Goethe University’s only professor of Korean Studies receives an extraordinary award
Ten years ago, Yonson Ahn took up the professorship for Korean Culture and Society at Goethe University Frankfurt. Since then, she has continuously developed research and teaching within this “rare discipline”, which is taught at only five other universities in Germany. Ahn’s extraordinary efforts now led to her being awarded an outstanding honor by the South Korean Ministry of Education.
The certificate arrived via registered mail in mid-January. Dated December 13, 2024, the text written above the golden seal of the Korean Ministry of Education reads: “The above-mentioned person is hereby awarded this certificate from the Ministry of Education for their significant contribution to the successful development and implementation of the scientific research support program [of Korean Studies]. – signed Lee Juho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education.”
Yonson Ahn could not have wished for a better present for her tenth workplace anniversary. “Everything came together – Christmas, New Year and this extraordinary honor, a wonderful and multifaceted gift, and an honor that would not have been possible without my dedicated team,” says Ahn, who holds Goethe University’s only professorship in Korean Studies.
University President Prof. Enrico Schleiff is also overjoyed with the honor. “The award from the South Korean Ministry of Education recognizes Professor Ahn’s outstanding ability to successfully acquire third-party funding and invest this money into the development of an innovative and unique field. This benefits research, teaching and transfer in equal measure. For us at Goethe University, this recognition is a great honor.”
Korean Studies in Frankfurt: Focus on modern Korea
The Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (IZO) was established at Goethe University Frankfurt in 2008. It is here where, two years later, Korean Studies were established, at the Institute of East Asian Philology. It started with 20 Bachelor students, whose number had grown to 90 in the 2014/15 winter semester, when Ahn took up her professorship at Goethe University. “In the beginning, we were only three staff members – in addition to myself, there was my secretary, who worked part-time, and a language lecturer.” That was already a tight squeeze back then. Today, there are almost 400 Bachelor’s students taking Korean Studies either as a major or minor subject, which still means lots of work for the eight employees currently engaged at Korean Studies, most of whom are on temporary third-party funded contracts, with just two permanent positions.
There are several reasons why the subject is so popular in Frankfurt. One is the growing fascination with Korean cultural heritage – as evinced by K-pop or cinematic masterpieces such as “Parasite” or “Squid Game” but also interest in modern history, politics and literature. The recognition now bestowed on Ahn can also be seen in this context of Korea’s rising global visibility – incidentally, Korean boy band BTS also celebrated their 10-year anniversary in 2024, while writer Han Kang became the second Korean national in history to receive a Nobel Prize, this one in literature (in 2000, the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung). “In hindsight, I took up the professorship at a time when global interest in Korean culture began to increase immensely,” says Ahn, who harnessed this great interest in modern Korea. In addition to language, Korean Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt focus on modern South and North Korea and feature seminars on current topics.
This curricular focus is not only popular with students, it also fits Frankfurt’s city profile, says Ahn, and is referring here not just to the subject’s integration into the East Asian Studies conducted at the IZO. In addition to teaching and research, the honor bestowed by the South Korean Ministry of Education also highlights outreach and transfer activities. Of immense benefit in this regard is the fact that Hessen, or more precisely the Rhine-Main region, is home to the largest community of Koreans living abroad in Europe, and also to numerous Korean companies. “Our department is very well connected with the industry located here, which opens up many opportunities for us – from scholarships to working student jobs to internships and later permanent positions,” says Ahn, adding that, “Goethe University students enjoy a very good reputation among Korean companies, for whom it is definitely an advantage to have a workforce that directly understands Korean culture. Our graduates not only speak Korean, they are also very familiar with the country’s culture and history. What’s more, they are also ideally suited to provide insights to Korean employees working here in Germany – all in the spirit of mutual cultural exchange.” This close networking with Korean industry is unique to Korean Studies in Frankfurt and gives it a distinctive edge over other German universities where the subject is taught.
Ultimately, however, Yonson Ahn’s research and teaching activities as well as her successful acquisition of third-party funding were decisive for her being awarded this outstanding honor. The two largest grants she received for the development of the department came from the Korea Foundation (KF) and the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS). The latter has been funding projects in Frankfurt’s Korean Studies department since 2015, including by means of two consecutive Seed Programs. In 2021, Prof. Ahn was also awarded €700,000 from AKS for the Core University Program for Korean Studies “Cultivating Diversity: The global in Korea, Korea in the global”.
Honor for teaching and research
Bringing Korea closer to the world – through outreach, teaching and research. This is exactly what Ahn – who is an expert in Gender Studies and migration – has done in an exemplary manner, thanks also to a highly interdisciplinary and diverse range of online courses that are run together with other universities – a common practice in Frankfurt’s Korean Studies even before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. “We had a digital seminar that, in addition to us, also included the University of Hamburg and Ewha Women’s University in South Korea,” says Ahn. “In 2020, the range of seminars was expanded thanks to the addition of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. All seminar topics are highly topical,” Ahn says, adding that, “last semester, for example, the professor from Ewha Women’s University focused on economic development in North and South Korea, and at the weekly seminar we discussed the latest editions of various local newspapers. In addition to helping students develop an understanding of current social issues, this joint teaching benefits all participating institutions.”
This Global E-school program has been running for 10 years now, says Ahn, and emphasizes that thanks to full funding from the Korea Foundation (KF), participation is free of charge. In addition, she adds, the program also helps the participating institutions overcome the shortage of lecturers. “We are so interdisciplinary that it’s simply impossible for me as a ‚one woman show‘ to meet all needs on my own. I also don’t want to offer the same courses all the time. The E-school helps us seamlessly integrate the international with the digital. Additionally, the information is also extremely interesting for me, as it offers insights into completely different areas, such as the country’s economy.” Another bonus for the students: every year, one seminar participant receives an invitation to attend a summer school in Korea, fully funded by the KF.
As part of the ELLVIS project (Successful Teaching and Learning – Diversity and Internationalization in Higher Education), funded by the state of Hesse, Goethe University’s Korean Studies also organizes digital international summer schools with participants and renowned lecturers from all over the world. “Our focus last year was on ‚Discovering North Korea‘, and all nine lecturers had actually been to the country before. This was of course very exciting for the students, for whom it is virtually impossible to visit North Korea.”
There are currently 10 doctoral students in Korean Studies. In addition to German citizens, they include students from China, the U.S.A. and South Korea. Their topics range from migration to gender, media and education. Similar to the Bachelor students, here, too, Ahn builds on expertise and networks. Her PhD colloquia, for instance, are sometimes held jointly with other universities in Germany and abroad. “Last year, we were in Malaga with our doctoral students, and this February we are traveling to Sienna for a colloquium,” she says. The colloquia – which are also funded by the AKS – not only give students the opportunity to present their research, but also to expand and strengthen their network. “Apart from that, I also wouldn’t be able to supervise all the doctoral candidates on my own,” says Ahn and explains: “I work closely with my colleague Prof. Dr. Yvonne Schulz Zinda at the University of Hamburg. I act as a second supervisor for her PhD candidates, and she takes on the role for mine in return. Otherwise, it would become even more difficult for our small disciplines to survive.”
Networking, interdisciplinarity and digitalization – these are the hallmarks of the “rare discipline” of Korean Studies in Frankfurt. To ensure it remains this way in the future, Yonson Ahn says she will gladly continue to get by on relatively little sleep, also in the hope to see a dream of sustainability come true – that of seeing her work accompanied by a second Korean Studies professorship and passing on the baton to the next generation.
