The Mutual Gaze: Grassroots Encounters and the Foundations of a Living Korea–U.S. Alliance

Event
September 10, 2026 - September 10, 2026
10am - 4pm
DML 240 - Friends of the USC Libraries Lecture Hall

The occasion is the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Peace Corps' first deployment to Korea in 1966. Rather than approaching Korea–U.S. relations through alliance politics or security cooperation, this conference turns to the grassroots — the young American volunteers who taught in rural classrooms and staffed public health centers, the Korean intellectuals who reinterpreted American modernization theory on their own terms, and the personal narratives that rarely made it into the official record.

Stay tuned for more details. 

This program is open to all eligible individuals. The USC Libraries operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.