2024 Fellows

Maevis Rosengart
She/Her
International Studies (Security, Norms, & Cooperation) major, Asian Languages & Cultures minor
Class 2025

"When I first applied to the Korea-Michigan Human Rights Research Fellowship, I had already taken a few courses on Korean politics and contemporary society. These courses allowed me to cultivate a foundational understanding of South Korea’s development and its current geopolitical standing. Although the class material touched upon the recent increase in anti-feminist rhetoric among South Korea’s young male population, I was interested to learn more about the country’s history of gender inequality and current status of feminist movements. From my preliminary research into the subject, it seemed that feminist organizations in South Korea were, for the most part, united in their efforts. However, after meeting with researchers in the field and accessing the resources made available by Professor Koo, I learned that there are more political and social cleavages among the feminist community than I initially thought. Overall, my experience through the Korea-Michigan Human Rights Research Fellowship reshaped my understanding of South Korea’s 4B movement and the challenges of women's rights advocacy."

Mark Tallents
He/Him
Honors Political Science Major
Class 2025

"From a country weathering brutal occupation less than a century ago to an active agent in the industrialized world, South Korea’s recent meteoric rise is one of few of its kind in the modern era. In an even rarer fashion, the country was able to rapidly industrialize, urbanize, democratize, and technologize during a tumultuous period in the global economic system: neoliberal globalization. An era defined by U.S. financial hegemony and the deconstruction of Keynesian institutions of the post-war period, neoliberal globalization ushered a wave of austerity policies to the developing world, in favor of free markets, foreign investment, and openness to international trade. Navigating these international conditions, South Korea made significant strides towards a modernized economy, largely avoiding the lower-skilled, export-oriented dependency that many countries currently face, such that now, it is considered one of the most ‘high-tech’ countries in the world."