A Post for Ryan's Class on K-Pop

My friend Ryan sent me an email:

I have a question for you. I'm working on my world music exam (a syllabus), and I want to include K-Pop in a unit on recording industries (and I know nothing about it). Are you aware of any good articles/books on the subject that I might include and/or excerpt?

Also, off the top of your head, what are the five most important K-Pop groups I should include?

Dear Ryan,

I started out by answering you in an email, but then I realized that the email was going to take me (at least) a couple hours to write. So, might as well share with some others while I was at it. 

It is simultaneously easy to illustrate a presentation about recording industries with examples from K-pop, and hard. If it is your intention to show something about recording industries in general, K-pop is not your cup of tea. But to talk about the powers beyond the actual artists we see/hear, then K-pop is great, since the heavy involvement of the management companies is not hidden behind narratives about artistic freedom or inspiration. Although it is not an academic book, Mark James Russel has a book based on years as a reporter in Korea (working for Billboard and what not) called Pop Goes Korea. (Here's the official website for the book). Mark does a great job outlining the dominance of the management system (which really is manager, promoter, choreographer, costume designer, record label, recording studio and everything else all rolled into one), and explaining how this system came about. The system in other areas is somewhat similar (like in Japan where they also manufacture groups based on specific ideas of what will appeal, not based on the desire of group members to perform that type of music --they may be stuck doing slow songs when they want to do dance tracks-- or perform/train with people they can barely tolerate). Japanese, though, still legally buy music, so the ways the system works there is a little different than in Korea. Also, as you surely know, Korean pop has a larger than just cult following in other areas, unlike Japanese pop which despite a brief bloom more than a decade ago now seems relatively unknown anywhere but Japan. 

I'm starting with your request for five groups (although it's important to note that there are a few solo acts that are pretty important). This, on the surface, appears very easy. But since you don't know much about K-pop, I found it took much more time than I at first thought. I've also linked a few songs that I think are illustrative of the group in some way. As I was inserting the links I realized that my bias towards what is called "dance" (as opposed to "ballad") is very heavy, so this is a slightly skewed list. I can't help it. I find "ballad" (slow songs) to be pretty much crap unless the vocalist is out of this world, and vocals are not the first reason that K-pop groups/artists become big/influential. 

2NE1

I think you have to include 2NE1 even though they are not representative of K-pop and what it looks/sounds like because 1) they are satisfying musically, visually, creatively, vocally, choreographically and in most other ways. If people dislike this group, it can't be because they're another cookie-cutter K-pop group they are 2) representative of what hugely produced –but creative- musical acts can be and still be popular in Korea. All of K-pop could be full of such interesting and exciting acts, but it's not. Many management companies play it safe, and not all groups include as much talent. That said... I know there is a lot of autotune. The group has four members, following a K-pop convention of lead singer, featured dancer, group leader, and rapper (that's only 3 of the members, but the fourth has a large personality). They conveniently came with bonuses such as foreign language ability (the personality was a TV star in the Philippines, the lead singer trained at Berklee College of Music). Managed by YG Entertainment.

"I am the Best"

"Lonely"

"Falling in Love"

"Can't Nobody"  (okay, I'm a fan, also this last song is my favorite)

Girls' Generation (also known as SNSD, an abbreviation of their Korean name)

I think you need this group because they are a perfect example of stereotypes about K-pop. When people roll their eyes and say that K-pop has a bunch of plastic looking people parading around in short skirts or short-shorts, they are talking about Girls' Generation or similar groups. They're managed by SM Entertainment (the big powerhouse company), and they've been around long enough that they are mentioned in a fair amount of academic literature. There are 9 members, including a couple Korean-Americans. I find their music occasionally fun, but mostly uninspired.

"Oh"

"Hoot"

Seo Taiji and the Boys 

This group is what is considered the first official popular music group in Korea (long before the Chinese discovered K-pop). They are much closer to the American ideal of artist-driven music with musicians performing on stage. The group included songs with serious social-issue content, and introduced Koreans to a lot of new musical sounds/innovation that were mostly gleaned from American music. They are deservedly called trailblazers. And there is more literature on them/mentioning them than any other K-pop. Try in Keith Howard's edited book Korean Pop: Riding the Wave. As a side note, YG Entertainment is owned and run by one of the "boys" in this historic group.

"Nan Arayo"

"Come Back Home"

I think that after those three groups, who to include is a toss up. You should probably include a "boy" group, because K-pop is certainly not dominated by women (at the moment there are more highly successful "girl" groups than "boy" groups, but it's not too imbalanced and at other times there have been more "boy" groups at the top of the charts.

"Boy" Groups:

TVXQ 

The initials TVXQ correspond to how their Chinese character name is said in Japan, the Korean initials are DBSK. This group was absolutely huge for quite a few years, but then they imploded in a big contract dispute. Now two members continue to perform under this name, while all five are still popular (the other three perform as JYJ but their music seems to suck and there have been a lot of jokes in Korean about how the group is actually better now as a two member group than they were before the split. It seems the best talent is still with the group. They're managed by SM Entertainment.

"Keep your Head Down" (2 members)

"Mirotic" (5 members)

Big Bang 

I actually really like the music that Big Bang releases (most of the time). It's danceable, the videos are fun, and the production is pretty crazy. Big Bang is the male equivalent of 2NE1 (actually they debuted first, so 2NE1 is the female version of Big Bang and has been repeatedly billed that way). The five members in the group are all pretty talented, and that definitely helps. But I don't see them as representative of K-pop, I just see this as better music/more original production than most big hit groups. 

"Tonight"

"Fantastic Baby"

"Lies"

SHINee

I have a friend who would never forgive me if I suggested various male groups important to a class or an exam on popular music, and didn't mention SHINee. The group has been around for awhile now, and they seem to have staying power. They are, in my opinion, representative of generic K-pop "boy" groups, not surprisingly, they're produced by SM Entertainment.

"Lucifer"

"RingDing Dong"

"Sherlock"

Male Solo Artists:

Drunken Tiger

This is Korean-American rap/hip-hop produced and performed in Korea. Actually, properly speaking this is not a solo artist. Drunken Tiger was a duo, made up of Tiger JK and DJ Shine, they've parted ways, but Tiger JK hasn't switched to performing as a solo artist, and continues to acknowledge the help of others in his musical creations, esp. his wife, who is a well-known singer. He is not in any way representative of K-pop, but he's quite popular, multiple releases (8 cds?), highly watched videos, etc. His label is Jungle Entertainment, he doesn't operate in the same system as all the others on this list.

"Monster"

"The Cure" (this song features his wife, Tasha) 

G-Dragon 

G-Dragon is the front man of Big Bang, and I actually like the solo releases of three members of Big Bang and like G-Dragon's personality a little less than two other members, yet his work really stands out in Korea. REALLY stands out. He's hyped as writing a lot of his own songs (how true?), and as a fashion icon (fashion is such a weird area!).  Naturally he's also managed by YG Entertainment when he's solo, as well.

"Coup d'Etat"

"One of a Kind"

"Heartbreaker"

More Women:

Brown Eyed Girls 

I'm a big fan of Brown Eyed Girls. Their music is good, but more than that, they push interesting boundaries, come out with really creative stuff, and do things like openly admit their plastic surgeries. (Most stars in Korea try to say they haven't done any work on their faces). They are managed by NEGA Entertainment.

"Abracadabra"

"Sixth Sense"

"Plastic Face" (Korean Saturday Night Live skit featuring 3 of the 4 members)

Sistar (two woman sub-group Sistar 19)

This group is way oversexualized. Yet at the same time they have one member with amazing singing ability. So I am pretty torn. I own and listen to many of their songs, but watching their videos... well, let's just say I use them as an example when I talk about sexual objectification. Starship Entertainment.

"Alone" (Sistar)

"Gone... not around any Longer" (Sistar 19)

Wonder Girls 

The Wonder Girls are a group produced/managed by JYP Entertainment, at one time the second biggest company, but in the last few years the company has had some bad luck and made some risky choices. One of those was to work very hard at having the Wonder Girls make it in the US market. They are fairly well known in America, I suppose, in comparison to other K-pop groups because they've played shows (as an opening act) in places other than large centers for overseas Koreans. But I find them boring at best.  One of JYP Entertainment's more recent girl groups, Miss A, is more interesting to me partially because two members are Chinese.

"The DJ is Mine"

"Tell Me" 

"Nobody" (English version, the guy in the beginning is the head of the entertainment company)

Solo Female Acts:

BoA 

I cannot in good conscience fail to mention BoA in a list on K-pop. BoA has been big since 2002, but she was born in '86, so if you're thinking that Miley Cyrus has nothing on this woman, you'd be right. Except that BoA will never be part of a controversy. And she first broke out in Japan. Has released albums in Japanese (I think more than in Korean), Chinese, and in 2009, in English (she also tried to make it in the American market and got some traction, briefly). I am much more impressed by her dancing than her vocals, but... no one is perfect. SM Entertainment.

"Eat YouUp"

"HurricaneVenus"

"Disturbance"

Lee Hyori 

Hyori is another HUGE artist, but she's probably on her way out. I am skeptical about her ability to survive some of the various scandals, lower viewer ratings on a show, her increasing age, and keep on top in K-pop. She originally debuted with a group called FinKL in the late 90s, and is really talented—I love a lot of her music, esp. the album before last (H-Logic)—but then it turned out that almost everything there was plagiarized or ripped off in some way or another, without compensation, and she got in a lot of hot water, although she claimed not to know (she was not credited as the songwriter, the major issue was songs all from a single songwriter, who appears to have no idea what fair use actually is). She's with MNet Media, now.

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

"Swing" (sorry, no link available b/c of copyright claims, all the links are muted)

"Bad Girls"

It is worth mentioning that all of the performers on this entire list are heavily involved in TV (reality shows, talk shows, variety shows, dramas (often as the main star), and even at times movies. They also do all sorts of advertising. In Korean music more money is made from those activities than from selling MP3 downloads (by far). 

Surely some other blog visitors will eventually point out that I have neglected to tell you about some hugely important acts. H.O.T. (the first big export act), or Sechkies, or SES or Baby Vox, or in fact hundreds of others that are currently performing like T-Ara, KARA, After School, 2PM, 2AM, 4 Minute, Super Junior, Shinhwa (they're all out of the military now!), B2ST, DTMN or the independent(ish) acts-- many of them much more creative than what I've listed on here. Yet when I made this list I was also thinking about when you teach this class. If you teach the class in a year, or six months, or even three years from now I think the names on this list will still be relevant. If you check on Youtube you'll probably find more recent releases (K-pop acts tend to release new mini-albums or full-length albums at most two years apart but usually closer to once every nine months). 

And I'll email you more about readings you can assign. 

[UPDATE] This well-written article about the phenomenon Busker, Busker is instructive about some of the ways the popular music circuit works in Korea, if primarily because the trio didn't do what they were supposed to do. 

Friends and Moving

As I get older, I feel both that I have a bountiful rich array of friendships, and that I am increasingly alone. The latter feeling is undoubtedly because I cannot seem to stay in one place. I never really said anything good about living in LA, and K didn't like it much, either, but now that I don't live there anymore I feel incredibly nostalgic for the things I rarely did in LA. Like going swimming in the ocean. I don't think I ever did. I waded in the water quite a few times, but I don't know if I can ever remember swimming with actual strokes in the ocean. I see LA in movies or TV shows or advertisements and I find that it occupies a very happy place in my heart, and now I want to go back. Not least because of the friendships I have there (although give it a few more years and most of those friends will probably have left).

I want to be surrounded by community, like I am on Lopez. I want to have family, or friends as close as family, who are just down the road.

I have moved, too often. Now I find myself back in Korea, but my four closest friends living in Korea, if "friends" is even the right word, are in Daegu, Jeonju, and Seoul (2).(The idea of "friends" is a complicated concept in Korean culture and requires being the same age, preferably born in the same year. These four women are older (2) and younger (2)--one of the younger is American, so at least we share the definition of friends).  A fifth close Korean friend is now in Seattle (what horrible timing, as she arrived just as I was leaving for the summer in Korea). Realistically it is at least a four hour transportation commitment to go to Seoul, and longer for the other locations, so meeting is not very practical.

So I feel a bit isolated out here in the boondocks.

But I also feel so incredibly blessed. Yesterday I was working myself into a panic about the class I teach in Korean (again) because one of the two articles I'd assigned to the students (newspaper articles) just didn't make sense to me (even though I'd looked up tons of words in the dictionary). Finally I called one of my friends and she reassured me about my Korean (very important so that I'd be able to teach class today), had me read her the beginning of the article as she got ready to leave for school (it was morning for her), and explained the entire giant back-story I hadn't known (hence making the article just seem completely bizarre). Furthermore while I was sleeping (and after her class) she wrote up a summary of the whole thing, with additional details and even a photo illustrating the issue.

Here's the photo.

It may not surprise you to find out that when I read the article and it said that "women wrote messages supporting freeing Jeong Bongju from jail on their breasts and uploaded them to the internet," that I was completely confused. What?!! Why would they upload bikini shots with some guy's name as a form of protest?!! So my dear friend Jisoo had to explain to me the entire complicated story about Jeong and his fellows criticizing the Lee Myungbak administration until he was locked up. After which the reasons I'd chosen to assign the article (the sections about sexual objectification of Korean women, even in politically liberal circles) were much easier to connect to the initial paragraphs about bikini shots. (On the other hand, my five Chinese students were just as confused as I was, or more, since their Korean isn't as good as mine, and even the Korean students seemed pretty unaware of the entire issue-- current affairs are not their forte).

So I am very lucky that I have friends like Jisoo. And she's not the only amazing friend I have. They're allover the world, these amazing friends. Being amazing. Raising kids in all these awesome ways (not all the same awesome ways, but all iterations of "doing it right"), succeeding in their careers (I still can't get over seeing my friend's name outside her office at a swanky law firm), rocking their graduate studies, seeing the world... they're all quite inspiring so I have to keep concentrating on my feelings of love and gratitude that I have them at all and stop worrying about living in the boondocks (and hey, I have new friends Maria Anna and Sara here!).

Hiking and Random Updates

K. will be arriving in Korea on the 14th.

I met a venomous pit viper in the woods today! I have been hiking a lot, because my bike isn't here yet, and my knees haven't been feeling up to running. And I live on the side of a mountain, with awesome hiking trails. If you follow the university campus to the terminus at the uphill end of campus there is a hiking road (an ollegil) and a trail. The trail I walked on twice, but especially when it has recently rained, it gets a bit mucky. Despite my initial resistance to walking on the road, which looked so uninspiring, I finally went up and discovered that it goes quite a distance. The first couple of times I couldn't go the whole way, because the road crew was working, but during the holiday I went to the end of it. I have also talked, twice, with a member of the road crew. I have learned it is 3 kms long, and they're able to build about 1.5 kms a year before they run out of money. The money is coming from the city of Yong'in, not the university, and the land is owned by a variety of people, foundations, and the city. The lower half was completed last year and is better landscaped. When they feel it necessary, they've roughly paved it (the lowest end of the paving has culverts to direct the water), this is mostly on the switchbacks (it climbs steadily). Mostly it's packed sand and gravel, until the new section, which is still constantly churned up dirt. I met the pit viper because they were working on the road today, before the nice trail down the mountain (a wide and well maintained trail), which allows me to make a giant 3.5 mile circuit. So I decided to explore up a narrow almost unnoticeable trail. In a short skirt and footie socks... leaving much too much ankle and calf exposed to snakes! I had been warned about snakes and previous serious snake bites, but hadn't given it much thought until I met this sucker today-- two feet long, at least, with a diamond-like head that just said to me "I'm a scary snake." There are about 15 kinds of native snakes in Korea, I looked through the photos and identified him after I got home. He was a bit cold and moving slowly, but we did have a stand off for awhile as I hoped he'd move off the trail (more like opening between the trees) and he stopped for a break.

There is also a lot of great and less strenuous hiking to be done down in the agricultural areas around here.

This weekend there is a huge festival, but I decided not to go because I feel too pressed to get things done for my classes, and since my computer is too fragile to move, I can't do class planning and prep in a yogwan room in Andong. It's a 9 day festival, I will go next week. I don't feel like I have a choice-- the festival is that important! I also was lured to attend a local performance this Saturday... I went, but it was rained out, so I guess I just took a long bus ride, and that's all.

The lower section of the Ollegil looks very nice, with lots of cosmos, because it was finished more than a year ago. Some sections with more erosion danger are paved. 

Late afternoon sun shines on some trees making it look even more like fall is coming (it is!)

Near the end of the hiking road (Ollegil) they are still in the thick of their work to stabilize the road bed

At this point it was very dark, but this is what the path down the mountain looks like at first... if you look upwards. It's a staircase... pretty steep! 

Losing People

The past few months I've thought a lot about death and losing people.

My high school boyfriend died in late July. Probably anyone reading this can agree, when we lose someone the first feeling is often of regret. I regretted how little time I'd spent with Tom in recent years. I knew he'd been unwell, but partially because he was unwell it had formed this barrier to me visiting him-- even though I'd been on Lopez-- living nearby. I knew where he lived. If I could find time to play with the goats almost everyday I could surely have visited Tom. I can make excuses-- like how hard it is to see someone you mentally picture as handsome and young and vibrant in a reduced state. I could talk about the guilt that Tom had helped me, as an overly sensitive, dramatic, intelligent teen through a very difficult part of my life, and that after I left Tom (and Lopez) he had lived a difficult life, while I had earned my education, traveled the world, and felt (despite my fairly empty bank account) pleased with my life. When I had seen Tom since leaving Lopez (only a handful of times after the first couple of years), I had always felt that feeling of "what if..." or "if only..." and wondered if I should help him, somehow. I visited him in 1996 or 1997 (either right before leaving for Korea, or after my first year in Korea) and he was already physically ailing. I tried to smile and laugh with him, but it was breaking my heart that he was easily thirty pounds under a healthy weight (and he'd always been skinny), his skin dull, his energy level low.

I next saw him in 2010. At that time he was almost housebound, his body rejecting most foods, and his energy level too low to prepare the sort of foods he should have been eating. He was no longer able to move around easily, and in the conversation we had his bitterness was palpable. I wanted to do something, but what could I do? What Tom needed was someone to be with him and love him and help him as his body grew increasingly intractable, but I was not free to be that person. I only saw him once after that, in the parking lot of the gas station, where we exchanged a few words. We kept in contact, irregularly, on Facebook. Below is the last interaction we ever had, on a scanned page from an old photo album. I am so glad it was positive, and I really hope Tom saw my reply. He died less than a month later.

Tom's family and close friends decided to hold a memorial in October, and I knew I'd be here in Korea. All I could manage to do as I sprinted around the West Coast in August preparing to move was to unearth several sets of negatives from old rolls of print film. I wanted to create a sort of photographic offering that could be displayed at the memorial. I wanted others, many of whom had seen Tom much more regularly in the months and years leading up to his passing, to remember him as I still see him in my mind's eye-- as a handsome, charming man.

Of all of the relationships I have had in my life, or at least all the relationships that lasted more than a few weeks, Tom was by far the kindest and most tolerant. I was young and very willful and he was a few years older, in his early twenties, but due to the low population of young people on the island, he ended up dating me, his first cousin's age-mate and close friend. I was not an easy girlfriend. Although I didn't ask Tom to spend money on me, I was learning how to be in an emotional relationship with a man, and can remember being pretty awful. He was never awful back. He was faithful. Patient. Understanding. Loving. He loved me consistently, gently, forgivingly. My high school friends (not the friends like me who were bound for college, but the many other friends I had) would ask me if I was going to marry Tom. Or ask what I would do if I got pregnant. Tom's grandmother, Bee, who saw me often (as Tom was living with her and helping her construct her home), told me to leave him, get off the island, and get an education. I took her advice. I didn't marry Tom, in fact we broke up before I left for that tumultuous first year in college.

I've lost other people. In August, in mom's attic, I tried to repack my many stored boxes. Most of the things in the boxes could be described as "paper." Programs for shows, newspaper clippings, essays I've written, letters I've received. There are some other things-- a set of glasses, nice candlestick holder, my hiking stuff-- but most of it's paper. I tried to sort and throw away unnecessary paper (old issues of magazines, materials for reports, bank statements from the 1990s), but as I was doing this I was confronted by letters and photos from people who are now gone. Tom had just died. Two of the other significant men I've loved have also died. And back in the day we usually got duplicates of all our photos. One set is in an album, the other set is just running around--sometimes it makes its way to the people in the photos, but often not. Former co-workers, dead. Former lovers, dead. Former friends, dead. Letters and cards from my deceased aunt, deceased grandfathers, deceased grandmothers, a few treasured blurry snapshots of me and my uncle, the coolest uncle ever, an early casualty of the AIDS epidemic. I sat in the attic, and tried to quickly cull through boxes, but then I'd find a photo of Jesse on the beach on MDI and want to cry because he died on the morning of his own wedding in a car accident. Or see Kurt, goofy goofy grin on his face, and wonder if I should try to find his ex-wife and send them for his son to have. And then I found the corsage Tom gave me when he took me to junior prom.

Dress by Edi Blomberg. Photo probably by Gregg Blomberg. 

Now we are facing losing someone else, Karjam's father, who has been diagnosed with advanced stomach and liver cancer (or one type that has moved to the other location as well, since we're not in China, we have not been able to ask these questions). We don't know if Karjam has months to get to China, or days, at any rate, his plans to leave Lopez, pass through Korea and get to China have all been moved up.

Contemporary Popular Culture (class)

I keep mentioning the class I teach in Korean, because it's such a giant presence in my life right now, but I'm also teaching Contemporary Popular Culture. And I have to say, I love teaching the class. The students are awesome, and they are trying very hard. I teach this class in English (although I translate vocab words for them, or answer questions asked in Korean, and even allow them to explain a very difficult thought in Korean), but none of the students are majors in the English language and most of them haven't studied the language since they graduated from high school. It's a larger issue for a couple of them that the class is in English-- but it's a class where I am introducing very theoretical ideas, so it's not easy for any student. (I did give up on having them summarize readings and now I summarize and explain the readings for them, but the ideas are still tough nuts!)

Yet, as you could guess, they love the topic. Today was the fourth class, and they really started to use some of our theoretical terms and ideas. They have mastered the Bechdel Test. They can spot "male gaze" at work in music videos and advertisements. They can (collectively) work out whether something is best described as appropriation, or transculturation, or cultural exchange. They seem to accept "cultural texts" and "media texts" as terms that don't (have to) refer to something written down. They have been exposed to various definitions of popular culture, and I've done my best to explain that we can analyze texts based on cultural reception/use, or production/political economy, or text -- or of course use a hybrid approach.

They are now reliably able to complete short analysis exercises without getting side-tracked by description (there is a woman, she is cheating on her boyfriend) or judgment (he has a good voice, I like this song). The breakthrough on that was last week when the students watched Lorde's "Royals", a song they'd never heard before, and one wrote "the fact that they are boxing (a low-class sport), and just standing in the pool and looking at the tennis court, reinforces the class differences between people who are royal and the video subjects." (I did clean up the English a little for you).

Today I was so obviously pleased with them that they felt pleased with themselves and I think we all left the classroom feeling very happy. One of the students told me during break today that the class has already changed what she sees when she watches music videos (due to the convenient length of music videos, we've used a lot so far, although I am moving on starting next week).

I love teaching this class, and hope I have an opportunity to teach a similar class in the future. Perhaps by focusing it more on Korea, I could teach this as an advanced Korean Studies course.

In the meantime, I must admit I'm enjoying exposing the students to a wide variety of media texts, and actually anticipating reading their first assignments (due next week, on viral videos --their example must not be a music video, however).

I decided to do what I thought was right today, because I feel this class of students can handle it: I told them that if they came to class and turned in all their work, they'd all get an A, not even an A-. I felt a little bit like Peter Sellars as I explained to them that it was not my place to try to figure out if they had done their best work or not. If they wanted to hand me crap and pretend it was their best, they could live with knowing that they were the sort of person who takes the lazy route. I asked them to think of the assignments not as a bothersome item of work, but as exercises that would allow them to engage with the class subject, and help to empower them in a world full of media texts. I asked them to enjoy the assignments without thinking of them as work, or feeling stressed, and to do their best work because they wanted to, not because it was the only way to get an A. They looked at me with a mixture of shock and joy. It was somewhat the same look they gave me when I told them that if they told me honestly, 24 hours in advance, that they'd be missing class, that I could accept that, because they were adults and should be able to decide how to spend their time, as long as they didn't abuse my understanding by missing class often.

Teaching in Korean, Part II

The second class meeting of the Korean Culture and Society class had 9 students in attendance (with 16 on the roll book). There had only been four the previous week because the class was listed online only one day before it was first offered. Apparently some students who are on my roll book can drop the class (but there is no adding classes at this point). Conferring with Sanghyeon, a sweet student assigned to assist me by the Ukrainian Studies Department, I have learned that students take between 12 and 20 credits per term, a credit roughly equals one hour in the classroom, meaning that my two hour classes net them two credits. I am guessing, then, that students may register for a larger number of classes and if they can handle all of them, earn credit for all, but if second week slams them, then they just don't show up for the other classes.

I was very nervous about the Korean Culture and Society class, since I'm teaching it in Korean.

I had assigned the students to read two articles (academic articles) written in Korean (and for those more comfortable in English to scan the articles, but read a third English article closely). I had assigned two students to give a brief overview and summary of the two articles, and had prepared a quiz (my new assistant even checked the Korean to make sure that my bilingual quiz wouldn't screw up anyone based on an improperly phrased question). The entire class was centered around the idea that I would not do all of the talking, but rather I would encourage them to talk. They had been instructed to ask their older family members about how Chuseok and other traditional holidays had changed (the focus of the articles as well), and so in my mind's eye I envisioned them sharing these stories together. Then one hour before class one of the students assigned to present on an article sent a text message claiming to be sick.

Twenty minutes later I printed the roll book. Looking at the list of enrolled students online (admittedly I did not look very closely), I had one Chinese student and 15 Koreans. However when I printed the roll book their names were written in Roman letters next to the Korean. Whoa! Hidden Chinese! Perfectly normal looking names like Geonhun became Jianxun, when written in Roman letters. I had presumed that Helen (헬렌) (majoring in English Translation) was a Korean-American or something like that. Nope. Hong Konger (is that even the correct term?). Seeing the four Chinese names (there are five including Helen, but at that moment I still thought she was K-American) contributed to a rising feeling of panic. To top it off, I slipped on some water (it was raining outside) and fell hard in the hallway, seriously injuring my notebook computer, although I didn't know it until after class.

I started off the class by reviewing a few ground rules, then passed out the quiz.

Yep. One student had done the reading. Another had started, and even brought the print outs to class. That was it. I talked to the Korean students (the one with the print out and the one who had read) and they assured me this was much too difficult for them to understand and that it was unusual to be given an academic article in their other classes. Later colleagues warned me that students don't really take their distribution classes (my class is a distribution class) as seriously as their major classes.

So, off the cuff and without a powerpoint I lectured on the two articles and changing customs in Korea. And somehow managed to make it through two hours without running out of things to say.

After class I felt horrible. First of all because I'd spent more than a week scrambling to prepare a good syllabus and find readings (since all mine are in transit to Korea, not to mention the fact that I don't have enough in Korean to cover all topics). With the combination of 5 Chinese students (all with less Korean than I have) and the lack of ability to read academic articles, I knew I'd have to re-plan the entire class again. I couldn't even rely on exams and class presentations as my two primary grading elements. Second, I felt stupid because various people (people teaching in Korea at other institutions and colleagues here) had hinted to me not to have such high expectations and I hadn't listened, and I could have saved myself some work. Third, I felt overwhelmed by the knowledge that for the rest of the semester I'd be doing essentially two hour lectures in Korean.

I spent much of the Chuseok (Harvest) holiday rethinking my class (this also coincidentally meant we didn't have a class in third week). I drew up a plan to have 7 short assignments (writing less than a page, or giving a brief oral report), one group project (requirement to split the Chinese students up), and the two exams (reduced in importance). I dug up news articles for students to read for the 4th week (demographic changes in Korea). And spent time (but not enough to finish) on three future PPTs for the class.

Bak Myeongsuk's "Hwanggeumgaji, Honja Nunddeuneun Achim II"

My friend Chae Haeri, an awe-inspiringly well-connected scholar of Korean dance, invited me to go to a  modern dance performance today. Generally speaking I have had quite a few experiences with Korean modern dance that left me disappointed (and a few, almost all choreographed by Ahn Eunme, that left me stunned and grateful to have eyes in my head). This has generally taught me to save my dance watching for traditional dance, and leave the modern dance choreographers(except Ahn Eunme) alone. But I went because there were reasonable expectations that it would be good on Haeri's part, at least.

The house was nearly packed, with a large number of people milling in the lobby (Haeri introduced me to some of them). Tickets were 20,000 (at least where we were sitting) but Haeri had been gifted with them, thanks be.

The show was uninspiring to say the least.

I was irritated by two issues:
1. the music, esp. in the first half was extremely over-powering. It included well known French chanson as well as well known Western songs (one was by the Beatles). The easily recognizable music dominated the performance, esp. at the volume at which it was played. Also the cuts from one song to the next were done with no finesse, they simply ended and then started at the beginning of the next song-- no blending or editing involved.
2. the female dancers were in many cases obviously instructed to use hairography-- they were whipping their hair around-- but not artfully as a punctuation, or frenetically for effect, but as if all big movements were supposed to also include a hair whip.

But by far the largest problem (aside from a lack of any conceptual through-line in the 1 hour 20 minute show) was that there was NOT ONE dancer who was eye-catching/mesmerizing/charismatic/highly skilled in such a way that you were drawn to watch them and ignore the others on stage. In a cast of over 20 dancers (only about 5 in the first half, the rest in the second half), there should have been at least some people so clearly talented that even with lame choreography they would shine. But no. Perhaps talented dancers detract from an effort to seem entirely mediocre.

There were moments when I found the lighting and background video images interesting, and a couple of movement sequences (never lasting more than twenty seconds) that I enjoyed, that brought me to momentary hopefulness... but this was never sustained.

After the show I went out to dinner with Haeri and a friend of hers who is a scholar of drama.

Odds and Ends of Oddness

On Monday I received pillows and blankets. One wonders if they thought I was sleeping on a bare mattress until now, after all I've been here over a week. In fact the previous tenant had left many items and I've been deciding what to toss and what to keep. The addition of two more thick blankets, two mattress covers, and two thin blankets (I have two bedrooms), helps to clarify my choices. I inspected the used blankets and mattress covers (I had already washed them), and weeded out any with various signs of wear and tear.

I have an electric two-burner stove. The burners are flush with the counter top, and seem to turn on and off, always at the same temperature (lower heat means they turn on less often and high heat means they're basically always on). They are oriented front and back, not right and left, so while trying to cook on the back burner (the larger one, better for bigger pans such as the pan I'm stir-frying in and hence have to reach for more often) steam and heat from the front pan (cooking rice or soup) is bothering my reaching arm. In other words, engineering FAIL.

The apt. is equipped with a phone that is free for calling international (yay!), but you have to dial a complicated series of numbers. There was a direction card, but it did not instruct me that I had to dial 7 + # and then wait for an automated operator to come on the line. So I kept dialing without waiting and reaching Mohammed, another new professor, who is in apt. on the third floor. He's from Egypt, educated in England, about the same age as me, except with a wife and three young boys. He's debating bringing them here, as he has been convinced by my across the hall neighbor, Abdul Kareem, that Koreans are very racist towards those from the Middle East, and has not seen anything to really disprove A.K.'s assertion. A.K.'s son is college-aged and attending college here in the computer science department, and yes, that means he speaks acceptable Korean. A.K. is from Yemen. My next door neighbor is Deanna(I think this is an English nickname) from Indonesia, and I've met a Bulgarian (Lyudmilla) who is almost done with her Ph.D. in Korean literature (but teaches Bulgarian), the two Italians Maria Anna and Sara, Wadu who teaches computer science (he's from Bangladesh), and Joe (American, Sports Management), I also met a guy who teaches Czech but I didn't catch his name. I also talked with a couple-- the man has an amazing beard. It's very long, and square, and his eyes are very smiley. He was in totally traditional dress (more like a robe, but from where?) yet his wife was wearing Western clothes [edit: I found him in the professor directory, he's teaching Greek!]. So those are random details about my neighbors-- obviously a very diverse lot.

I live in the corner, almost to the top. 

Path to the residences. Likely to see my feet a couple times a day for years...

Sara and Maria Anna on a walk by the riverside

Looking down a river back towards campus (to the right of the apartments visible in the distance)

Lots of farming around here. 

Sara, Llyudmilla, Maria Anna

Showing my Face in Korean Academia

Friday there was a special one day conference that I decided to attend. Most of my academic friends tend to complain about conferences in Korea, but the subject seemed interesting enough that I decided to go. I also wanted to just jump in and get my renewed presence in Korea known to those who do somewhat similar research. Among the attendees, including discussants and moderators of panels (but none of the presenters) were three major scholars that I already knew: Seo Hanbeom (emeritus professor of Korean music, Dankook University), Yi Byeongok (emeritus professor anthropology and Korean dance, Yongin University), and Kim Yeong-un (Korean music professor at Hanyang University).

The entire conference was about the family of Shim Jeongsun, a noted performer of multiple genres who lived from 1873-1937. The general thrust of the conference was that Shim and his descendants should be much better known in Korean performing arts scholarship. Various papers illuminated this point in different ways. The most animated presenter, No Jaemyeong, presented about Shim's son Shim Sanggeon, a performer of Gayageum Sanjo and Gayageum Byeongchang with many early recordings.

Teaching in Korean

Around 6pm on Tuesday night I checked my text messages and found a text informing me that I would be teaching my class (the next morning at 9:30) in Korean. Admittedly the text was over an hour old-- but that hour would not make the difference.

Teaching in Korean provides the following challenges:
a. My Korean is not at good as it should be to actually -lecture- in Korean.
b. Teaching in Korean requires assigning readings in Korean. All my books and articles are in transit, so again this means finding entirely new materials-- but this time they're in Korean, so I can't quickly scan across a few paragraphs and get an idea of the difficulty and appropriateness of an article for my class.
c. Preparing to teach in Korean means mastering the information in these readings-- publications that are brand new to me that I must be prepared to talk about and lead discussion surrounding almost immediately after reading (there is no time to prepare for the entire term in advance since it already started -and- since I've got other stuff to do, too).

I began to plan immediately, and although my jet lag was kicking in again, I realized that I had to throw out my syllabus of the same name and rethink the entire syllabus based around the number of classes I'd have, my desire to have exams instead of papers as the major grading element, and the clusters of complimentary readings I could find.

I became more calm after Maria Anna and Sarah, two professors in the Italian Translation Department, assured me that no students at 888 U expected a full class on the first day. They just wanted to know about the workload and get a sense of the professors.

I woke up at 4:45 (getting later everyday) and went back to work on class preparation.

I found the room where professors can photocopy and print things around an hour before class, printed a few articles I thought I might want to use for the next week, scanned through them, then went to my class.

There were four students there, and an odder group I cannot imagine the two extremes were:
a) Chinese student (Sports and Leisure Department) who is not of Korean ethnicity, who has been learning Korean for a year (still challenged by readings in Korean), who cannot speak or read English.
b) Korean student who lived from 5 to 18 in the US (and is now 19), who is challenged by readings in Korean, and wanted to have class in English (English Translation Department).
The other two were somewhere between these two.

I gave a one hour class, getting to know each other and discussing why Korean studies is important for people in translation departments and others as well. I also described in detail how they should prepare for class for the next week.

I think I did not make a fool out of myself, but I'm not quite sure.

First Class

Waking up at 4 again helped me to prepare for my first class. The class, from 11:30 to 1:30 (is it a mystery why I skipped lunch?), was almost unnecessary. Since it was only advertised by word of mouth, and because apparently many students don't even show up during the first week, I had four students in attendance, a 5th year, 4th year, and two 2nd years (all majoring in Ukrainian Studies).

My slapdash preparation (knowing that I would still need to do introductions the following week) was a class on the VMAs, Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke, and the new Robin Thicke parody "Defined Lines."  Discussing this recent topic and parody as a response to the increasingly over-the-top popular culture offerings was a good way to fill the class time. For next week they can actually do reading before class and hopefully have a good discussion.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good their English is-- even though they are in Ukrainian Studies.

After class I headed to my first curriculum development meeting-- there were five of us in the room-- four administrators and me (I was also the only woman). We discussed (in Korean of course) how to recruit more students for the program from overseas, what sort of additional teaching staff I'll need, the transfer of the Korean Language program to our campus (next year), the need for students in our program to study in Korean, not just English (my point, not theirs) and so on. It was just a broad overview of discussions to come.

I will have an office next week, and should have a department assistant shortly after that.

Welcome to Korean Academia

Yesterday was Monday. Monday was my first day of work at my brand new job at 888 University. 888 hired me (rather at the last minute) in the third week of July, and I had been running like crazy just to make it to Korea-- I arrived Saturday night, so Monday I was still dealing with massive jet lag.

Monday morning, of course, I woke up at 4 a.m. After it got light out, took a lovely walk up the road to the end of campus and then up a narrow mountain hiking trail. The woods were beautiful and the temperature was just right. Not long after I returned to my residence I got an email from Professor Hong Seok-u, my first email from a bona-fide colleague (picture me excited). Professor Hong, from the Department of Ukrainian Studies (yes, we have such a department) was inquiring if I'd like to teach a class. The wording was unclear-- did he mean just come and lecture one day? I agreed to coffee or lunch, and on the phone we confirmed time and place. After we met up at the coffee shop Professor Hong decided to take me to the best cafeteria, near the Institute of Russian Studies (I am still learning all these buildings and it was the first time I'd even been to that part of campus). There, by coincidence, we saw his good friend (and undergraduate classmate) Professor Song Junseo (a Russian historian). We had lunch and they informed me about many aspects of working for 888 U. By the time lunch was over, I had agreed to teach a class on Contemporary Popular Culture (to the students of Ukrainian Studies). Professor Hong then walked me by a mountain path (yes!!!!-- except for the fact that I was wearing 3 inch heels on 1 inch platform) to the main admin building where I had a meeting with the staff.

I was faced, in this meeting, with the unfortunate reality that in Korea they calculate grades of professor in a very strange way, and were threatening to drop me down a pay grade (a difference of 500 a month). Yes this means I have yet to see my contract, although I am trusting enough (or understanding of Korea enough) to be here. I persevered in this meeting, trying to keep my voice from rising, as I argued that they had decided to hire me not because I already had at least two years teaching experience post-university, but because they saw me as the right match for their program. All this negotiation, of course, happened in Korea.

When I won, I was also told that they might pay me less this semester as I'm "just" doing curriculum development. A few minutes later it was determined that I am also teaching another class-- "Contemporary Korean Culture and Society." Perhaps with two classes and my curriculum development duties my pay is safe.

Naturally I spent most of the rest of the evening (while meeting and enjoying dinner with Heather) worrying through the increased fog of jet lag how I was going to teach a class the NEXT MORNING on a topic I'd never even taken a class in. Facebook friends came through sending me readings (as my books are in transit from CA right now) and good ideas.

A series of photos of the residential area. In the top photo, second floor from the top, the three windows closest to the mountain are my windows.

Road Trip #2

I spent two nights in Portland so I would have a chance to really get to talk with Tacee, one of my oldest friends. Tacee and I lost touch with each other in the early 90s before I moved to Korea, and with the exception of our 20 year high school reunion (that was a trip), we hadn't seen each other since the early 90s. In my time in Portland I realized that the city is awesome, that Tacee lives next to one of the best restaurants I've ever been to (Persian food), and that Googlemaps cannot be relied on when it comes to pointing out where to ride your bike (that was a reminder, I really already knew that). I also realized that although our lives have gone in totally different directions, Tacee and I totally understand each other. Yay for renewing old friendships!

I left Tacee's at 6 a.m. which allowed me to make it to Kat, Jeff, Biko and Stokely's house before the boys had gone to bed. I took a bike ride one of my two days there, and Kat took me to the little one room schoolhouse to talk to the students on the other day. It was really good to hang out with that amazing family. I love those boys! By living on this remote ranch Kat and Jeff are really giving the boys the opportunity to explore nature and experience life as it was when I was growing up-- not the totally fast-paced, ultra-controlled, always-technological way that city kids are living these days.

I left the Shasta Mountain area at 3 a.m. and made it to L.A. and Jena's apartment by dinner time. I treated  myself to vegan ice-cream at Scoops Westside, but on my bike ride back to Jena's realized that I had no energy left in my body after the long drive. Jena and I hung out at my favorite cafe, Amandine, and I took a long bike ride down to see Lisa and Alex, reveling in the California sunshine along the water as I passed through Santa Monica, the marina, along Dockweiler and Manhattan Beach to where the Elghazi's live in Hermosa Beach.

Since Jena is dissertating and because she was leaving for the east coast, I stayed there two nights and then switched to Scott's house. Which was super awesome because Scott lives with Bonnie the Bunny (and Megan, but Megan is in China). We had some great talks and I shared my spinach with Bonnie who appreciated it more than friendly humans. After Scott's I headed to the AAS Conference, picking up Feriyal on the way.

Road Trip #1

I've been on a road trip. I decided (this might not be entirely logical) that driving to the Annual Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Conference made sense. Yes, this year AAS was on the West Coast, but in San Diego. San Diego is very far away from Lopez Island (located on the Canada-U.S. border). I left Lopez on the 11th, proceeding directly to Portland with a stop to take a bike ride in Woodland, Washington. Just by chance this bike ride took me to a gorgeous grist mill-- the oldest still operating grist mill in the Western U.S.

Equal Opportunity Sexual Objectification in K-Pop

After all my fevered research and writing, as you know, I presented my paper on K-Pop last weekend in Austin. I actually feel pretty good about it, and I'm further editing to share with a couple friends and then submit it for publication. Since I talked about it so much on here, I thought you'd like to see at least how the introduction looks today... 

Introduction

Since the late 1990s Korean popular music has achieved an audience beyond Korea, becoming a leading part of the growing phenomenon of inter-Asian popular music (Shin 2009: 472). Musically indebted to hip-hop and Western pop, Korean popular music is generally performed by groups of a single gender. Although scholars have discussed the global rise in "girl power" in the field of popular music using examples such as Madonna, the Spice Girls, and Faye Wong (Fung and Curtin 2002, Dibben 1999, Lloyd 1994, McClary 2002), there are few that can argue for "girl power" in Korean popular music (hereafter K-Pop). One reason is that K-Pop is almost entirely a manufactured commodity; the stars, called "idols," are scouted, trained, and assigned to a group with a specific image under the tutelage of K-Pop's major entertainment companies, such as SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, Cube Entertainment, and Starship Entertainment. At the helm of each company CEOs oversee the production of K-Pop idols in a way strikingly similar to preparing other commodities for the market.[1]

            In K-pop with few exceptions the songs, choreography and costumes of the performers are chosen by the management agency. The agencies control their lives, including housing them in dormitories, choosing their diet, and doling out cell phone privileges as a reward for hard work. Analyzing the lyrics, choreography, and costume choices of the artists reveals less about the performers and more about the agencies, their understanding of the market, and the particular persona that they have assigned to the members of each group. However, a comprehensive performance analysis of popular music,[2] including a specific focus on presentation and framing of gendered lyrics, choreography, and costumes in live performance provides a new window on the construction of femininity through K-Pop. 

            For my research I chose to analyze live music performances on the TV shows Music Core (MBC) and Inkigayo (SBS). Consequently my attention focuses on choices made by the television stations and their emcees, stage and video production crews. In this paper I begin by sketching the connections drawn between music and morality, and discuss the Republic of Korea's cultural laws and statutes that relate to popular culture. Finally, through an analysis of specific live performance videos I analyze how the music shows treat gendered behavior to construct Korean femininity.

---

[1] The fans of K-Pop also have affective power both vis a vis the artists and their management companies (c.f. Gitzen 2013) although the degree of fan influence is difficult to quantify.

[2] Such a performance analysis is needed—scholars such as Philip Auslander have remarked on the emphasis on the "reception of popular music much more than the performance behavior of musicians" (2004: 3).

p.s. the title of the post is part of the title of the article. Pretty cool, huh? Anyone would stop to check out an article on Equal Opportunity Sexual Objectification!

Cycling on Lopez

I made a video with my tiny little hand-held point and shoot camera about riding your bike on Lopez. It's targeted at people who might be considering a tourist bicycle jaunt to Lopez-- and it's a bit shaky, but well, it shows the southend in February on a beautiful sunny day, so if you want to see where I live it's a pretty good video!

IASPM 2013 (International Association for the Study of Popular Music)

On the weekend I went to the IASPM Conference in Austin, Texas. This is my second time to attend IASPM, and like at IASPM in San Diego (2009), I presented on K-Pop.

Honestly I had a great experience in Austin, but the conference was a little bit of a let-down. People were nice, but many of the papers felt quite trivial. I wanted to shake a couple of the presenters and say "is this the best use of your big brain?" The best example was another panelist from my panel. She presented on how Hugh Hefner curated rock and jazz in Playboy and on his TV show Playboy After Dark (in the 60s and early  70s). If the presenter had made an argument that showed how Hef had actually changed the course of the music business, or contributed to the popularization of something, I might have felt like her paper had more relevance, but in fact she described how Hef missed the boat. He tried to prove that he was part of the counter-culture but not a hippie and he tried to promote the Jazz he loved, but ultimately he was unsuccessful at doing more than marketing Vanilla smut. (*If you don't understand the usage of Vanilla, you need to read Savage Love). So a very smart person spent a lot of time to research something that is really just a historical footnote or piece of trivia.There is no reason why studies of popular music cannot be a way to approach topics of real importance.

The best paper I saw was about Asian Americans negotiating transnational identities in the digital age. I also saw a fascinating paper that addressed the use of the Beatles to promote "serious" music. Of course I immediately thought of Sukmyeong Gayageum Ensemble.

Just to be clear, I am NOT a fan of this group or what they're doing. I think it's a gimmick. If you want people to like Korean instruments, or traditional music, playing Beatles is NOT the way to do it. Or maybe it is. If you disagree, let me know in your comments.

I had several good conversations and met some people I hope to stay in touch with, and I managed to make one connection that I am really excited about-- I actually met someone else who works on ICH (intangible cultural heritage) and has even lived in Korea. I was the only Koreanist at the conference, although there was an entire panel on Asian-America, none of the presenters were looking at Korean-Americans. Overall, however, I may need to skip IASPM in the future, because if I am going to go to a performance conference at least at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference there are a lot of people who are talking about substantial topics through performance. Or maybe I just picked the wrong papers to attend.

And yes, my presentation went well.

I enjoyed Austin and I was very happy to get to stay with my friends April Rose and her husband Reed, and see my Lopez friend Sheri. Taking a run in 80+ degree heat was so marvelous!!!

Funky clouds on the drive from the airport to April Rose's house:

Spring time, yay!!!

Is that a sticker-tagger?

Book Review of Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had written a book review. It has now been published online on the website of Ethnomusicology Review alongside a review of the same book by Dr. Richard Colwell. After you've read both of our reviews I'm sure you will be able to make an informed buying decision.

I just returned from Austin, where I presented my paper on Korean popular music at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Conference 2013. Overall I had a very positive experience in Austin and will share more from the paper with you as I revise it for publication.