The 2023 Mary Young Lecture brought back to the Department Lili M. Kim, Associate Professor of History and Global Migrations at Hampshire College. Professor Kim received her PhD from the University in 2001. Her presentation was titled “Decolonization Dreams: Korean Americans’ Transnational Freedom Struggle During World War II.”
Drawing on her recently completed book of the same title, Professor Kim explored the story of Korean Americans in Hawai’i during the war in order to demonstrate how they “at once adopted, manipulated, and contested the racial project of making people of Japanese ancestry into an enemy race.” As such, she contributed new understandings of settler colonialism and its racist foundations.
The event beautifully fulfilled the department’s hopes for this annual lecture in several ways. First, in its intellectual rigor and accessibility, it was a fitting tribute to Professor Young, with whom Professor Kim had had the opportunity to work during her graduate studies. As Department Chair Ruben Flores noted in his introductory remarks, Mary Young, a member of the History faculty from 1973 to 2000, exemplified and valued scholarly excellence, while bringing to her teaching a characteristic attitude of generosity toward her students.
Second, the lecture enabled current faculty members and graduate students to acknowledge the development of a former PhD student into a mature scholar. Yes, it happens! Professor Robert Westbrook, who had been Lili Kim’s dissertation director, was on hand to observe the happy result of his mentoring years earlier. Finally, the large number of current undergraduates in attendance, many of whom were of Asian descent, suggested the department’s success in building community around issues of personal as well as public concern. We thank Professor Kim, the department staff, and the faculty organizers for a terrific chance to learn and to engage with one another.
Joan Shelley Rubin
Professor of History