AVACGIS Visiting Scholar Presentation by Dr. Ikran Eum, GCC, Dankook University, Korea

"Global Islamic Consumerism and Local Reactions: The Emergence of Korea's Halal Industry and Islamophobic Responses".

Wednesday, February 13, 2019 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM EST
Johnson Center, Room F

With the emergence of Muslim consumers as a new powerful segment and the shaping of a new niche market, multinational companies have begun to sell products and services that reflect the taste of Muslim consumers. South Korea is not exempt from these trends. Since March 2015, when former President Park of S. Korea signed an MOU with the UAE government for cooperation in the new emerging halal market; South Korean companies began to participate in the new Islamic markets. The more the government supported these policies within South Korea, however the stronger the anti-Islamic responses were from the public. This talk presents an analysis of deep-seated Islamophobia among the Koreans and suggest a way out of Islamophobia. Dr. Ikran Eum received a Ph.D. in Middle East Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK in 2004 under the supervision of Dr. Nadje Al-Ali. Eum is currently working as a researcher at the GCC institute, Dankook University in Korea, conducting a project funded by the Ministry of Education entitled “Gulf Vision 2030 and Partnership Building Strategy: Focused on Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran”. As an area specialist, she gives lectures related to Middle Eastern cultural and social studies both for students in academia and for the public, including office workers and civil servants. Her current research interests are consumerism and Islam, and family and gender issues in the Gulf countries.
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