Once a month, I read a book written in Korean that hasn’t been translated into English and bring it to you. Not because I enjoy being the only one who can read it — though honestly, sometimes — but because some of the most interesting thinking about Korea is happening in Korean, and it deserves a wider audience.This month's book is “What Pain Makes Visible” (아프면 보이는 것들). It's a collection by thirteen medical anthropologists asking one question across thirteen very different kinds of suffering: whose pain does Korean society take seriously, and whose does it quietly set aside?The newsletter and the podcast ended up dividing the labor like a very efficient little content union: the newsletter covered postpartum wind, the humidifier disinfectant disaster, and infertility, while this episode takes up HIV stigma, the Sewol ferry disaster, and Korean-Chinese caregivers.Same book, different route.If the newsletter was about care, this episode is about recognition. Get full access to Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time at yoonjiwon.substack.com/subscribe

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related