Undoing NAVSA in Asia

This essay reflects on the experience of undoing NAVSA in Seoul for EVENT 2024. Through four vignettes, we, the Seoul Hub organising committee, analyse the unique position of the Seoul Hub, engaging with Victorian studies from an Asian perspective. The first vignette contrasts the experience of Korean scholars at NAVSA 2022 in Bethlehem with the Seoul Hub, highlighting the shift from being perceived as ‘native informants’ to engaging in genuine lateral dialogue. The second vignette explores how the conference embodied ‘undisciplining’ practices through its connection to the ‘Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom’ digital humanities project. The third vignette examines how emerging Asian scholars are reshaping Victorian studies through their unique positionality and methodological approaches. The final vignette analyses the cross-hub dialogues and the significance of the conference's location in enabling authentic discourse about practising Victorian studies in Asia. In particular, we consider how the hub contributed to the ongoing efforts to ‘undiscipline’ the field and reimagine Victorian studies as scholars outside of Anglophone academia. We also highlight how the Seoul Hub, by virtue of its geographical location, facilitated a genuinely Asia-based dialogue among Victorianists in the transpacific region, fostering discussions that might not have emerged within Western academia.