Spring 2009

ANS 372 • South Korean Popular Culture and Media

Course Description

This course studies contemporary South Korean popular culture and media. We will explore various forms of popular culture (film, television, music, Internet, etc) from the perspectives of their complex cultural, economic, historical, ideological, political, and sociological meanings in South Korean society. Both texts and contexts will be examined, with special attention to the production, distribution, and reception of these cultural texts. Students will consider how these texts and practices of popular culture, shape, and are shaped by, ways of thinking and living in Korea. They will also study how Korean popular culture embodies hybrid culture by appropriating diverse foreign cultures, and how Korean culture participates in the huge transnational flows of culture around the globe. Among the issues that will be covered are national identity, gender, sexuality, national division, and globalization. While focusing on Korea's pop culture over the past two decades, the course will help students to understand how 'culture is always changing over time and is therefore a site of constant struggle over meaning. At the end of this course, students will have a better understanding of current Korean society and culture, and the ability to apply the analytical and critical skills they have developed to the study of other societies and cultures. No previous knowledge of Korean language or history is required.

Grading Policy

Participation (including 2 one-page article summaries): 20% 2 response papers (3-4 pages each): 30% Group presentation: 10% Research outline/proposal and preliminary bibliography: 10% Final research paper (8-10 pages): 30%

Texts

Course Reader

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