Dramabeans Hosts Hallyu In Academia Panel At KCON 2015 In Los Angeles

Getting paid to watch Korean dramas and listen to K-pop and get others to do the same? Sounds like any fan's dream, but if you were one of the panelists at KCON 2015 in Los Angeles, that might be your job description. Hosted by popular internet drama recappers and bloggers, Javabeans and Girlfriday of the website, Dramabeans, the panel 'Hallyu in Academia' gathered together three college professors who study and teach classes on Korean dramas and other elements of Hallyu.

Haejoo Kim, having grown up in a Korean-American household where dramas were ubiquitous, always thought Korean dramas were good entertainment. When the K-drama world was swept up by the 2003 K-drama hit, Jewel in the Palace, one of its most memorable aspects, she thought, was its OST (original sound track). With a background in ethnomusicology, when given the chance to build a course on the history of Korean music, she dedicated a portion of it to Korean dramas and K-pop.

Bonnie Tilland grew up with many friends of East Asian descent, spurring her to learn Japanese and watch J-dramas. Though she was researching anthropological facets of Asian history, in her field research, Korean dramas kept popping up unexpectedly. She finally went on a Korean drama tour with some Japanese fans and was hooked. "You keep thinking about Korean dramas even when they're not on," Tilland commented, describing how she was sucked into the 2005 K-drama, My Name is Kim Sam-soon.

Regina Yung Lee had already been involved in studying English language fandoms when she became aware of a growing fandom of Korean dramas in English, Fascinated that the growth of this particular fandom was happening all on the internet, she began exploring it and discovered 2007 K-drama Coffee Prince, her gateway drama.

As prominent figures in the k-drama online scene, Javabeans and Girlfriday had worked with all three professors previously as guest lecturers. With their extensive knowledge of the field, they guided the panelists through a series of questions about their respective experiences with Hallyu in the academic setting.

A question asked was, "As pioneers in this field of Hallyu scholarly study, what is the process of designing a syllabus? From which sources do you draw the assigned reading materials?"

Tilland drew readings from a variety of disciplines, including communications, media, cultural studies and anthropology, though she mentioned that panelist Lee had contributed to The Korean Pop Culture Reader (Duke University Press, 2014). Kim's course dealt with the history of Korean music beyond what's commonly known as K-pop, but she also had her students listen to about 60 K-pop songs as part of the curriculum, because "everybody should know some Super Junior songs." She also referenced articles written in publications such as The New York Times and The New Yorker as viable sources.

Regarding her particular sphere of interest, Lee pointed out that although cultural studies done on international fandoms already exist, there is a difference between academic work written in different languages. "Knowledge is not neutral. It has a lineage, history, language," said Lee, raising an important concern in trans-national fields of study like Hallyu. She adds gender relations texts to her Hallyu courses, noting that the abundance of cross-dressing heroines in K-dramaland could make for a great basis for a future course. 

On the lighter side, the three professors shared stories of students and their encounters with Hallyu. Tilland spoke about some computer science majors in one of her introductory survey courses, with no prior Hallyu interaction, defending seminal 1995 K-drama, Sandglass, a "manly drama" during a class discussion. A student of Kim's was unable to name the title of Super Junior's song, "Sorry, Sorry" during a K-pop listening test and had asked for the listening clip to be replayed. Kim recounted the looks of incredulence his fellow classmates gave him, as the words, "sorry, sorry" repeat over and over prominently in the chorus.

Lee told a tale of a student whose boyfriend borrowed her laptop on which she had been watching Korean drama assigned as homework, only to receive emotional text messages afterwards from him about a K-drama he accidentally started watching. "The student had described him as a 'Seattle lumberjack,' and he had started watching Coffee Prince," Lee revealed, to the crowd's laughter.

Dramas recommended by the professors included 2011's Dream High, My Name is Kim Sam-soon, Coffee Prince, 2012's Shut Up Flower Boy Band, 2012's Reply 1997 and 2010's Sungkyunkwan Scandal, which cover a wide variety of genres and history and can be easily used as teaching material. However, no matter what the material, the three agree that it's a golden time for Korean studies, thanks to the effects of the Hallyu Wave.

"Hallyu has really invigorated Korean studies," Kim said. There's a growing recognition that Hallyu can be a gateway to students becoming Korean studies majors and becoming interested in the culture, making it easier to get courses on Hallyu approved, echoed Tilland. The academic work in the field is now starting to establish into a foundation that can be built upon, according to Lee, so she hopes "there will be a long, bright future" for Hallyu studies.

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Dramabeans
hallyu
KCON 2015 LA
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