Last updated on August 16, 2024
For years, academic circles have lamented the marginal status of Korean studies, or the academic study of all things Korean, in universities overseas.
Until the 1990s, few universities overseas offered any courses on Korea. Korean was taught at only a few universities and many of these did not offer a major or graduate degree in Korean. The comparison with Japanese studies, which grew rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s, was particularly disheartening.
The situation began to improve in the 1990s as the Korea Foundation began to fund professorships and send books overseas. The hallyu boom in Asia in the 2000s caused a noticeable uptick of interest in learning Korean, which gave universities the courage to start teaching the Korean language and offering courses on Korea. The K-Pop boom in the 2010s similarly stimulated more interest in Korea outside of Asia, but it remains to be seen how it will affect Korean studies.
Commentators and policy makers in Korea have been quick to jump on the hallyu and K-pop bandwagons. The idea that pop culture will automatically attract foreigners ― in large numbers ― to Korean studies has become part of perfunctory greetings and public events on the subject. Everybody from ministers on down subscribes to the idea.
Reality suggests that hopes of a hallyu- and K-pop-induced boom in Korean studies will be dashed. Hallyu and K-pop have done much to make Korea cool, but cool is not a reason for academic interest in a country and people. Rather, the key construct is interest, which raises a fundamental question: Is Korea interesting enough to be worthy of serious study?
To non-Koreans, the answer is vague. Hallyu and K-pop are Korean, but they derive their inspiration from global pop culture. Hallyu dramas have a Korean sensibility, but K-pop is rooted in Anglo-American music genres, such as rap. Pop culture is a legitimate field of academic inquiry, but it still lacks a central place in academia.
Non-Koreans thus see hallyu and K-pop as entertaining cultural products from Korea, but do not see them as worthy of academic study because pop culture itself is marginal. Hallyu and K-pop might cause an increase in the number of students taking Korean and other introductory classes on Korea, but not much more than that. This is a positive development, to be sure, but it does not help Korean studies put down deeper roots.
With hallyu and K-pop off the table, the question about what is interesting about Korea remains. A quick look at the map suggests an answer. Korea sits between China, the center of East Asian civilization, and Japan, the exotic islands. China’s appeal is its scale, whereas Japan’s appeal is its exoticism.
These impressions have changed little since foreigners began visiting. As an in-between, Korea lacks a clear image, but, in the age of connections and networks, that is what makes Korea interesting. To use the bibimbap cliche, it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and the interaction of the elements creates a fascinating whole.
Take religion. Korea is Buddhist, Christian, Confucian and Shamanist all at once. With rare exceptions, Koreans reflect the belief systems of three or four of these religions. Traditional art and culture, too, is full of examples of mixed sensibilities. A pansori singer sings as a man and a woman, sometimes almost at the time. Architecture is refined and rustic at the same time; delicate screens sit in rooms with unfinished rustic wood. Modern and contemporary culture is also filled with interesting contrasts and tensions that continuously pique curiosity.
Geography also explains why Korean studies offers a fascinating entry into the study of East Asian civilization. Understanding Korea requires an understanding of China and Japan. Chinese civilization has had a profound influence on Korean culture, particularly in language and thought. Japan has entered the narrative of Korean history at various points since the 5th century, often with tragic results.
Korea cannot be studied in near isolation from its neighbors as China and Japan tend to be studied. Chinese studies scholars typically only learn Chinese, and Japanese studies scholars only Japanese, but Korean studies scholars must learn classical Chinese or Japanese in addition to, of course, Korean to become competent researchers.
The driving rationale for Korean studies, then, must be that Korea is interesting because it is a unique microcosm of East Asian civilization and history that cannot be studied in isolation. It networks and connects and is full of surprises, just like Facebook and Twitter.