Korean Youth, Identity, and Nation

Catalog description

Youth contribute greatly to Korea’s brand and GNP (BTS, Black Pink), yet suffer from the OECD countries’ highest youth unemployment rate. Abroad, Korean youth are a silenced “model minority,” mediating assimilation and parental pressures. Introducing modern history, from Confucianism, education, politics, militarism, immigration, to adoption, this interdisciplinary course will analyze recent media (Kdramas, Minari, Minor Feelings) mirroring identity production today, but through the eyes of Korea’s youth and their complicated relationship to Korean society. We will study compressed modernity, cram schools, gender, the cult of masculinity, the church, the LGBTQ community, eSports, youth mental health, and post-graduation futurities.