Comments on: Disparity Studies

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:40:56 +0000

We should take this discussion over to the Korea blog where it might get more of that specialist attention it deserves. From what I can see, Korean cinema and the Korean War (both the active and truce phases) are the two areas which could see real growth.

I’m a huge fan of Japanese textile and paper designs, actually, for their color as much as anything else. But I’ve always felt that Korean fashion and architecture is more tuned to color than texture (which is stronger in Japanese style).

I do think that the strength of Korean Christianity and its expansion in the US in Korean communities offers a bridge, potentially, to American audiences. There’s scholarship on Korean Christianity, but Area Studies people tend to focus on the exotic, so shamanism and Buddhism get most of the attention, from what I’ve seen. Another area for growth.

By: Overthinker

Overthinker — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 04:42:09 +0000

While it’s interesting to see what is currently known about Korea in the US, the main thrust of my previous comment was to get any hints from Korea specialists about what aspects of Korea that perhaps are not yet big could be. As Dr Dresner suggests, ninja and geisha are quite “dramatic” (even if most of the drama is hype): what is there waiting in Korea that can be hyped as well? The turtle ships have a pretty good coolness factor, but might need a major motion picture etc to bring them into the public consciousness. And will we ever see movies like “The Taekwondo Kid”?

I’m not convinced Korea necessarily has more dramatic colour palettes – true, the temples etc are nicely painted, but Japanese art and design is not limited to the drab earth tones of Sen-no-Rikyuu and the downplaying of high fashion by the Edo sumptuary laws. Momoyama style is very flash, and in fact it seems to me that the current drabness (relatively) is the result of an enforced aesthetic as much as anything (though this does not affect the actual result I suppose, it’s always nice to put things into context). And Korean domestic interiors (traditionally) seem just as earth-toned as Japanese.

Not sure how big a role Christianity might play – it doesn’t seem to have held Japan studies back, but then maybe it would be even bigger if Japan was about 20% Xian as well. Is Xianity a significant part of current Korean studies?

By: The Constructivist

The Constructivist — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:02:49 +0000

Just wait another few years until the Seoul Sisters’ dominance of the LPGA is complete and then we’ll see some real changes, I’m telling you.

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 05:36:47 +0000

Drunken Monkey: CIA/NSA has always been in the market for area specialists, its true, but that's not too different from the demand for Japan specialists and China specialists. Overthinker: Korea in the US is mostly represnted by Taekwondo, Kimchee (and other Korean food) And M.A.S.H. and Samsung, and Hyundai. And, for people who know something, the Hwarang and their hatred of the Japanese. It's not quite as dramatic as Ninja (which were mostly fiction anyway) and Geisha (though Kisaeng are similar: most societies have some form of high-class courtesan), but Korea ought to get some points for Christianity and for having more dramatic color palattes than Japan. Given the divided history, I'm a little surprised there hasn't yet been a Korean version of the Joy Luck Club/South Pacific: a multi-generational family history with romance, adventure.... someone with more talent for dialogue than I could make a killing.

By: Drunken Monkey

Drunken Monkey — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:41:40 +0000

Interesting discussion. There is one more reason, though, that Korea studies has not developed to the level of Japan studies. This reason is that many of the best and brightest Korean historians and political scientists were recruited, with Ph.D. in hand, by the CIA. With a divided Korea during the Cold War and not many Korean studies jobs out there… the best and brightest were likely to move into the CIA. Or so I have heard.