The 27th Annual Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium in the Korean Humanities

 “Consuming K-Pop: Soft Power, Marketization, and Cultural Appropriation”

Korean popular culture is arguably one of South Korea’s most impactful exports, reaching a worldwide audience of devoted fans through strategic marketization. From music, film, television, sports to food, the “Korean Wave” (hallyu) has generated revenue and reshaped the topography of the global cultural landscape. This year’s Colloquium focuses on the K-Pop industry, the contemporary style of Korean pop music that has become popular in countries ranging from Indonesia and Thailand to Pakistan, Nigeria, and Chile. The speakers will examine diverse aspects of K-Pop: state-initiated efforts to employ the Korean Wave as a currency of soft power, corporate infrastructure, global fan practices that contribute to the transnational flow of popular culture, cultural appropriation, the production of idols, and the connections between K-Pop and Korean diasporic as well as other non-Korean communities.

Date & Time
Saturday, November 2, 2019
9:30 am – 4:45 pm

Location
Harry Harding Auditorium, Room 213, Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E St., NW, Washington, DC 20052

Program Download (PDF)

Abstract Download (PDF)

 

Program Details 

Keynote Speaker

Kyung Hyun Kim, University of California, Irvine

Speakers

Bora Kim, Columbia University
CedarBough Saeji, Indiana University
Crystal Anderson, George Mason University
Imelda Ibarra, US BTS Army
Robert Ku, Binghamton University – State University of New York (SUNY)
So-Rim Lee, University of Pennsylvania

Schedule

09:30 – 09:50  Breakfast Reception

Welcoming Remarks

09:50 – 10:00  Director Jisoo M. Kim, Institute for Korean Studies, the George Washington University

Keynote Speech

10:00 – 10:30  Kyung Hyun Kim, “Of Mimicry and Miguk: Opaquely Racial/Ambivalently Hegemonic K-pop”

Session I (Moderator: Immanuel Kim)

10:30 – 11:00  CedarBough Saeji, “Parasitic or Symbiotic?: The Rise of the K-pop Adjacent Industries”
11:00 – 11:30  So-Rim Lee, “Grow Stars with Z-POP DREAM”: Idols, Cryptocurrency, and Technologies of Embodiment”
11:30 – 12:00  Comments and Q&A

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch

Session II (Moderator: Miok D. Pak)

13:30 – 14:00  Robert Ku, “Mother Said She Didn’t Like Jajangmyeon’: Ruminating on Korean Noodles During the Age of K-pop”
14:00 – 14:30  Crystal Anderson, “From Big Mama to Mamamoo: The Reverberation of R&B Vocals in K-pop Girl Groups”
14:30 – 15:00  Comments and Q&A

15:00 – 15:15  Break

Session III  (Moderator: Gregg Brazinsky)

15:15 – 15:45  Bora Kim, “Boundaries of K-pop: EXP EDITION, A Non-Korean K-pop Idol Group”
15:45 – 16:15  Imelda Ibarra, “Method to the Madness: The Global Power of ARMY”
16:15 – 16:45  General Comments

The George Washington University’s Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Institute for Korean Studies gratefully acknowledge our co-sponsors:

GW Sigur Center for Asian Studies
Korea Foundation
Literature Translation Institute of Korea

*Please note that K-Pop stars in any promotion materials are not attending this event.

Cover Photo ©Korea Tourism Organization