Security and Visuality in Korea

This project aims to offer new insights into security politics and policies in Northeast Asia by employing innovative visual methods.  It is funded by a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies (2023-8), jointly held with Isaac Lee, Min Jung Jee, Richard Murray, Andy Lee.

The project draws on my involvement with Korea over four decades, including a job as a Swiss Military Officer and member of the Neutral Nationals Supervisory Committing in the Korean DMZ as well as positions at Yonsei and Pusan National University.

I use my own photographs, taken in both South and North Korea, to reflect on how viewing security issues is an inherently political process with significant consequences. I developed a particular methodological framework for the project, called “visual autoethnography” (published in EJIS asVisual Autoethnography and International Security: Insights from the Korean DMZ”).

Outcomes will include a single-authored book on Visualising Korean Security and collaborative projects with colleagues, including Moon Kyoung-hee and Hoang Young-ju.

Project Publications

Bleiker, Roland. Forthcoming. “Imagination and the Korean Crisis,” in Andrew Carr (ed), Strategic Imagination: Essays in Honour of Brendan Sargeant. Canberra: ANU Press.

Bleiker, Roland and David Shim. 2024. “Can we move Beyond Conflict?” in Maja Zehfuss, Jenny Edkins and Tom Gregory (eds), Global Politics: A New Introduction. London: Routledge, 4th edition (extensive case study on Korea).

Bleiker, Roland, David Chapman and David Shim. 2021. “Visualising Korea: Critical Moments in History, Society and Politics,” introduction to Visualising Korea, special issue of Asian Studies Review, 45(3): 374-380.

Bleiker, Roland. 2019. “Visual Autoethnography and International Security: Insights from the Korean DMZ,” European Journal of International Security, 4: 274-299.

For a Complete List of Publications see here.