The Centre for Human Rights Research, the Department of History, and the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Manitoba are pleased to host Dr. Jeongmin Kim (History) for a book launch of “Black Market Intimacies: The Transpacific Sexual Economy of the Korean War” (Stanford University Press, 2026).

This event will take place on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 beginning at 1:00 pm in the Senior Common Room, Room 239 St. John’s College, University of Manitoba. For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, see: https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here

This is a free event. No registration is required.

About the Book

Black Market Intimacies (Stanford University Press, 2026) reveals how illicit exchanges of money and commodities involving sexual encounters between Korean and Japanese women and US soldiers provided the material foundations of the regional economy across Korea and Japan during the Korean War. Against the conventional view that illicit exchanges exist outside the formal economy and legal regulations, Jeongmin Kim examines how the interlinked markets for transactional sex and goods crucially constituted the transpacific formation of US military base capitalism in post-World War II East Asia. Going beyond what is commonly categorized as prostitution and violence in Cold War archives, Kim weaves together stories from the myriads of mundane records scattered around multilingual archives to document larger transnational webs of the war economy.

From Korean women who brought camel blankets and whiskey to local markets in Seoul, to middle-aged Okinawan women dealing in US military notes, Kim uncovers the crucial roles that local women played in circulating war supplies and currency across the region through their sexual and intermediary labor. The result is an intimate and global history of the Korean War that urges us to rethink the often-antithetical relationship between sexual intimacy and market economies in the context of war and occupation.

Order here with discount code JEONGMINKIM20 to get 20% off!

About the Presenter

Dr. Jeongmin Kim

Jeongmin Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History. Her research and teaching focuses on the histories of modern Korea and East Asia, the US in the world, gender and sexuality, and militarism and capitalism. She is the author of Black Market Intimacies: The Transpacific Sexual Economy of the Korean War (Stanford University Press, 2026). She has published two articles related to this project in the Radical History Review and American Historical Review.

She is currently working on two book-length projects. Unseemly Military: The Undocumented Workers of US Wars and Occupations in Cold War Asia is a study of the gendered and racialized experiences of local civilians who provided essential labor on US overseas bases. The preliminary research for this project has been supported by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant and the Dave Abrams and Gene Banning Pan Am Research Grant. The other project, “Money’s Military Life” chronicles the use of military scrip by the Japanese and US army forces in Asia Pacific. Through a comparative historical lens, it traces how the limited monetary value of the notes has created and reinforced differing social and labour values of colonial and occupied subjects.

On Friday, October 2nd 2026 at 11:00am, please join us for a talk on MMIWG2S+ Advocacy & Two-Spirit Representation with Adrienne and Anna Huard. This event takes place in honour of National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender Diverse People (MMIWG2S+). To learn more, we encourage you to read the Calls for Justice or check out our Resource Guide on MMIWG2S+.

The event will begin at 11:00am in Room 200 Education Building at the Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba. For information on getting to the UM, please see: https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here

This is a free event. All are welcome to attend. For further information, contact chrr@umanitoba.ca.

About the Presenters

Adrienne Huard

Dr. Adrienne Huard (they/she) is an Anishinaabe Two-Spirit curator, performance artist, writer, Sundancer, performer, and Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba in the Indigenous Studies department. They are a registered member of Couchiching First Nation in Treaty 3 territory, and reside in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Huard’s research engages with Two-Spirit, trans, and queer Indigenous critiques, aesthetics, and visual culture. Recently, they completed their dissertation on Two-Spirit performance practices, such as drag and burlesque, on the Canadian prairies and across the nation. They served as Editor-at-Large for Canadian Art magazine, acted as a former board Co-Chair for Two-Spirit Manitoba Inc., and currently sit on the board for Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery.

Anna Huard

Anna Huard (she/her/ikwe) is a Two-Spirit citizen of Couchiching First Nation who is a first-year PhD student in University of Manitoba’s Department of Indigenous Studies. She has been advocating for community members who have been impacted by the national crisis of MMIWG2S+ for nearly half a decade. Huard has directly supported numerous families and continues to be a member of Giganawenimaanaanig (formerly known as the Manitoba MMIWG2S+ Implementation Circle) – a committee of organizations that provide support for impacted community members. Huard’s research focuses on the importance of matriarch and Two-Spirit-led initiatives in impacted community members’ healing journey.

The Centre for Human Rights Research, Creative Community Change Research, and the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba are pleased to host Dr. Brita Roy (New York University) for a lecture titled “Unlocking Local Solutions: Using Participatory Systems Science to Understand and Address Societal Changes.”

This event will take place on Monday, October 5, 2026 beginning at 10:30 am in Room 307 Tier Building, University of Manitoba. For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, see: https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here

This is a free event. No registration is required.

About the Presenter

Dr. Brita Roy

Dr. Brita Roy utilizes participatory systems science to explore and address complex public health and social challenges. Her work focuses on employing innovative methods, such as group model building, to engage diverse, multi-stakeholder groups in collaborative efforts to systematically map community-level factors that drive and result from these challenges. Using insights gathered from these systems maps, she collaborates with stakeholders to identify context-specific interventions and conducts pragmatic trials to evaluate their effectiveness. By fostering inclusive dialogue and co-creation, Dr. Roy has applied these approaches to pressing issues such as gun violence, incarceration, and health-related social needs across various communities and populations within the United States. Her work exemplifies the transformative potential of participatory engagement and systems-based intervention design in addressing real-world public health and social complexities.