Contact

Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D. VITA (updated, 2017)

Founding director of The Mago Gift Work (Return to Mago E-Magazine, Mago Academy, Mago Books, Gynapedia, and Mago Pool Circle)

Email: magoism@gmail.com or hhwang@magoacademy.org

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Religion; concentration in Women’s Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: CA (2005).

M.A. in Religion; concentration in Women’s Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: CA (2002).

M.A. candidate in East Asian Studies; concentration in Korean Religions and Buddhism, University of California Los Angeles, CA (in progress).

B.S. in Chemistry, Education minor, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul: Korea (1985).

Field Work, Catholic Cross-cultural Missionary, Maryknoll Sisters, in Korea, U.S. and the Philippines (1987-1994)

Certificate in International Course on Women and Society, Women’s Institute of St. Scholastica College, Manila: Philippines (1993).

Graduate Courses in Scriptures, Spirituality, Feminist Theology, and Latin American Studies, Maryknoll School of Theology, Maryknoll: New York (1989-1992).

 

 ADDITIONAL EDUCATION

Maryknoll Mission Institute, Maryknoll New York: Graduate Studies in Spirituality, Mission and Theology (1989-1992).

Maryknoll Sisters Formation Program, multi-cultural community living, missionary training, and trans-cultural ministries for the poor (1989-1991).

Korean Catholic Seminary, Seoul, Korea: Western Philosophy and Eastern Philosophy (1987).

 

 PUBLICATIONS

 Books

Co-edited and published: Goddesses in Myth, History, and Culture (Mago Books, forthcoming 2018).

Co-edited and published: Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, forthcoming 2017).

Co-edited and published: She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2 (Mago Books, 2016).

Authored: The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia (Mago Books, 2015).

Co-edited and published: She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 1 (Mago Books, 2016).

Ph.D. Dissertation: Seeking Mago, the Great Goddess: A Mytho-Historic-Thealogical Reconstruction of Magoism, an Archaically Originated Gynocentric Tradition of East Asia (Claremont Graduate University, 2005).

Translation and Publication: The Church and the Second Sex (Mary Daly, Beacon Press, third published in 1985) Women’s Newspaper Press, Seoul Korea, 1997.

Translation and Publication: Beyond God the Father: Towards a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation (Mary Daly, Beacon Press, second published in 1985), Ewha Women’s University Press, Seoul Korea, 1996.

Co-translation with Dr. Hyun Kyung Chung and Publication: The Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Eco-Feminism (edited by Irene Diamond and Gloria F. Orenstein, Sierra Club Books, 1990), Ewha Women’s University Press, Seoul Korea, 1996.

 

Articles

“2015 Mago Pilgrimage Essay” (2 parts) in Return to Mago, Magoism the Way of S/HE (www.magoism.net), 2015-2016.

“Magos, Muses, and Matrikas: The Magoist Cosmogony and Gynocentric Unity, in Gukhak yeonguronchong. Issue 14, December 2014, 9-32.

“Toward Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess” (3 parts) in Return to Mago, Magoism the Way of S/HE (www.magoism.net), April through June, 2013.

“The Ancient Korean Bell and Magoism” (5 parts) in Return to Mago, Magoism the Way of S/HE (www.magoism.net), January through March 2013.

“Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea” (5 parts) in Return to Mago, Magoism the Way of S/HE (www.magoism.net), August through December 2012.

“Making the Gyonocentric Case: Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and her Tradition Magoism” in She is Everywhere Vol. 3 ed. by Mary Saracino and Mary Beth Moser. Belladonna Publishing (2012).

“East Asian Ancient History and Korean History Reclaimed by Magoism” in Gukhak Yeongu Chongron (Collective Discourse of Korean Studies), Issue 6, Dec. 2010, 189-224, (in Korean).

“Issues in Studying Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia: Primary Sources, Gynocentric History, and Nationalism,” in The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia, eds. Deepak Shimkhada and Phyllis Herman. Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2008.

“Returning Home with Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia” in Trivia: Voices of Feminism, Issue 6, Sept 2007.

“The Female Principle in the Magoist Cosmogony” in Ochre Journal of Women’s Spirituality, Spring 2007.

“An Investigation of Gynocentric Unity in Mago, the East Asian Great Goddess, and Elsewhere,” in [http://www.universitadelledonne.it/mago.htm], 2004.

“Korean Feminist Thought of Mago, the Great Goddess,” Yeo/Seong-I-Ron (Theory of Women and Gender) Vol. 7, 2003, 7-22 (in Korean).

“A Comparative Study on the Thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche and Mary Daly: The Difference between Postmodern Thought and Radical Feminist Religious Consciousness,” Hanguk Yeo-seong Cheolhak (Korean Feminist Philosophy), Vol. 2, 2002, 149-167 (in Korean).

“Korean History and Religion Viewed from a Gender Perspective (2): Medieval Korean Women’s Movements of Tantric Buddhism and Korean Alphabet,” in Segyeo-ui Sinhak (Theology of the World) Vol. 54 (Spring 2002), 247-282 (in Korean).

“Korean History and Religion Viewed from a Gender Perspective (I): Korean Women during the Koryo and early Choson periods,” in Segyeo-ui Sinhak (Theology of the World) Vol. 52 (Fall 2001), 175-208 (in Korean).

“The Radical Feminism of Mary Daly: A Metapatriarchal Theological Consciousness” in Journal of Asian and Asian American Theology, Vol. III, No. 1 (Spring 1999), 71-85.

 

PAPER PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLIC LECTURES

“Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess” Matriarchal Studies, 2014 Conference of Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, San Antonio, TX, March 27, 2014.

“Field Research of Collecting the Oral Stories of Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea, and Uncovering Her Magoist Implications” Conference on Current Pagan Studies. Claremont Graduate University, Clarement: CA, January 27, 2013.

“Reconstructing Magoism: Emerging Mago, Korean Women, and Old Consciousness of Korea” Seoul National University Women’s Studies Collegiate Program, June 28, 2012 (in Korean).

“The Challenge of a Long-Distant Adjunct,” Annual Meeting of American Academy of Religion (AAR), San Francisco: CA, November. 20, 2011.

“Meet Mago,” Feminist Artist Network, Seoul: Korea, August 29, 2011 (in Korean).

“Comparing the Primary Sources of Magoism from Korea, China, and Japan” Society of Korean Oral Literature, Seoul: Korea, August 26, 2011 (in Korean).

“Exploring the Visual Representations of Magu: Her Transnational Identities from a Daoist Goddess to the Cosmogonist Uncovered,” Annual Meeting of American Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta: Georgia, November 1, 2010.

“Female as Divine,” Scholar in Residence Lecture, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg: MO, October 14, 2009.

“The Myth of Male and European Supremacy” in the panel co-presented with Dr. Marla J. Selvidge and Renee Curtis, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg: MO, October 13, 2009.

“Feminism and East Asian Goddess Studies: Mago, the Great Goddess, and her Tradition Magoism. Scholar in Residence Lecture, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg: MO, October 13, 2009.

“Historicizing the Voice of Seeking Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia” Conference on Current Pagan Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: CA, February 8, 2009.

“Old Tradition as New Revelation: Magoism and its Nostalgic Ethos Expressed in Pan-East Asian Primary Sources,” the 4^th International Congress of Korean Studies, Academy of Korean Studies Seoul: Korea, September 21-23, 2008.

“Goddess Scholars: Balancing Academic Career and Personal Practice,” Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena: CA, March 28, 2008.

“Mountains and Rocks as Sacred Symbols in Magoism,” Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Berkeley: CA, March 25-26, 2007.

“Reclaiming the Magoist texts: Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City) and Handan Gogi (Archaic Chronicles of Han and Dan)” and “Service-Learning, Sacred Space and Pagan Rites at Spadra Cemetery,” Conference on Current Pagan Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: CA, February 9-10, 2007.

“A Method of Studying Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia: The Mytho-Historic-Thealogy of Magoism,” Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Claremont: CA, March 12, 2006.

“Triad and Parthenogenesis in the Magoist Cosmogony,” Conference on Current Pagan Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: CA, January 15, 2006.

“A Method of Studying Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia: The Mytho-Historic-Thealogy of Magoism” Annual Meeting of American Academy of Religion (AAR), Philadelphia: Pennsylvania, November 19-22, 2005.

“Mythic Tales of Mago, the Great Goddess, from Korea,” Annual Meeting of American Academy of Religion (AAR), Philadelphia: Pennsylvania, November 19-22, 2005.

“Reconstructing Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and Magoism and its Challenges to Androcentrism/Patriarchalism,” International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Seoul: Korea, June 19-24, 2005.

“Women and Tantric Buddhism in Medieval Korea: A Feminist Challenge to Male Hegemony Now and Then,” International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Seoul: Korea, June 19-24, 2005.

“Issues in Studying Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia: Primary Sources, Gynocentric History, and Nationalism,” Conference of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, Claremont CA, June 17, 2005.

“Women and Tantric Buddhism in Medieval Korea: A Feminist Challenge to Male Hegemony,” 7^th International Conference of the Society of Buddhist Christian Studies,” Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles: California, June 3-8 2005.

“Seeking Mago the Great Goddess: A Mytho-Historic-Thealogical Reconstruction of Magoism, an Archaically Originated Tradition of East Asia,” Dissertation Dinner sponsored by Women’s Studies in Religion at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: CA, May 4, 2005.

“Speaking ‘the Unthinkable’: Female Principle in the Cosmogonic Myth of Mago, the Great Goddess, from Korea” Western Commission of the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Tempe: Arizona, March 12-14, 2005.

“Exploring the Cosmogonic Stories of Mago, the Great Goddess, from Korea,” Current Pagan Studies Conference, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont: California, January 23, 2005.

“An Investigation of Gynocentric Unity in Mago, the East Asian Great Goddess, and Elsewhere,” Conference of South West and Pacific Women Studies, Scripps College, Claremont: CA, April 17, 2004.

“Medieval Korean Women’s Religious/Spiritual/Intellectual Movement,” Conference of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, Monterey CA, June 8-10, 2001.

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Teaching Introduction to Maogism, 2017.

Co-teaching Korean Historical Dramas 2016.

Establishing Magoist Studies Certificate Programs, Mago Academy 2015.

Co-teaching with Dr. Glenys Livingstone, Gaia and Mago: Rekindling Old Gynocentric Unity, Mago Academy, February through July, 2014.

 Director and Co-editor of Return to Mago: Magoism the Way of S/HE E-journal [www.magoism.net], August 15, 2013-present.

Organized, presented, and interpreted, Symposium and Colloquium (Theme: Jeju Women and World Goddesses), Jeju: Jeju Traditional Culture Research Center, June 17 and 18, 2013.

Organized and Planetary Speech, 2014 Intercontinental Goddess Conference (Theme: Coming Home to Mago Ourselves), Mago Academy, Seoul: Seoul National University, June 10, 2013.

Director for Mago Pilgrimage to Korea, Mago Academy, June 6-20, 2013.

Co-editor. “Thinking about Goddesses,” Trivia: Voices of Feminism [http://www.triviavoices.net/current/hwang.html] Issue 9, (March, 2009).

Convened and organized a pre-conference workshop “Goddess Scholars: Balancing Academic Career and Personal Practice,” in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena: CA, March 28, 2008. Speakers include Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Nane Jordan, Patricia Monaghan, and Miranda Shaw.

Convened and presided a session “Soaring and Settling of the Peripheralized within the academia” for Religion and the Arts in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena: CA, March 29, 2008. Speakers include Nane Jordan, Marguerite Rigoglioso, Karen Villanueva, and Christi Cook.

Convened and organized a special session “Invoking Reality through the Studies of Goddess” for Goddess Studies in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena: CA, March 29, 2008. Presenters include Karen Tate, Patricia Monaghan, Miranda Shaw, and Tim Ward.

Responded to papers by Karen Tate, Patricia Monaghan, Miranda Shaw, and Tim Ward presented in the special session “Invoking Reality through the Studies of Goddess” for Goddess Studies in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena: CA, March 29, 2008.

Convened a panel, “Stretching Our View Beyond Received Wisdom: Images of Older Wisdoms from Eastern and Western Spiritual Traditions” for Religion and the Arts in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley: CA, March 25, 2007. Presenters include Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Susan Carter, Angeleen Campra and Karen Villanueva.

Convened and presided a session, “Art Rituals and Ritual Arts” Exploring Spiritual Practices from Nepal, Ghana, and North America” for Religion and the Arts in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley: CA, March 25, 2007. Presenters include Laura Amazzone, Raedorah Stewart, and Nane Jordan.

Convened a session, “Theologizing the Oversight in Received Traditions through the Arts,” for Religion and the Arts in the annual conference of Western Commission for the Study of Religion (WECSOR), Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley: CA, March 25, 2007. Presenters include Angela Yarber, Bobbi Katsanis, Larry Taylor, and Vice Olea.

Organized a panel, “Issues in Studying Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia: Primary Sources, Gynocentric History, and Nationalism,” Conference of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (ASPAC), Claremont CA, June 17, 2005. Presenters include Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Margaret Kruszewska, Dorothea Viale, and Marie Cartier with Joe Parker respondent.

Organizing a panel, “An Investigation of Gynocentric Unity in Mago, the East Asian Great Goddess, and Elsewhere,” Conference of South West and Pacific Women Studies, Scripps College, Claremont: CA, April 17, 2004. Presenters include Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Margaret Kruszewska, and Dorothea Viale with Karen Torjesen respondent.

Organized and presided a panel “Medieval Korean Women’s Religious/Spiritual/Intellectual Movement,” Conference of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (ASPAC), Monterey CA, June 8-10, 2001. Presenters include Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Cho, and Joe Parker.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITES

Creator and co-administrator. The Mago Circle (Facebook group), (May 28, 2011-present) [https://www.facebook.com/groups/magoism/].

Creator and co-editor. Return to Mago: Magoism, the Way of S/HE (WordPress blog), (July, 2012-present)

[http://magoism.wordpress.com/].

Published. “Ancient Korean Bell and Magoism” Part 1-cont’d. Return to Mago: Magoism, the Way of S/HE, August 1, 2012. [http://magoism.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/bell-essay-ancient-korean-bells-and-magoism-part-1-by-helen-hwang/].

Published. “Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea” Part 1-5. Return to Mago: Magoism, the Way of S/HE, August 1, 2012. [http://magoism.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/gaeyang-halmi-the-sea-goddess-of-korea-by-helen-hye-sook-hwang/]

Published. “The Mago Hedge School: Why Remember Mary Daly?” Feminism and Religion, October 30, 2012. [http://feminismandreligion.com/2012/10/30/the-mago-hedge-school-why-remember-mary-daly-by-helen-hye-sook-hwang/].

Published. “A Cross-Cultural Feminist Alchemy: Studying Mago, Pan-East Asian Great Goddess, Using Mary Daly’s Radical Feminism as Springboard.” Feminism and Religion, June 26, 2012. [http://feminismandreligion.com/2012/06/26/a-cross-cultural-feminist-alchemy-studying-mago-pan-east-asian-great-goddess-using-mary-dalys-radical-feminism-as-springboard-by-hye-sook-hwang/#more-4338].

 

PROJECTS/RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Executive Program Director. 2013 Mago Pilgrimage to Korea. June 6-20.

Field Research Trip with Grad. Joint Project with Oral Korean Literature Graduate Program, Konguk University, Seoul: Korea. Collecting and Documenting Oral Narratives of Mago Halmi (Goddess Mago) and Gaeyang Halmi (Goddess Gaeyang). Buan and Other Places, S. Korea. July 10-13, 2012.

Short-term Research Travel to Korea Grant, Northeast Asia Council of Association for Asian Studies and Korea Foundation, Summer 2010.

Scholar in Residence, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO, October 13-14, 2009.

Classical Chinese Workshop, Academy of Korean Studies. Seoul: Korea, Summer 2009.

Teaching Grant, Association of Korean Native Religions/Claremont Graduate University, 2006.