KEC Special Lecture Series 2023 - Who is behind the Prodigy K-pop Dancers?
The Korean Wave consistently piques the interest of media outlets. Especially in the German context, it is still perceived as a new trend. Sceptic voices remain most visible and question the reasons for its success. The most popular view is the soft-power perspective, painting the Korean cultural industry and its artists as embedded in foreign policy processes. Other views characterise Hallyu as a passing trend, a short-lived anomaly. Lastly, success is sometimes attributed to consumerism, stating that K-pop and other Korean cultural content are designed to appeal to everyone and especially the inexperienced youth. In short, Korean cultural content and its consumers are eyed with both wonder and distrust.
Beyond popular media discourse, academic discussion on how to understand the Korean Wave and its impact on a changing media landscape has emerged. However, until now, the German case was largely sidelined in discussions. Focusing on K-pop, the special lecture series “Sailing or drifting? The Korean Wave, self, and Fandoms” addresses this gap by providing an opportunity to discuss the impact of the Korean Wave on youth. Are individuals simply swept up by the wave or consciously riding it? Moving beyond arguments about the maturity of consumers and/or manipulation by media, the series highlights the artistic dimension of internationally popular Korean music and dances.
KEC Special Lecture Series - Sailing or Drifting? The Korean Wave, self and fandoms - Dr. Chuyun Oh
"Who is behind the Prodigy K-pop Dancers?"
Who is behind the prodigy K-pop dancers and teen K-pop influencers? Globally talented young trainees come to South Korea and become professional artists even before getting accepted to K-pop agencies. Based on her #1 Amazon New Release bestseller K-pop Dance (Routledge, 2022), Dr. Chuyun Oh, the pioneer of K-pop dance studies, shares her insight on conservatory performing arts education in South Korea and how young prodigy children claims their voice and agency on social media in accordance and against with competitive neoliberal capitalism and training system.
Lecturer:
(Associate) Prof Dr Chuyun Oh (Associate Professor of Dance Theory/Practice, Affiliated Faculty in Women's Studies, Core Member of Institute for Dialogue and Social Justice, San Diego State University)
Dr. Chuyun Oh (Ph.D. in Performance Studies at UT Austin) is an Associate Professor of Dance at San Diego State University. As a Fulbright scholar and former award-winning professional dancer, she focuses on performance ethnography and K-pop dance. Her work has appeared in Dance Research Journal, Text and Performance Quarterly, Dance Chronicle, The Journal of Popular Culture, Communication, Culture & Critique, The International Journal of the History of Sport, The Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, and The Journal of Fandom Studies. She is a recipient of the Top Paper (2019) and Top Contributed Performance three times (2016- 2018) from the Performance Studies Division at National Communication Association. As a pioneer of K-pop dance studies, she was the David Sanjek Keynote Speaker in Popular Music at the 64th Annual Conference of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 2019. Her work has received positive media coverage in SBS, Arirang TV, Korea Herald, JoongAng Daily, Kukmin Ilbo, LA Times, Financial Times, Allure, SD Voyager Magazine, Voice of San Diego, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and more. She serves on the editorial boards of Text and Performance Quarterly and Review of Communication. She is a co-editor of Candlelight Movement, Democracy, and Communication in Korea (Routledge, 2021) and the author of K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media (Routledge, 2023), #1 Amazon New Release in Communications and Popular Dance in July 2023.
Registration: https://fu-berlin.webex.com/weblink/register/r56493353843a7a94ff984e0b49b65b99More information to be announced
Zeit & Ort
30.06.2023 | 14:15 - 15:45
Online
Weitere Informationen
Gwendolyn Domning (g.domning@fu-berlin.de)