life” but she chose to omit for political reasons or lack of particular examples.

    The author’s thesis, although not explicitly stated in the introductory pages, seems to be a reaffirmation of contemporary anthropological concept of approaching the non-western civilization just as a sociologist would approach the western civilization.
    Still, the way Finn approaches the two societies says something about the current pre-conceived idea of history as a discipline in many history students. She struggles to bring the individual narratives of working women and men up to the sociological meticulosity of those living in Butte. Despite her efforts and a much better result than classical anthropological writings, I still read a notion of “them” towards the people of Chuquicamata who talk in Finn’s book. They’re given special consideration throughout the argument, and it’s good that Butte’s people are represented as thoroughly as their Chilean counterparts.

    But Butte’s people are portrayed as a certain standard against which Chuquicamata people must be compared. For example, the labor movement in Butte has an intellectual basis but in Chuquicamata it does not seem to be so. The beginning of each chapter has a citation to one person from either community, and one social theorist who will always be either European or North American. Also, the interviews seem to have been carried in such a way that the miners in Chuquicamata will sound in more simplistic, or less learned ways. I don’t know if this is because of a rough translation, or the disposition of the interviewed people, but this definitely comes to reaffirm the stereotype that latin American people enjoy raw nature and dancing while “Westerners” are serious workers. In this sense, then, I would question the author’s claim in that she overcame the cultural bias prevalent in the western social sciences.

    In sum, the book challenges and breaks the notion of nation as an analytic unit, and contributes to a better knowledge of the so-called underdeveloped societies by describing the complexities and similarities of such societies to those considered western.

  • Proposal: Nationalism in Argentina

    Paper Topic Proposal

    History of Modern Latin America
    Profesor Javier Morillo-Alicea
    November 5th, 2002
    Yongho Kim

    I will write my paper on the influence that Argentinian nationalistic self-image had on the ignition of dirty war and regional violence during Peronism and the military coup.
    In Prisoner without a name, cell without a number, Timberman indicates that for the government and all major terrorist groups in Argentina “this barbarism… must be eradicated before it is possible to enter Civilization” (20) I believe he intentionally paraphrases Sarmiento’s idea that there is a barbarous portion to Argentina, an alien portion that doesn’t “naturally” belong to it, and thus must be cleaned in order to hold a national “soul”. This argument justifies the militia that intends to exterminate every person related to the political opposing their own, anyone who protests publicly against them, and all “those who remember their names”. (50)
    My argument develops from a hint Timberman leaves in the end of his book. He suggests on a passing note that Argentina, being the most advanced nation of Latin America, was overcome with the same Nazi paranoia that once overcame the most advanced nation of Europe. I have a vague intuition from our previous readings that nationalism, at the same time it delineates the citizens of a nation in a “horizontal camaraderie”, also isolates the population as a group against all other groups not recognized as “our nation”.
    For this, I am looking forward to read several articles on the pre-peronist development of nationalism and the “standardized” imagined nation in Argentina, and on the racial melting-pot ideology. Argentine media coverage on the political issues of the time would be helpful if available.

    The already assigned readings including: Keyth/Haynes, Sarmiento, Anderson and Knudson.

    Rock, David. Authoritarian Argentina: The Nationalist Movement, Its History and Its Impact. (University of California, 1993)

    Joseph, Galen. “Taking Race Seriously: Whiteness in Argentina’s National and Transnational Imaginary. (Whiteness in the Field)”, Identities, Sept 2000 v7 i3 p333-72
    Abstract: Middle class portenos (the inhabitants of Buenos Aires) display their ambivalence about the whiteness of Argentina and their own belonging to the nation through their use of the intermittently racializing discourse of “seriousness.” The discourse of “seriousness” is used to talk about the status of Argentina’s political, economic, and cultural “development” and Argentina’s place in the global hierarchy of nations. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1994-1997), this essay analyzes the contradictions of porteno articulations and disarticulations of their own Argentine-ness in relation to racial identity. The analysis centers on how portenos’ assessments of President Carlos Menem’s representative-ness reflect the instability of racial norms in contemporary Argentina. Portenos’ ambiguous position in their own national and transnational imaginary – privileged within Argentina but marginal in the world – is reflected in their use of racial categories and racializing discourses.

    Delaney, Jean H. “Imagining El ser Argentino: cultural nationalism and romantic concepts of nationhood in early twentieth-century Argentina”, Journal of Latin American Studies, August 2002 v34 i3 p625-59
    Abstract: This article reexamines early twentieth-century Argentine cultural nationalism, arguing that the movement’s true significance rests in its promotion of a vision of Argentine nationhood that closely resembled the ideal of the folk nation upheld by German romanticism. Drawing from recent theoretical literature on ethnic nationalism, the article examines the political implications of this movement and explores the way in which the vigorous promotion of the ethnocultural vision of argentinidad by cultural nationalists served to detach definitions of Argentine identity from constitutional foundations and from the ideas of citizenship and popular sovereignty. It also challenges the accepted view that Argentine cultural nationalism represented a radical break with late nineteenth-century positivism. Positivist ideas about social organicism, collective character and historical determinism all helped paved the way for the Romantic vision of nationhood celebrated by the cultural nationalists.

    Spektorowski, Alberto. “The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43”, Journal of Contemporary History, v29, i1 (Jan 1994), 155-184

    Metz, Allan. “Leopoldo Lugones and the Jews: the contradictions of Argentine nationalism”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Jan 1992 v15 n1 p36-61
    Abstract: The purpose of this article is to present the opinions of the Argentine intellectual, Leopoldo Lugones, regarding the Jews and the reasons for his seemingly contradictory attitudes towards them that mirror both the general precariousness of Jewish existence in Argentina and the contradictions of Argentine nationalism. Moreover, these writings also reveal other related aspects of Lugones’ thought and provide a partial overview of Argentine nationalistic thought from the beginning of the twentieth century to the late 1930s, thereby offering insights into the nature and evolution of Argentine nationalism in reaction to Jews and other immigrant groups.

    Carlson, Eric S. “The Influence of French “Revolutionary War” Ideology on the Use of Torture in Argentina’s “Dirty War””, Human Rights Review, April-June 2000 v1 i4 p71
    Extract: In this article, I explore the influence of the French mission on the Argentine Armed Forces, specifically as it relates to El Proceso’s campaign of mass torture [5] from 1976-1982. In doing so, I shall outline what I consider the three essential components of the fused French/Argentine ideology: the holy mission of the soldier; the demonic nature of the enemy; and the inadequacy of the legal system to deal with a struggle between the two.

    Schneider, Arnd. Futures Lost: nostalgia and identity among Italian immigrants in Argentina. (Peter Lang, 2001)
    Extract: Schneider deems Argentine identity to be extremely fragile; a consequence of the dominant position of the melting-pot ideology and the attempts by the Argentine state to overcome the particularities of immigrant cultures offering a standardized idea of Argentina through education. This, he argues, has impeded the individual’s anchorage for his or her identity in a specific tradition.

  • Spring 2002 class quotes or memorable momenta bursting out of the green

    Modern Philosophy
    Hans: On a sidenote, it seems like we could make an analogy between the Humean attitude of aggressive all-negation to that in… umm.. music, for example.
    Gundy: So Hume is the heavy metal of philosophy!
    Kevin: Yeah!
    Phil31 is offered every spring
    But Gundy teaches every semester.

    Analytic Chem
    Kuwata: so can anyone explain why our EDTA chelate will only hydrolize four ions and not these (indicates possible inner hydrogen ligands) other two? Would you predict they will hydrolize as the titration is put forward or maybe during a back titration?
    Yongho: Well probably it’s because of the intramolecular forces, mainly oxide groups put so close together.. and the increase of ionic radius because of hydrolysis… (bunch of inconvex facts) from which we could predict a complete octahedral chelating effect after the second titration point.
    Kuwata: Actually, … you make a good point, but at the conclusion you’re completely wrong.
    Chem23 is offered every spring
    Yongho: Oh, then they won’t hydrolize!

    Symbolic Logic:
    Folina: I’ll give you a concrete example so you can understand the paradox of material implication more clearly. So, say, televisions do exist. Then, if televisions don’t exist, the moon is made of green cheese!
    [Students stare at the whiteboard in the middle of a deadly silence]
    Phil20 is offered every semester

    Cultural Studies:
    Audun: But doesn’t this antinomical circularity undermine.. on the performative level.. their discourse itself?
    Kordela: Yes, postmodernism doesn’t make sense. That’s why it’s all bullshit.
    Hcst10 is offered every semester by different professors.

  • Dingen for 2001-2002

    I posted a short quotes list in my room, I got excited about em, and decided to post an expanded list of the memorable things during my stay of Mac during 01-02.

    Following the greek tradition, I shall separate them in academic disciplines: (don’t quote me on this Kat, I really didn’t know what to put between “the” and “tradition”)
    Geography. During second week of april (PFs visit weekend) I met a little kid, three years old, riding a tricicle. He was boom=booing aroud her mom between DeWitt and Old Main. All of the sudden though, he stopped in cold and shouted her: “Mommy, can we go to some mountain? I wanna ride in inclined floor”
    African American Studies. I was commenting a guy I just got to know (somewhere in September) that I found it interesting that he had non-black hands (he was black). I explained him that I had never seen a black guy before. He became extremely alarmed and told me to shut down and watch for my mouth.
    Cultural Studies. my roommate insists that american middle class people don’t have culture. Back at high school in Chile my high school teacher would insist that the chilean society doesn’t have culture.
    Math. (1) Mike was studying calc in the campus center… he saw me and shouted “Hey! Aren’t you korean? Oh, can you help me?”. Yeah right. I faild Calc1. (2) I asked Will what he thought of stats. He made a face and spit, “Oh, stats is not math… it’s.. it’s… you don’t learn anything there. It’s a crappy class filled with econ majors”
    Communication Studies:
    [PF1] So you like Mac?
    [Yong_Ho_Kim] Yeah, it’s a good place.
    [PF2] Would you get shot if you said anything other than yes?
    [Yong_Ho_Kim] You never know with the admissions folks.
    [PF2] you really don’t like them… they seem funny, at least.

    Chem:
    (….)
    Walker said “immediate retaliation shall follow” if St. Thomas doesn’t stop “manipulating data to make themselves more appealing to prospective freshmen”.

    However, inside sources reveal an even more cunning logic behind this decision. A MPIRG representative, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the rage expressed by Walker is “a sign that Mac doesn’t care about environmental awareness issues anymore”
    USTSG of course boasts of this as results of their efforts promoting environmental responsibility. However, most neighbors feel suspicious towards such a claim and keep using oxygen masks up to this day.

    [UST picture here]
    Provided by St. Thomas Admissions Website
    Will USTSG choose to hit numerical advantage?
    Meanwhile, tension between rival schools keeps on rising. Last night, hundreds of St. Thomas students marched eastward in Sumeet Avenue burning tiny trees and hammering bikes down. “If MCSG keeps insisting that the student’s t test certainty levels should be 95% and not 90%”, said Jake, “we’ll fight ’till death. If for every St. Thomas student a Macalester student dies, and our quarrel goes to conclusion, there shall be no Mac in three months.”

    [Mac picture here]
    Provided by Macalester Admissions Website
    Will Macalester succumb against hordes of Thomasites invading the campus?

    “Don’t even bother,” assures Kim “KUST*KMac is smaller than KACTC;” James is optimistic: “we will never reach conclusion.”.
    (extract of an article written for analytic chem)

    Asian Studies. I emailed a korean guy about immunization records during summer. He gave a helpful response, and appended: “Hey man, don’t go to the econ dept, they’re not worth it. Come to CS”
    German. Huener: “For those feeling a little midterm frustration with German (is this possible??), you might enjoy a few of Mark Twain’s …. essay “The Awful German Language,” at this address: cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html. They make suitable, if slightly pretentious, beach reading!”
    : [PF2] I am thinking of English. Do you know anything about the dept? [Yong_Ho_Kim] They have a very handsome renaissance english professor. [PF2] Well that’s good to know.
    Education: the library closes at 10:00pm in fridays.
    Psychology: why should you major in psychology? “…the rule of abstinence primarily concerned the analysand’s abstinence from sexual activity; if a patient implores the analyst to make love to her, the anlyst must frustrate her by refusing to do so.” – Evans, Dylan. “frustration” Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis
    Econ: I learned that econ majors are people too.
    Art: I met an international student majoring in art.
    Spanish: Go see my “picture” in the spanish dept tutors room :D
    Music: I heard a guy sing the arirang last night. That’s pretty good for diversity I guess.
    Domestic diversity.
    [PF1] So, what about the carrots?
    [PF3] carrots? ehh?
    [Yong_Ho_Kim] Carrots.. hmm.. I see them in salads often, but is that much? I don’t know. What’s wrong with carrots? They taste great!
    [PF1] Okay, never mind. i just got it into my head that Minnesotans put carrots in everything.
    [Yong_Ho_Kim] What do you think, Jake? Do Minns have a fixation for carrots?
    [PF3] not that i am aware of
    [Yong_Ho_Kim] Hehe.
    [PF3] i can’t even eat cooked carrots…soo
    [PF1] Okay. Well this will save me from much unneccessary embarrassment next year. i know what not to bring up!
    Philosophy. Gunderson: So Hume is the heavy metal of philosophy!
    Physics. A cloudy memoir of an evening class with long-bearded people talking about supersymmetry theory and breaks in uniformity of singularities in far infrared distances.
    Biology. A 25 year-old-looking prof steps into the classroom and shows a creamy pregnancy detector that works by changing its color when applied in the fingertips. She opens the tube, smells it and exclaims “Oh, it smells like pennis!”
    Sociology: [PF3] i’m curious. what attracts students from other states to macalester [PF4] snow

    I think that’s it for the moment.