Kangnam Style: Exploring Art and Popular Culture in Seoul

General Description

South Korea has become a global center of pop culture and art. K-pop Demon Hunters is currently the most-watched Netflix film of all time, its songs still occupying top positions on Billboard. K-pop groups like NCT and Blackpink fill stadiums with local and international fans. TV Dramas are watched by audiences around the world. Korean cosmetics and food continue to enjoy exponential growth. Meanwhile, Seoul hosts one of the largest global art fairs, FRIEZE, which attracts galleries and collectors from all over the world and demonstrates Korea’s secure place in the domestic and overseas art market. In this seminar, students will learn about South Korea’s economic, social, and political transitions that enabled its meteoric rise from the devastation wreaked by the Korean War to its current place in the global content spotlight. We will explore the following questions: what turning points in modern South Korean history help explain its dramatic transformation? How did authors and artist respond to these changes? When and how did Korean popular culture, as a global phenomenon, “begin”? Who are the entities driving the success of Korean popular culture? And finally, how can we understand the boundaries between art, design, and popular culture? To answer these questions, students will attend lectures by the course instructor, learn from on-site speakers; engage in field trips to museum; visit the centers of South Korea’s art establishment and entertainment industries; and meet industry executives, performers, and contemporary artists.

Learning Goals

Students will...

1. Gain appreciation of Korea’s complex history of colonialism and war and its expressions in art and popular culture
2. Experience forms of traditional culture in modern iterations
3. Interact with some of South Korea’s leading entrepreneurs, artists, and innovators of popular culture
4. Engage in critique of various forms of public government/private corporation and the market’s role in cultural production
5. Apply critical analysis from cultural studies to visual and textual material

Location

The seminar will take place mostly in Seoul, but will include day trips to the DMZ and other relevant locations. Field trips will include museums, galleries, FRIEZE, and sites related to Korean pop culture and art.

Prerequisites & Expectation

There are no prerequisites, but preference will be given to students who have taken Korean studies courses at Stanford (taught by Dafna Zur, Hyun Suk Park, Yumi Moon, Gi-Wook Shin, or Korean language courses) and to students without significant travel experience in Korea. Students are expected to be self-driven and motivated to learn, as many of the assignments will be self-guided. The pace of the course is high and the activities are many, so it is recommended for students will high energy levels.

Living and Travel Conditions

Students will live in shared rooms. Group travel will be by air-conditioned coach, but students will be given public transportation cards and will be encouraged to explore the city on their own during free time. Korea is extremely hot and humid in the summer, and we will be exposed to the elements throughout the day. Korean food is very flavorful and spicy, and it may not always be easy to find alternatives. The pace of the course will be fast, packed, and intense.

Faculty

Dr. Dafna Zur

Dafna Zur is an Associate Professor of Korean literature and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University. At Stanford she teaches courses on Korean literature, film, and popular culture. Her first book, Figuring Korean Futures: Children’s Literature in Modern Korea, interrogates the contradictory political and social visions made possible by children’s literature in colonial and postcolonial Korea. She has published articles on North Korean popular science and science fiction, translations in North Korean literature, the Korean War in children’s literature, childhood in cinema, children’s poetry and music, and popular culture. She is writing a new book that brings together science, sound, space, and self-writing to explore the relationship between literary forms and content in the transition from colonial to postwar divided Korea.

Grading Basis

Letter Grade