Microhabitat (Korean title: So-gong-nyeo) is a 2018 Korean black comedy, directed by Jeon Go-woon. The film asks what really matters if we want to remain ourselves—or hold on to our sense of self—while living under harsh economic conditions. Many Cornellians might relate: we inhabit a world in which our cultural and social capital often does not match our economic capital. Taste is a big part of how we present who we are.

The film centers on Miso, a house cleaner who realizes that she needs only cigarettes, whisky, and her boyfriend to be happy. When both cigarette prices and rent go up at the same time, rather than giving up her small pleasures, she gives up her apartment and begins staying with her old friends one by one. The film follows along on her journey, captivated by her refusal to surrender her personal tastes, joy, and freedom for economic stability, even though that stability itself seems impossible to reach. Through her story, we feel the weight of economic constraints as well as Korean youth’s responses to them.

The screening will be introduced by Jeongsu Shin, LB Korean Studies Postdoctoral Associate in the East Asia Program.

Free admission! Sponsored by the East Asia Program in the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

The screening is part of "How to Live in Disturbed Worlds," a spring series featuring two Korean films about girls navigating their own desires, tastes, and sense of self in a precarious and uncertain world.

In Korean with English subtitles. Courtesy of M-Line Distribution.

Join us for a talk by Southeast Asia Program Visiting Scholar, Aung Thura Ko Ko.

This talk will take place at Rockefeller Hall 374, Asian Studies Lounge. Lunch will be served.

For questions, contact seap@cornell.edu.

Abstract: Since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the country has plunged into a deep political, economic, humanitarian, and security crisis. China’s engagement with post-coup Myanmar is multifaceted. While officially adhering to a policy of non-interference, Beijing has pursued a pragmatic approach to safeguard its interests, including investments under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), border security and access to the Indian Ocean. China has been maintaining ties with both the junta and select ethnic armed groups to ensure leverage across all fronts. Myanmar’s strategic value to China is further heightened by its role as a critical supplier of raw minerals including rare-earth and tin ore, both essential to high-technology and defense manufacturing. China’s cooperation with the military regime has deepened through new mechanisms, including the establishment of a joint security company to protect Chinese investments, as well as the deployment of a ceasefire monitoring team and border operations. At the same time, the China-Myanmar border has emerged as a major hub for cyber scam centers, many operated by transnational criminal networks and protected by regime-aligned border guard forces. China’s strategic intervention in post-coup Myanmar presents a complex mix of geopolitical ambition, economic necessity, and security entanglement. This makes Myanmar a critical case for understanding how Beijing engages with fragile states to advance its regional influence in the Indo-Pacific.

About the Speaker: Aung Thura Ko Ko is a visiting scholar at the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) for the spring semester. He was previously a research fellow at the Pacific Forum, a U.S. policy think tank based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and an affiliate scholar at the East-West Center from 2024 to 2026. Aung previously worked at the University of Oxford’s Global Security Programme, and his research focuses on wartime and postwar governance, China–Myanmar relations, and Indo-Pacific regional security issues. He has over 15 years of professional experience, including six years with USAID, and has worked with a range of international and local organizations across policy, governance, humanitarian & development assistance, and peacebuilding in Myanmar. Aung has been actively engaged in international advocacy efforts supporting Myanmar’s democracy movement since the 2021 military coup.

Come and explore international research from students at the Einaudi Center for International Studies. Our undergraduate Global Scholars will present posters on their international aid projects.

Global Scholars Showcase

Global Scholars will present a showcase of their capstone projects providing public commentary and perspectives on international aid.

Undergraduate global scholars consider the multiple perspectives that shape the global landscape of international aid and the communities impacted. They have partnered with Einaudi Center practitioner in residence Paul Kaiser and faculty mentor Ed Mabaya—expert researchers and practitioners on international development—to design their projects. Applications for the next cohort will open in fall 2026.

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The Einaudi Spring Showcase is hosted by the Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Speaker: Jordan Sand, Professor of Japanese History, Georgetown University

Abstract: The Ise shrines stand at the ritual center of Japanese imperial ideology. At the same time, they are admired around the world for their architecture and for the unique practice of periodic reconstruction. Yet the historical relationship between their ideological role and their architecture is seldom considered. By tracing the evolution of meanings attributed to the buildings and their reconstruction over a millennium, this lecture will reveal the many ways the shrine sites have been mobilized and show the gradual emergence of modern conceptions of architectural value.

About East Asia Program

As Cornell’s hub for research, teaching, and engagement with East Asia, the East Asia Program (EAP) serves as a forum for the interdisciplinary study of historical and contemporary East Asia. The program draws its membership of over 45 core faculty and numerous affiliated faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from eight of Cornell’s 12 schools and colleges.