Stanford Summer 2005 Workshop Fellowships on Korea

The Korean Studies Program at the Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) in the Stanford Institute for International Studies announces workshop fellowships for June 27-July 1, 2005. Financial support for these fellowships has been provided by a generous grant from the Korea Research Foundation and the Pantech Co., Ltd. and Curitel Communications Inc.(Pantech Group).

The workshop, co-chaired by Michael Robinson (Indiana University) and Gi-Wook Shin (Stanford University), seeks to invite five fellows of any discipline currently engaged in research related to the theme of Culture Wars in Korea (see description below), both historical and contemporary, to explore this subject in an intensive week of discussions and collaborative critique of each others' work. Preference will be given to junior scholars (recent Ph. D and ABD). Along with application, each candidate must submit a draft paper on the related issues and will be expected to spend the week of June 27 to July 1 at Stanford for this intensive workshop. There will be a list of core readings to help unify our discussions. After the workshop, all participants are expected to submit revised papers that will be considered for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Korean Studies in 2006. Each fellow will be provided airfare, accommodation, and $1,000.

Culture Wars in Korea: Globalized Mass Culture, State Control, and Conservative Reaction

This seminar will focus on the genesis and evolution of globalized mass culture in Korea. Of particular interest will be the conflict engendered in Korea as state authority and conservative elites attempted to control hybrid cultural forms linked to global flows of mass culture. From the beginning, the emergence of capitalist mass culture in Korea has provoked a variety of conservative responses: colonial censorship and repression, cultural nationalists opposing the "debasement" of traditional cultural forms, post-liberation attempts to control and mediate cultural formations, state censorship of popular cinema, song, and pulp fiction, formal blockade of Japanese popular cultural imports, Minjung activist debates over resisting urban mass culture in favor of agrarian expressions of Koreanness, etc. The motivations for such actions stemmed from the perception of the state, conservatives, and even nationalist ideologues that Korean traditional identity was being effaced by the onslaught of global mass culture. Ironically, in the last decade the Korean entertainment industry has had considerable success exporting its films, rock groups, and television series in East Asia. Some critics attribute this success to a unique Korean cultural sensibility embedded in such cultural exports. This brings the debate about mass culture full circle-from distrust and loathing of the new mass culture to the thought that it might actually embody Korean identity itself.

Submission Deadline

Applicants must submit a CV, one letter of recommendation, and a draft paper by March 1, 2005. Only complete applications will be considered.

Applications should be sent to:

Dr. Hong Kal

Korean Studies Program

Encina Hall, Room E301

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305-6055

Phone: 650-725-4206

Fax: 650-725-2592

Email: hongkal@stanford.edu