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The Global-Local Friction in Korean Media and Popular Culture

 in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

April 2-3, 2027

Institute for Korean Studies

Indiana University Bloomington

 

 

Global-local entanglements are shaping the transnational flow of Korean media and popular culture. Many scholars have examined the tension between the global and the local in Korean media through the lenses of hybridity, transnational proximity, and hegemonic mimicry. These theoretical concepts have explored the complex and often ambivalent interactions between global and local forces within Korean media and popular culture. Rather than exploring the global and the local in Korean media and popular culture through existing theoretical frameworks, this conference seeks to examine global-local interactions as friction. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s (2005, 4) concept of friction, which she defines as “the awkward, unequal, unstable, and creative qualities of interconnection across difference,” enables us to investigate how “cultures are not only continuously co-produced in the interactions in the form of friction.”  

 

Drawing on interdisciplinary methodologies in Korean media and popular culture, this conference aims to explore how Korean cinema, television, music, and digital media reveal complex and dynamic forms of friction, such as genre syncretism, racial and ethnic difference, melodrama and gender, and artificial intelligence. These diverse forms of friction not only enable the formation of global connections but also reflect the intricate processes of cultural negotiation and interaction that occur at the levels of texts, performances, and digital practices. 

 

Additionally, the purpose of the conference is to analyze myriad forms of friction in Korean media and popular culture through different methodological frameworks, including genre and textual analysis, platform studies, and fandom studies. By investigating diverse forms of friction in Korean media and pop culture, the conference will address how we might reimagine the global-local entanglements beyond reductive binaries such as universalism vs. specificity, homogeneity vs. heterogeneity, West vs. East, and real vs. artificial. In doing so, the conference will explore how the study of friction within global connections is shaped by complex interactions and negotiations of genre, platforms, and affective sentiments.

 

This two-day conference, supported by the Center for International Affairs (CEFIA) of the Academy of Korean Studies, will bring together junior and senior scholars working in Korean media and popular culture studies across various disciplinary fields. The conference will provide an opportunity for scholars to network, exchange ideas, and receive meaningful feedback on their research projects. 

 

 

Deadline:

 

Please send a 300-word abstract and a 150-word biography to Benjamin Han at benhan@iu.edu. The abstract submission deadline is October 31, 2026. Accepted abstracts will be notified at the end of November. Abstracts from junior scholars are especially welcome.

 

Presenters will be required to submit a full manuscript of their paper prior to the conference. Submitted papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal or an edited volume. 

 

Conference Support:

 

Due to limited funding, we will only be able to fully fund airfare for scholars based in North America. All conference presents will be provided with airfare, accommodation, and transportation from Indianapolis International Airport to Indiana University Bloomington.