EALC1379 - Art, Pop, and Belonging: Or, How to Talk about Korean Popular Culture

From K-pop and film to fashion, cosmetics, food, and art, South Korean culture seems to be everywhere. In this course, we will discuss how the cadences of Korean culture shifted in tandem with the sheer amount of historical and social change experienced by the Korean people throughout the twentieth century. Specifically, we will look at art and talk to artists, listen to K-pop, and contemplate how these cultural representations activate a sense of belonging and social coalition for marginalized communities in Korea. Addressing topics such as gender and sexuality, modernity and national trauma, xenophobia and racial tensions, queer feminist movements, and cultural transnationalism in the neoliberal era, we will pay particular attention to the structures of power and the role of the “other” in the construction of contemporary South Korea. In so doing, we will also rethink our own positionality in consuming Korean popular culture as North America-based scholars “looking at” Korea from a geographic, cultural, and social distance. All class materials will be in English; no previous knowledge of Korean language is required.