AAAS 282CK-pop and the Korean Wave

Catalog

Hallyu, also known as the Korean Wave, refers to the sudden rise of South Korea's cultural industries and the growth of South Korean popular culture in the global market since the late 1990s. This course surveys performing popular culture in the midst of Hallyu and the ways South Korean national identity is imagined. Rather than offering a simple narrative of Hallyu, it focuses on particular performances, influences, and ruptures that have shaped the phenomena. In particular, we will explore the detailed process of K-pop production of idol groups such as GOT7, Red Velvet, and S.E.S. from demo to recording sessions, and we will look at the use of a form of performance -- such as K-pop, musical theatre, performing arts, cinema, TV drama, food culture, and reality shows -- as analyzing sources. Through the close reading of selected video clips, films, and performances, we will investigate how race, gender and sexuality, and Koreanness are performed, represented, challenged, and negotiated. We will read essays in fields of performance studies, theater studies, critical theory, and cultural studies, and interpret discursive constructions by paying close attention to the specific historical contexts in which the performances were produced and circulated in relation with globalization.