About this site

Founded by writers Margaret Juhae Lee (Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History), S. Isabel Choi (Let the River Run), Nancy Jooyoun Kim (The Last Story of Mina Lee, What We Kept to Ourselves), and Hannah Michell (Excavations, The Defections), Radical Ahjumma is a gathering space via our online journal and IRL events that reclaims and rejoices in concepts of ahjumma, a powerful middle-aged woman with a large visor. 

The ahjumma has been ridiculed, sidelined, or missing from recorded history, erasures driven by war, dictatorships, patriarchy, and motherhood—which continue to impact people of all ages in Korea and its diaspora today.

Radical Ahjumma is not simply a reclamation but a reimagination of the revolutionary role of Korean women during upheaval and times of disorder, chaos, and change. We’re here for your noonchi, han, hwaiting and hot flashes.

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