Korean Cultural Celebration Day

Share an experience of Korean cultural traditions, and join us for our celebration day as we showcase a wonderful world of Korean heritage.

Explore Jeju Haenyeo – a photographic exhibition about the remarkable women divers from South Korea known as Haenyeo (sea women) – and enjoy free craft activities and workshops for young people that celebrate the exquisite undersea world of these amazing women. Create a charming hanging Haenyeo mobile or join in our workshops to make a Haenyeo themed 'mood lighting' lantern or a beautiful music box.

Enjoy a visual feast with the Korean Traditional Culture and Arts Inc. community dance group as they showcase a series of performances.

Consider the traditions of Korean community life with and the role of pioneering women and the stories that surround them with cultural researchers Susan Broomhall and Jae-Eun Noh.

This event is presented with support from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

Craft workshops

10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm

Make a Haenyeo themed 'mood lighting' lantern or a beautiful music box.

Craft workshops have limited capacity. Book now to reserve a place.

Lantern: 10am, 12pm | Music box: 11am, 1pm

Performances

2.30pm & 3pm

Enjoy a visual feast with the Korean Traditional Culture and Arts Inc. community dance group as they showcase a series of performances, including:

• Harp Performance
• Drum Dance 
• Fan Dance 
• Creative Dance 
• Palace Dance 

Presentations

11am – 12pm

Women, Island and Sea: From Legend to K-Drama

Prof Susan Broomhall

Honorary Research Fellow, Korea Research Centre, The University of Western Australia

Stories of women are powerfully embedded in the culture of Jeju Island. This talk explores how mythic women shaped the landscape of Jeju Island and historical women influenced life on the island. More broadly, women's relationship to the sea has engaged myth and modern dramas in ways that reveal ideas and realities of women's lives. We will examine long-held myths about women and the sea, and how they are given new life and meaning in K-pop and K-drama today.

Professor Susan Broomhall leads the Gender and Women's History Research Centre at the Australian Catholic University, and is an Honorary Research Fellow, Korea Research Centre, The University of Western Australia. She researches women's lives in Joseon Korea and is currently completing a book on how women were depicted in Korean, Japanese and European sources in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

20 minutes

Legacy of Jeju sea women: Remembering my grandma

Dr Jae-Eun Noh

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Korea Research Centre, The University of Western Australia

Stories of Jeju sea women, including my grandmother and my aunt, can provide insights into contemporary issues: gendered roles, community building, and sustainable ways of harvesting. I will share my family story, focusing on the lives of my grandmother and the oldest aunt as sea women. Then, informed by the historical, social and cultural contexts of Jeju island, I will look at the lives of sea women from the perspectives of a person who has studied social development.

Dr. Jae-Eun Noh is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Korea Research Centre at the University of Western Australia. Jae-Eun’s research has focused on social development theories and practices in international settings. Her research interests and perspectives were influenced by her childhood in Jeju island and work experience in development NGOs in Korea and Bangladesh.

20 minutes, video presentation