Call for Papers: THE 4th WORLD CONGRESS FOR HALLYU
Theme: What is the “K” in K-Pop or What defines the “Han” in Hallyu?
Dates: Sep. 26 – Sep. 28, 2016
Venue: Oriel College, Oxford University, England
Organizer: World Association for Hallyu Studies
Sponsors: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Korea; Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Korea
Abstract and Panel Proposal Submission Deadline: June 30, 2016
Pre-Registration Fee:
WAHS Members: $50
Non-members: $100
WAHS Student members: Free
Non-member students: $50
Accommodation: Delegates will need to book their own accommodation. A list of hotels close
to the venue is available on the Congress homepage.
Submit Abstracts to: http://www.koreanwavecongress.org
The 4th World Congress for Hallyu, which is to be held in Oxford, UK, invites individual paper
abstracts and panel proposals on “What is the ‘K’ in K-Pop or What defines the ‘Han’ in Hallyu?”
Several studies in the past argued that K-pop or K-dramas were not really Korean, inviting
conjectures that K-pop or K-dramas were either hybrid cultural forms (thus, no creativity) or
Western cultural forms created by Koreans (thus, new forms of creativity). However, we want
to develop the debate further. We need to think of Hallyu as not merely Korean cultural
products that come from South Korean cultural industries, but as things that are in some way
Korean in substance as well as form. This is a time in which Korean Studies scholars should
critically engage the question of how to think about Korean popular culture in terms outside of
merely describing their recent and sudden upsurge in popularity, outside of the excitement
imbued by the newness and fascination with the idea that the world is finally interested in
Korea and its cultural environs. We need to think about the core of the matter, the han in
Hallyu, or what defines Korean cultural products as Korean at all, as Hallyu enters maturity,
beyond the time when intellectual concern with the phenomenon can be merely concerned
with describing its popularity.
Papers and panel proposals are invited that deal with theoretical and empirical debates on
Korean cultural flows, including:
1. How to define the constituent parts of the Korean wave itself?
2. But as we look at other fields as well, one can continue to ask the question of what is
particularly Korean about “K-fashion,” off or on the runway? Like K-pop, or a Kia car
production line, does the Koreanness lie in the product itself, or in the processes that
informed its production?
3. Also, how might we actively define or describe Korean cultural products outside of a
negative definition such as “Hallyu 3.0” (which is everything/anything that 1.0 and 2.0 is
not). Where might one look to see other aspects of the “wave” — or rather, to
understand it as a constant cultural flow?
4. What are some Hallyu forms that we either haven’t seen yet or perhaps might not have
been defined within the boundaries of the concept? How might we redefine the concept
to include other, aspects of popular culture?
As usual, divisional and special sessions are prepared as follows:
1. Divisional Sessions: Korean Language and Culture, K-Medical, Hallyu Policies and
Management, K-sports, Entertainment Industries, Tourism and Migration, Fashion and
Beauty, K-food, K-game, Soft Power and Cultural Exchange
2. Special Sessions: What is ‘K’ in K-pop? What is ‘K’ in K-dramas? What is ‘Han’ in Hallyu?
For paper proposals, please submit an abstract with a maximum of 300 words, by June 30, 2016.
Normally the papers should be presented in English; however, under special circumstances, an
entire session can choose its own session language.