Located in proximity to Los Angeles’ historic Koreatown, KSI sponsors and organizes academic and cultural events that are aimed at advancing the public’s understanding of the Korean American experience. Our faculty offer courses that explore a range of subjects, including the oral history of Koreans in Southern California, Koreatown’s role as a hub of culture and identity, and Korean American literature, film, and arts.
In addition, the institute collaborates with USC’s Korean Heritage Library, supporting its mission to collect, preserve, and promote the historical records of the Korean community in Los Angeles and the surrounding region. Through these efforts, KSI not only fosters academic inquiry but also actively contributes to the preservation and appreciation of Korean heritage in contemporary society.
Steps into History: An Immersive Walk through USC’s Korean Heritage!
🕗 Date: Friday, November 6, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
📍 USC Libraries Korean Heritage Library (DML 206)
This annual program is designed to visit and discuss notable spaces related to Korean heritage at USC campus and surrounding areas. The walking tour starts with the USC Korean Heritage Library which showcases unique collections on Korean American history, media studies and other Korean language sources. Other sites include the University Club, Ahn House, USC Dive Tower, Korean National Association Memorial Foundation, Hung Sa Dahn and Florence Sherman’s Church. See Daily Trojan’s report on the event from last April. Open to all students with priority given to students taking Korean language and other Korean subject courses as well as students majoring or minoring in East Asia.
The K-trail is more than just a walking tour — it is an immersive historical journey rooted in the rich, carefully curated resources of the Korean Heritage Library (KHL). From rare archival photographs and oral histories to community newspapers and government documents, the KHL’s collections provide a vivid window into the Korean American experience. These unique materials form the foundation of this program, allowing us to connect physical spaces with the remarkable stories, struggles, and contributions of the Korean American community across generations.
Korean American Studies Conference
Saturday, October 17, 2026, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Vineyard Room, Davidson Conference Center
KSI successfully hosted the 5th Korean American Studies Conference. The annual conference gathered scholars, educators and program administrators in the field of Korean and Korean American studies. The program included keynote remarks and panels on topics related to advancing Korean studies through K-12 and college education in language, culture, culture and history. The full agenda is available here Program Link.
Here are the slides from the keynote and closing remarks.
- Dan Davidson, President Emeritus of American Councils for International Education
- John Park, Professor at UC Santa Barbara
- Grace Cho, Professor at Cal State University, Fullerton.
Past Events
🕗 Date: April 15, 2026, 3:30-4:50 pm
📍 Ahn House
We hosted David Yi, a USC alum, co-founder of Very Good Light and the gender inclusive beauty brand good light. He authored Pretty Boys (2021), the history of men, masc-identifying folx, beauty and masculinity. In this talk, he discussed a central paradox of the present moment: as Korean culture – through K-beauty, K-pop and media, and overall Korean capitalism – achieves unprecedented global visibility, Korean Americans often remain culturally peripheral to that success. Drawing from his work as a writer and founder in the K-beauty industry, the talk explored questions of belonging, authorship and power at the intersection of diaspora, capitalism, and cultural export. Co-sponsored by the East Asian Studies Center. Check out this videorecording.
Tuesday, October 7, 2025. 5:00-6:30 pm
School of Cinematic Arts, SCA 112. Albert & Dana Broccoli Theater
KSI hosted the screening and the creative team of Wylde Pak, Nickelodeon’s 2D-animated series about a blended, multigenerational Korean American family. Inspired by the real-life experiences of co-creators and executive producers Paul Watling and Kyle Marshall, the 26-episode series follows half-siblings Lily and Jack as they adjust to life under one roof. Check out the event highlight video!
The event featured a behind-the-scenes conversation with the show’s creative team and cast. Moderated by Professor Esther K. Chae, the discussion explored creative collaboration, cultural authenticity, and representation in children’s animation. Here is the link to the bios of the speakers – Link to the Bios
Students, faculty, and community members discovered how Wylde Pak brings vibrant and relatable characters to life for audiences everywhere.
Margaret Juhae Lee – Across the Ocean: Digging the Archives and Remembering the Korean Past
🕗 October 16, 2024
📍 Doheny Memorial Library (DML), 240
In Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History, former The Nation editor Margaret Juhae Lee recounts her travels in Korea in search of the lost traces of her grandfather Lee Chul Ha. While the elder Lee was an important historical figure—an anticolonial activist and a prisoner of Imperial Japan—Lee’s journey eventually opens her up to a recollection of the events, the generations, and the history of her entire Korean family. It is an experience of self-discovery that, in heartfelt prose, offers a rare account of the Korean past as it is seen, remembered, and imagined today from across the sea.
Introducing and framing Lee’s discussion of Starry Field will be a presentation of the print collections and the digital archives that are held at USC’s Korean Heritage Library. Part of Lee’s journey was completed through this library. And it will again be from this library that new generations of historians, researchers, and regular citizens will move to discover their Korean heritage along with the richness and depth of the Korean-American experience.
Continuing Programs
Korean American Digital Archive
KSI collaborates with USC Libraries Korean Heritage Library to digitize and maintain the documentary record of Korean experiences in America. The Korean American Digital Archive (KADA) brings more than 13,000 pages of documents, over 1,900 photographs, and about 180 sound files together in one searchable collection that documents the Korean American community during the period of resistance to Japanese rule in Korea and reveal the organizational and private experience of Koreans in America between 1903 and 1965.
Steps into History: An Immersive Walk through USC’s Korean Heritage!
This annual program is designed to visit and discuss notable spaces related to Korean heritage at USC campus and surrounding areas. The walking tour will start with the USC Korean Heritage Library which showcases unique collections on Korean American history, media studies and other Korean language sources. Other sites include the University Club, Ahn House, USC Dive Tower, Korean National Association Memorial Foundation, Hung Sa Dahn and Florence Sherman’s Church. Open to all students with priority given to students taking Korean language and other Korean subject courses as well as students majoring or minoring in East Asia. Stay tuned for RSVP details.
Nak Chung Thun Archive
KSI collaborates with the USC’s Korean Heritage Library to bring Nak Chung Thun’s manuscripts into print. Thun was an early immigrant from Korea who settled in Riverside, California, by way of Hawaii in 1907, now remembered an early Korean-American writer. He wrote mostly in Korean script, with minimal use of sinographs, but also freely mixed Korean, Chinese, and English words. Written between 1917 and 1937, his works are set in Pyŏngan Province, California, Shanghai, Paris, and elsewhere, and also display a strong influence of 1930s Hollywood films. So far, a selection of short stories and essays have been collected in Kujejŏk Kangdo: Thun Nak Chung sŏnjip [Righteous Robber and Other Writings by Nak Chung Thun], edited by Jae-moon Hwang (Seoul: Somyong chulpan, 2020), and one of his four full-length novels, Hong Chungnae chŏn [The Tale of Hong Chungnae], edited by Jae-moon Hwang and Ji-young Yi, is forhcoming.