1/23 The book Queer Korea, published by Duke University Press in 2020, has been circulated internationally as the cutting edge publication and scholarship on Korean queer communities. However, it had serious ethical problems throughout the process of its publication.

2/23 To quickly summarize, a chapter written by anthropologist Tim Gitzen (currently tenure-track at Wake Forest University, Anthropology Dept), included sensitive personal information, including real names and personal stories of Korean queer activists without their consent.

3/23 These individuals experienced a serious violation of their rights as voluntary and uncompensated research participants. The chapter, originating from Gitzen’s doctoral dissertation, was published in English and thus was less accessible to Korean readers and activists.

4/23 This thread is to provide US-based scholars more context on the situation. Nam Woong, a queer activist in Korea, has written his account as a victim of not only this unethical practice of ethnographic writing but also editing, translating,

5/23 and publishing it into a book. He wrote this account shortly after the release of Queer Korea’s Korean edition in February 2023. Nam and fellow victims of this chapter contacted the author, editor (Todd Henry, UCSD, History Dept), and Duke University Press

6/23 in order to seek solutions for their experiences and to curb the spread of unethical research on Korean queer subjects. While the chapter was removed from the edited volume, the complex ethical issues that arose from the US scholar’s anthropological research

7/23 on the Korean queer scene have never been adequately addressed nor raised a necessary alarm about the lopsided power dynamic between the white male researchers and their research subjects of color.

8/23 We, the translators of Nam Woong’s essay, think that Nam’s careful account of the situation shows the mechanisms of colonial and racist practice of ethnographic knowledge production by Anglo-American scholars in and of Korea.

9/23 While IRB standards exist, it is apparent that these standards are not properly regulated when researching outside of Western academia. Not seeking proper consent from interlocutors and failing to anonymize them is only a fragment of a bigger and more insidious issue.

10/23 We believe this is an example of the way in which Western scholars fetishize marginalized peoples and communities’ histories and identities by exploiting their narratives as a resource to attain tenure-track jobs and to publish seemingly cutting-edge research.

11/23 It is deeply disappointing that the scholars involved in this project did not have the courtesy to even inform the interlocutors of their “usage” in this edited book.

12/23 Queer scholarship frequently boasts its moral praxis, but it is not an exception from this typical and deeply harmful practice of research. The institutionalized scholarship of anthropology is reproducing colonial and racist harms through fieldwork and publication today.

13/23 We hope Nam’s essay travels far and touches researchers in many different disciplines to compel those involved to reflect on their own research ethics.

14/23 The other collaborators in the Queer Korea publication, tenured and tenure-track scholars, editors, translators, and many more are implicated in these ethical violations through their choice to remain silent.

15/23 We are all complicit in our silence when confronted with the exploitation of vulnerable peoples by those with social and cultural power. More importantly, we hope Nam’s essay will not simply be consumed as a cheap example to prove the wrongdoings of anthropology

16/23 or any other academic research, ethnographies involved or not. Nor do we try to reduce those, including Nam, who gathered their thoughts and voices to address this issue to be simply regarded as victims.

17/23 They volunteered to work with Gitzen in the first place because they are prolific scholars, activists, and community organizers. We urge researchers to sit with Nam’s essay and deeply contemplate on what he is proposing through his call for action.

18/23 Translating his essay was our way of responding to this call. We hope you, as readers, feel your responsibility to respond as well.

19/23 Todd Henry published a statement in both English and Korean in early March on Facebook.

20/23 Since Nam Woong’s essay, Todd Henry has published his statement in both English and Korean on Facebook. (links go here) While Henry’s apology is noteworthy, his acknowledgement of the ethical violations during and after the publication process seem rather belated.

21/23 Moreover, we are aware that many academics outside of Korea have been exposed to Todd Henry’s comments and have been swayed by his seemingly regretful remarks, never having read what Henry was writing against.

22/23 We have decided to come forward following the 2023 Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and the Association for Asian American Studies’ (AAAS) annual conferences, having heard the varying responses from numerous individuals and groups.

23/23 We share both Nam Woong and Todd Henry’s words so that the reader can understand the severity of this issue on a broader scale and make an informed decision on their own.

Read our translation of Nam Woong's essay: docs.google.com/document/d/1YO…

View our call to action on Google docs: docs.google.com/document/d/1Z2…