Join us for an evening with psychotherapist and Somatic Experiencing Trauma Practitioner, Heesun Kim (PhD, LCSW, SEP), and filmmaker and writer, Grant Hyun, who are collaborating on a documentary feature film that traces the connections between practices of shamanism on Jeju Island and intergenerational trauma stemming from the Jeju 4.3 Massacre.

They will share footage and speak about their process of filming on Jeju Island this Spring where they interviewed first and second generation survivors, journalists, scholars, and writers who helped uncover long-suppressed truths, and shamans who have been instrumental in processing the grief and trauma that continues to affect the island and its people to this day.

The Jeju Massacre, referred to in Korea as 사삼 (4.3), resulted in the killing of 30,000 civilians from April 3rd, 1948 until 1954. The massacre was followed by decades of government denial and severe repression of the victims and their families. Kim and Hyun will engage the audience in an interactive conversation about their experience of the Jeju shamanic culture, which provides a portal of community healing by unearthing long-suppressed grief and fostering spiritual connections with ancestors through collective mourning.

Heesun Kim (she/her), PhD, LCSW, SEP, is a psychotherapist and a Somatic Experiencing (SE) Trauma practitioner in private practice. She is a visiting researcher at the Research Institute for the Tamla Culture and an adjunct faculty at Jeju National University in South Korea. Heesun Kim received a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in CA. Her doctoral dissertation, 'Jeju Shamanism: Healing Intergenerational Trauma through Collective Mourning,' was based on two years of fieldwork conducted on Jeju Island, where she interviewed shamans and survivors of the Jeju 4.3 massacre. Her research was also supported by a 2021-2022 Fulbright grant, where she began developing a feature-length documentary with filmmaker Grant Hyun based on her work.

Grant Hyun (he/him) is a filmmaker and writer from Los Angeles. His work often explores untold stories from the Korean American experience, inspired by his own family history and first-hand research. In 2022, he spent a year in Korea on a Fulbright Scholar Award writing an original screenplay about a shaman enduring the military dictatorships of South Korea before immigrating to Los Angeles. While there, Hyun began developing a documentary feature film with fellow Fulbright Scholar and psychologist Heesun Kim; the film traces the connections between shamanism on the island of Jeju and intergenerational trauma stemming from the Jeju uprising and Korean War.

Moderator: Lee Painter-Kim / Kim Young-hee 김영희 (they/them) is a Korean American writer living on the occupied Tongva land that is LA. Their practice centers building collective power in alterity, or from below (s/o to Jennifer Ji Hye Chun’s Organizing at the Margins) around classed labor, t/gnc, and mixed race cultures. They are the Blasian March LA chapter lead, a leadership caucus member in KQTx, and co-chair for the Cedars-Sinai Trans Research Advisory Council. Their work has been published by Routledge (2022), the Women’s Studies Interdisciplinary Journal (2022), and Dio Press (2021). Forthcoming chapter publications and community projects focus on decolonial mixed and queer identity.

Please be advised that this event will be photographed and filmed and that GYOPO may use such photos and videos in print and online, including in social media. By RSVPing and attending this program, it signifies your consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded.

Healing Intergenerational Trauma through Collective Mourning in Jeju

By GYOPO

Healing Intergenerational Trauma through Collective Mourning in Jeju

with Heesun Kim and Grant Hyun