Overview of Assignment

This assignment asks you to write a 1,000-word media-rich think piece on any term, theme, concept, person, artist or practice related to K-Pop that you wish to explore more thoroughly. Unlike a research paper, a think piece aims to stir public discussion about a contemporary topic and consists mainly of background material, personal opinion, and analysis. Thus, while you are welcome to focus on any topic of your choosing, whether or not we cover it in class this quarter or not, you are especially encouraged to explore an aspect of K-Pop that has found itself at the center of debate, controversy, or misapprehension. Think pieces are meant to be succinct and speculative and thus provide ideal places to provoke questions about a problematic idea, assumption, or widely-held belief within our culture, and K-Pop is rife with conflicting value systems, social identities, economic imperatives, and so forth. The strongest pieces begin with a focused question (or set of interrelated questions), and present a clear yet nuanced viewpoint backed by research, compelling analysis, and thought-provoking media references.

For a good reference on the scope of analysis and mode of address you should be aiming for in your piece, check out FlowTV.org (Links to an external site.).

Here is an abbreviated list of some contentious themes, issues, and topics explored during the first half of the quarter:

• cultural imperialism vs. cultural hybridity debate
• labor issues in K-Pop’s trainee system
• Perceptions of K-Pop as “manufactured”/commercial/systemized vs. “authentic”/organic/creative
• The problem with K-Pop’s lookism and gendered body regimes
• Feminism vs. misogyny in girl group concepts
• K-Pop’s role in upholding the myth of Korea’s “miracle” economy
• Appropriation vs. citation
• Racism in K-Pop and South Korea, more broadly
• Cultural debates about what makes K-Pop “Korean.”
• Controversies surrounding the promotion of non-Korean and/or non-Asian idols
• K-Pop role as tool of diplomacy between Korea and China
• Gender, race, and cultural conflict in K-Pop
• Cultural memory vs. historical suppression in K-Pop

Research & Writing Requirements

Your think piece should be researched and cited and must include at least 2 sources assigned in class and at least 2 sources drawn from outside the syllabus. Your piece should also include 3+ embedded media artifacts.

Your think piece should also be written with a general audience in mind. Your 4 research sources and 3 primary media texts should be effectively interwoven into your argument. Your media objects should be embedded directly onto the web page and meaningfully placed in relation to the text of your essay. In other words, we should not be confused as to why an image or audio clip appears on the page. Your blog post should also include in-text citations and footnotes for any scholarly, popular, or media sources referenced.

You may find a comprehensive list of scholarly sources on topics and issues related to K-Pop here: in the attachment

class reading: https://we.tl/t-8gMAnGFjlC