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Upcoming academic conference, “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” hosted by The May 18 Research Institute (MIRI), and co-hosted by the May 18 Foundation (South Korea) and the Ettersberg Foundation (Germany).

*** Attendance is offline at the May 18 Memorial Culture Center in Gwangju or online. For more information, please visit our homepage: miri518.or.kr.

The conference takes place on November 1 and 2, 2024, and explores the education and remembrance of civic resistance and state violence in Gwangju (South Korea, 1980), Leipzig (East Germany, 1989), and Kyiv (Ukraine, 2013-2014).

The conference is bilingual (German and Korean). The second day of the conference will be broadcasted live on the YouTube account of the May 18 Foundation.

 

Speakers on the first day include:

• Manfred Hettling (Halle University) on the remembrance of democratic movements
• Guido Hausmann (Regensburg University) on the 2013/14 Maidan protests in Kyiv
• Jörg Ganzenmüller (Ettersberg Foundation) on the Monday demonstrations in East Germany
• Chung Sung-Youn (Martin Luther University) on the evolution of the May 18 Democratic Uprising’s memorialization in the city of Gwangju.

 

The second day’s morning session (Korean Time) focuses on teaching the May 18 Democratic Uprising in South Korea. Speakers include:

• Lim Kwang-Ho (Gwangju Electronic Technical High School) on the educational efforts of the May 18 Foundation
• Kim Min-Soo (Busan National University) on May 18 Education in general
• Kim Young-Ju (Gwangju First High School) on her own experiences teaching May 18
• Baek Sung-dong (Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union) on her conversations with teachers who try to teach students about the Uprising.

 

The afternoon session contrasts this with the work of the Ettersberg Foundation and the remembrance of Leipzig 1989 (the Monday demonstrations). Speakers include:

• Alfons Kenkmann (Leipzig University) on the role of museums
• Guido Hausmann (Regensburg University) on the musealization of the Maidan protests
• Anke John (Jena University) on the German experience with learning in-situ at historical sites
• Judith Meyer (Ettersberg Foundation) on the Ettersberg Foundation’s own activities.

 

They hope that this conference will provide valuable insights into the collective memory and educational practices surrounding democratic movements and their attempted oppression.