Welcome Message

Greetings,

I am Eun-kyung Bae, the 41st president of the Korean Association of Women's Studies.

Since the sudden declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, we Koreans have entered a winter marked by overlapping emotions: anger and resentment, a profound sense of crisis and responsibility, and anxiety and hope. As we welcome the new year, we carry forward the civic aspirations that erupted in the streets, a collective voice of solidarity that yearned "for the brilliance of the world we will meet again beyond the darkness of the world that has passed."

We stand at a critical historical juncture, a time that calls for sustained dialogue and collective action to extend that voice of solidarity as a catalyst for social transformation. It is a moment to bring together the new present that “we” are creating “here and now”, to dismantle the unjust patriarchal politics upheld by discrimination and hate, and to envision a great transition in which all, each different from the other, can imagine and participate in a politics for all.

Here, we once again reflect with gravity on the history and role of the Korean Association of Women's Studies. I recall the male-dominated monopoly of knowledge that, in the name of science and scholarship, fragmented human lives and falsely claimed universality to support the foundations of modern politics. I also honor those who have resisted this: the founding scholars who opened and safeguarded the space for "feminist studies" in the academy; the senior, mid-career, and early-career scholars who have devoted themselves to feminist knowledge production across their fields; and the next generation of students and emerging researchers. Also, I reflect on the diverse women who have asserted themselves as political, economic, and social agents, leading change across multiple arenas of society despite of their historical invisibility and marginalization. Feminism is the collective body of knowledge that has shaped transformative shifts in human history by continuously pluralizing the ways we perceive the world and by turning the lived experiences of women as subjects into knowledge.

For more than 40 years, the Korean Association of Women's Studies has been a solid foundation that has enabled all of us, including myself, to share broad and deep feminist perspectives from our respective places, even in the face of harsh realities and reactionary tides that at times felt like steps backward in history. The conditions we face today are especially severe. We witness the sharp division of discourse and social relations, concrete threats to institutions and everyday life, and persistent attempts to undermine the power of labor, care, and love. Nevertheless, we will continue to confront these challenges as we always have. We will imagine a new society, engage in grounded and critical discussions, and take steady steps toward a great transformation.

Sustaining this momentum depends on the continued vitality of KAWS as a community of discussion grounded in intellectual passion and mutual trust. This vitality enables us to cultivate a bold and far-reaching vision and to open new horizons of change through rigorous and timely feminist knowledge production. In this spirit, the 41st KAWS will organize a range of academic events under the theme “Feminist Roadmap Leading the Great Transformation,” including our regular spring and fall conferences, academic forums, and a summer camp for the next generation of feminist scholars. We will also commit ourselves to the continued publication and development of the Journal of Korean Women’s Studies. Drawing on the legacy of KAWS, we will carry this history forward by deepening the connections among past, present, and future feminist scholars who, across differences and complexities, continue to shape and expand the collective project of feminist knowledge.

I extend my sincere wishes for the continued well-being and success of all our members. Thank you.