Scholars selected to present at EKP lecture events were primarily invited from Korea, though other lectures were presented by western specialists or scholars from other regions. Lecture attendees were encouraged to engage actively with the presenters, the goal being to help western scholars identify areas of common interest and to facilitate the interchange of ideas. In other words, the lectures were not intended to be a one-way flow of information from the speaker to the attendees—instead, it was hoped that the speakers would also benefit from their exposure to members of the Harvard community. The lectures (along with the workshops, to be discussed later) were also particularly effective in attracting graduate students to the study of early Korean history and archaeology, as students came to constitute a large percentage of lecture attendees. This was considered to be especially significant, since students who gained exposure to these subjects would be more likely to include Korea in their research and teaching after they finish their graduate programs. Furthermore, the participation of both students and established scholars at EKP events allowed us to showcase the relevance of the Korean case in broader academic discussions.

As has been mentioned already, the EKP lecture series commenced in 2007 with five lectures on Korean archaeology, each presented by a specialist from Korea, covering topics such as bronze and ceramic technologies, the development of complex societies, Silla mortuary practice, and the Korean Paleolithic. These lectures were given as part of the Harvard East Asian Archaeology Seminar series, which brought in a large attendance of specialists in the archaeology of East Asia and elsewhere. In fall of 2007 a sixth lecture was presented on the topic of the Sŏkkuram grotto (석굴암) and Silla’s Hwaŏm (화엄) thought, through which the EKP expanded its lecture coverage to include subjects beyond archaeology. From this time the lecture series was titled “Lectures on Early Korea.”

For seven years, from 2007 to 2013, the EKP lecture series continued, funded initially by the Academy of Korean Studies, and from 2008 by the Northeast Asian History Foundation. Most of the lectures were standalone events, though in April and May of 2010 a series of five lectures on Korean art history were organized in collaboration with Youn-mi Kim (김연미), then a graduate student in the Art History Department at Harvard. These lectures were intended to provide the chapters of an edited volume through the Early Korea Project Occasional Series, which will be discussed later (the volume was published in 2013). Some other lectures provided material for chapters in the EKP edited serial, Early Korea. Most lectures were video recorded, and many of these have been made available to the public through the EKP’s Vimeo account (https://vimeo.com/channels/ekp).

In an additional effort to increase the reach of our lectures, the EKP also collaborated with other institutions in the Boston area so that EKP speakers could present their work at those institutions as well. The EKP maintained a working relationship with the International Center for East Asian Archaeology and Cultural History (東亞考古學和文化歷史國際中心) at Boston University, and several of our lecturers presented at that forum as well. Within Harvard University, our lecture series helped the Early Korea Project to develop relationships with various departments, including Anthropology (archaeology), History, Art History, Design, and others.

With regard to topic coverage in the lecture series, the Steering Committee selected specialists in topics that we felt required some development in English, with the intent of building a foundation for the development of Early Korea Studies in English. On occasion we also took advantage of scholars who happened to be in the Boston area and invited them to present in our lecture series. A few examples of EKP lectures are described briefly below.

In March 2008 Professor Lee Sung-Joo (이성주) presented a lecture on the state formation processes of Silla, a talk that both was well attended and prompted extended discussion among the attendees due to the active dialog on the subject of state formation within global academia. In February 2008 Prof. Evgeniya Gelman of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented on Russian excavations of Parhae sites in the Maritime Region, excavations that were conducted in collaboration with specialists from South Korea. In March 2009 Prof. Nancy Steinhardt of the University of Pennsylvania presented a very well-attended talk on Koguryŏ architecture. And in March 2011 Prof. Jeon Ho-tae (전호태) of Ulsan University presented on Koguryŏ tomb murals, while in October of the same year Dr. Kim Hyun Sook (김현숙) of the Northeast Asian History Foundation presented a popular lecture on the stele of King Kwanggaet’o (廣開土王陵碑). In March 2012 Prof. Kim Changseok (김창석) of Kangwon National University gave a talk on writing on woodslips (木簡) in ancient Korea. In February 2013 Prof. Kang In-uk of Pukyong National University presented his research on the fur trade of Old Chosŏn (古朝鮮), and in March of that year Prof. Pak Yangjin (박양진) of Chungnam National University presented on social complexity in early Korea.

The lectures just described are a representative subset of a total of 36 lectures organized by the Early Korea Project at Harvard over seven years (this does not include those lectures presented at other institutions), a full list of which appears on the EKP website. The lectures were very well attended, with an average of 25 to 40 in attendance depending on the subject and the venue. Those recorded lectures that were made available on the EKP Vimeo channel tend to receive a large number of views, and the series was quite successful as an effort to build a presence for Early Korea Studies at Harvard and the Boston community. Beyond this, the lecture series also helped the EKP to build valuable working relationships with a number of scholars in Korea, which was deemed to be key for the overall success of the Early Korea Project. These goals of disseminating knowledge on Early Korea Studies in English and building networks with specialists in Korea were shared by another major program of the EKP—its Workshop Program, which is the subject of the next part of this series.

Part IV