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Being in North Korea

Being in North Korea - Paperback

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Availability:In StockContributor:Andray AbrahamianPublish date:2020-07-16Pages:206
Language:EnglishPublisher:Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research CISBN-13:9781931368568ISBN-10:1931368562UPC:9781931368568Book Category:Social Science, Political Science, Biography & AutobiographyBook Subcategory:Ethnic Studies, World, Personal MemoirsBook Topic:American, AsianSize:8.90 x 5.80 x 0.60 inchesWeight:0.7011Product ID:SCVR6WP3TD

In 2009, while working on a PhD in Seoul, Andray Abrahamian visited North Korea, a country he had studied for years but never seen. He returned determined to find a way to work closely with North Koreans. Ten years and more than thirty visits later, Being in North Korea tells the story of his experiences setting up and running Choson Exchange, a non-profit that teaches North Koreans about entrepreneurship and economic policy.

Abrahamian was provided a unique vantage into life in North Korea that belies stereotypes rampant in the media, instead revealing North Koreans as individuals ranging from true believers in the system to cynics wishing the Stalinist experiment would just end; from introverts to bubbly chatterboxes, optimists to pessimists. He sees a North Korea that is changing, invalidating some assumptions held in the West, but perhaps reinforcing others.

Amid his stories of coping with the North Korean system, of the foreigners who frequent Pyongyang, and of everyday relationships, Abrahamian explores the challenges of teaching the inherently political subject of economics in a system where everyone must self-regulate their own minds; he looks at the role of women in the North Korean economy, and their exclusion from leadership; and he discusses how information is restricted, propaganda is distributed and internalized, and even how Pyongyang's nominally illicit property market functions. Along with these stories he interweaves the historical events that have led to today's North Korea.

Drawing on the breadth of the author's in-country experience, Being in North Korea combines the intellectual rigor of a scholar with a writing style that will appeal to a general audience. Through the personal elements of a memoir that provide insights into North Korean society, readers will come away with a more realistic picture of the country and its people, and a better idea of what the future may hold for the nation.

Language:EnglishPublisher:Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research CISBN-13:9781931368568ISBN-10:1931368562UPC:9781931368568Book Category:Social Science, Political Science, Biography & AutobiographyBook Subcategory:Ethnic Studies, World, Personal MemoirsBook Topic:American, AsianSize:8.90 x 5.80 x 0.60 inchesWeight:0.7011Product ID:SCVR6WP3TD

Andray Abrahamian was the 2018-19 Koret Fellow at Stanford University. He is also an Honorary Fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney and an Adjunct Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute. He is an advisor to Choson Exchange, a non-profit that trains North Koreans in economic policy and entrepreneurship. He was previously Executive Director and Research Director for Choson Exchange. That work, along with supporting sporting exchanges and a TB project, has taken him to the DPRK nearly 30 times. He has also lived in Myanmar, where he taught at Yangon University and consulted for a risk management company.


Publisher: Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research C

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