Sharing the lecture held on March 28, 2023.

K-Invisible

SPEAKER: David Tizzard

SUMMARY:
Korean cultural products have emerged as some of the world’s most sought after items. Never before has a non-western, non-English speaking country achieved such cultural impact across multiple platforms. Whether beauty products, LGBTQ v-logs, webtoons, or pop music videos, much of the world is now drawn to things labeled with a ‘K’. In doing so, Korea has successfully positioned itself as a brand that represents hypermodernity, beauty, technological sophistication, and extremely high production values. Amidst this transformation, the challenge for Korea now concerns authorship and authenticity. For financial expediency and soft power, a growing number of Korean cultural products are being designed for international audiences rather than domestic ones. Because of this, the themes and values often represent cosmopolitan ideas rather than traditional domestic Korean ones. As the world experiences Korea primarily through the K products rather than the Korean ones, it comes to understand, and ultimately expect, a far different Korea than that which is lived here by the citizens. The growing success of hallyu will likely only exacerbate these differences in the coming years. Who then retains the authorship of the Korean narrative?

BIO:
David A. Tizzard has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women’s University and Hanyang University. He is the co-editor of The Future of the Korean Peninsula: Korea 2032 and Beyond (2023) and a social and cultural commentator: writing a weekly column in the Korea Times, appearing on radio 5 days a week, reviewing books for NK News, and working as a senior correspondent for Asia Society Korea. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast.