Topics in Korean Literature and Culture

Contemporary Korean music offers a site to observe dynamic interactions between global and local. Similarities and differences between Korean hip-hop and African American hip-hop, different meanings given to "punk" in a Korean context, and hybrid forms between traditional Korean music and American jazz provoke interesting questions regarding authenticity, style, genre, and geo-social context. While this course provides students with theories and methods used in the study of international popular music, it will focus on how a variety of musical genres are understood and reinterpreted in a Korean cultural context. Through a wide variety of readings, listening, and video screenings, students will explore issues of identity, representation, nationalism, tradition, authenticity, modernity, colonialism, diaspora, transnationalism, globalization, and new media. Active student participation is expected as this is a discussion-intensive course. Successful students will be able to describe aspects of the relationship between musical performance and embodied identities (such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality) in relation to the mobility of music. A background in musicology or prior knowledge of Asia is preferred but not required. Undergraduates enroll in the 400-level section; 500-level section is for graduate students only. Prerequisite: junior level or above or permission of instructor.
Course Attributes: EN H; AS LCD

Topics in Korean Literature and Culture

GLOBAL STUDIES 455

Section 01