As part of an effort to build a system of shared courses with Korean content among a number of Midwestern schools, the institutional members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), with funding from the Korea Foundation, offer a series of area studies courses on a variety of Korean topics. These course offerings have small enrollments, are simulcast among three universities, and make extensive use of internet-based technologies. The East Asian Studies Center and Institute for Korean Studies coordinate and support the offering of these courses at The Ohio State University.
 
The next course in this series, which will be taught at OSU and shared via videoconference technology with Penn State University and the University of Wisconsin, will be Korean 5256: "Mediating the Koreas through Popular Culture: Music, Cinema, and Cyberspace." This Autumn 2015 course, taught by Dr. Pil Ho Kim, will be offered on Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:30 to 3:40 p.m.
 
Course Description: This is an introductory course for undergraduate students of all levels who are interested in how popular culture has been mediating Korea in the modern era and the complex, often tormented relationship between North and South Korea since the national division. In particular, we will focus on South Korea's newfound soft power and its global impact that reaches even North Korea. In addition to academic texts, this course will make use of a wealth of materials from popular literature, music, film, TV dramas, cartoon, animation, internet and sports. Through the lens of popular culture, we can observe how the nation responded to the inroads of modern western culture during the early modern period; how the politics of the Cold War and American hegemony affected them; how Korean popular culture has evolved and adapted to the rapid economic development and social changes in the postwar period. In terms of both export industry and lifestyle practice, the South Korean pop culture phenomenon - commonly known as the 'Korean Wave' or Hallyu - has come to enjoy global recognition. We will also compare and contrast North Korea's self-image with popular cultural representations of North Korea by the South Korean media and the Hollywood/western media.

Students may register for the course via Buckeyelink. Questions can be directed to Amy Carey at carey.189@osu.edu.