PHOTO: Participating at the first iACT conference in 2015. From left: Master Je Gyoung Kim, 1992 Korean Olympic heavyweight gold medalist; Master Byeong Cheol Kim, 1992 Korean Olympic featherweight gold medalist; Master Patrick L. Thimangu; Grandmaster Yong Chin Pak, professor emeritus Iowa State University; and Grandmaster Alexander Choi, of Union City, Calif.
Organizers of the International Academic Conference for Taekwondo (iACT) have lined up the world’s leading taekwondo scholars for the organization’s third conference.
The iACT is partnering with Stanford University’s Center for East Asian Studies and Stanford Athletics to host the 2019 iACT conference early next year. The two-day event is scheduled to be held Feb. 16-17, 2019, at Stanford’s campus in Stanford, Ca.
Ron Dziwenka, iACT president, said the 2019 conference will feature leaders and speakers from the two leading branches of taekwondo and other martial arts. The main taekwondo systems in the world are Kukkiwon taekwondo also known World Taekwondo or Olympic style taekwondo, and International Tae Kwon Do Federation.
“We have assembled perhaps the most accomplished and respected scholar-researchers in the field of martial arts philosophy ever to present on taekwondo, including those from both WT and ITF, to discuss the current key issues in taekwondo philosophy and pedagogy,” Dziwenka said in a recent letter to taekwondo practitioners.
Dziwenka, who is a Kukkiwon certified 7th dan, holds a doctorate degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona and a masters degree from Yonsei University in Korea. He organized the first iACT in January 2015 at New Mexico University in Las Cruces.
Invited speakers and presenters for the 2019 iACT include Barry Allen, Ph.D. He is author of Striking Beauty: A Philosophical Look at the Asian Martial Arts. He is professor of philosophy at McMaster University in Canada and has held visiting appointments in Jerusalem, Istanbul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. He also is associate editor at the interdisciplinary journal Common Knowledge. Some other books he has authored include Truth in Philosophy (Harvard University Press, 1993) and Vanishing into Things: Knowledge in Chinese Tradition (Harvard University Press, 2015).
Others presenters and speakers will be:
Allen Back, Ph.D, professor of philosophy at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. He is one of the first scholars to publish books on taekwondo history and philosophy, including many articles and three books with the late Daeshik Kim, Ph.D. A revised edition of one of his books, now in press, will be a summary of his research on taekwondo philosophy spanning over three decades.
Paul Boman, Ph.D, professor in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, UK; Director of the AHRC funded Martial Arts Studies Research Network; Founding co-Editor of Martial Arts Studies journal; and Founding Editor of JOMEC Journal. He has published extensively in the field of martial arts.
Wojciech J. Cynarski, Ph.D, professor at University of Rzeszow, Poland and Editor of the internationally renowned and leading martial art journal, Ido Movement for Culture: Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, a SCOPUS-listed publication.
Professor Young Sun Kim of Yonsei University in Korea has been a leading researcher in the fields of philosophy and education for Kukkiwon, and the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation for over 30 years. His upcoming dissertation will be a groundbreaking history of the taekwondo kwans prior to 1955. At iACT 2019, Professor Kim will present the findings of his two-year project commissioned by Kukkiwon, on the meaning of “Taekwondo spirit”.
John A. Johnson, holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Sports and Taekwondo from Kyung Hee University in Korea and is a professor in the Department of Taekwondo at Keimyung University in Korea. He is the executive director for the International Association for Taekwondo Research (IATR) and the copy editor for the journal Acta Taekwondo et Martialis Artium (ATMA).
Joseph J. Lynch, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Philosophy of California Polytechnic State University and founding president of The Society for the Study of Philosophy and the Martial Arts that holds two sessions each year at the American Philosophical Association Conference (Pacific Division).
Udo Moenig, Ph.D., professor in the Youngsan University Department of Taekwondo in Yangsan as the first foreigner in Korea to teach Taekwondo at the university level. His latest publication is a groundbreaking work titled Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport (London: Routledge, 2015). He will discuss the transformation of Taekwondo’s philosophical talking points that Taekwondo leaders have stressed over the past decades.
Hyeongseok Song, Ph.D, is a professor in the Department of Taekwondo, Keimyung University in Daegu (ROK) since 1999. His research interests are in historical and philosophical problems of Taekwondo and sport from a humanistic perspective, and will focus on the concept of “Taekwondo spirit”in iACT 2019.
Greg Kailian, Ph.D, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Boston University, and a doctorate in international education, from the University of Southern California. He lived in Korea for a decade starting in 1973 as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to the Seoul National University College of Education. Considered among the most highly qualified and experienced non-Koreans in Taekwondo, he is certified as a Kukkiwon 9th dan, 1st Class Master Instructor, and 1st Class Poom/Dan Promotion Test Examiner, as well as a World Taekwondo, “S” class international referee. Kailian is the author of Sport Taekwondo Referee Primer.
Steven Capener, Ph.D, associate professor of Korean Literature at Seoul Women’s University in Korea. He earned his first doctorate in Sport Philosophy from Seoul National University and his second one in modern Korean literature from Yonsei University. He has been living in Korea since the late 1980s, has published extensively on Taekwondo history and philosophy, and is among the most knowledgeable and experienced non-Koreans in Taekwondo.
George Vitale, Ph.D, is only the seventh American-born practitioner to achieve the level of 8th dan in ITF Taekwon-Do. He earned his doctorate from the State Commission on Academic Degrees and Titles in North Korea. A leading diplomat of taekwondo, Vitale will chair the iACT 2019 panel on the Taekwondo’s philosophy of history.
Ron Dziwenka, holds a Ph. D. in East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona and and a masters degree from Yonsei University. He has published several papers on martial arts philosophy, and has presented his research at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Scientific Congress as well as at conferences in the Republic of China, Republic of Korea, People’s Republic of China, Canada, Mexico and the USA. He is in the Center for International Education and the History Department at Salisbury University, USA.
Master Suzan Crochet, one of the highest ranking ITF Masters in the world, has a masters degree in physical education (Perceptual Motor & Development) and was a public school teacher from 1980-2014. Her area of expertise is pedagogy, and will present on special needs taekwondo for mentally-, physically- & aged-challenged practitioners.
Alun Hardman, Ph.D is the Associate Dean for Internationalization in the Cardiff School of Sport at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales. He is also President of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS) and the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, which is widely acknowledged as the most respected medium for communicating contemporary philosophic thought with regard to sport.
For more information about the 2019 iACT contact Ron Dziwenka at: rjdziwenka@salisbury.edu.