Cultural Growth
K-pop as a Pedagogical Tool in Korean Studies: Finding the Balance between Personal Interest and Professional Skills
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mathieu Berbiguier
Once considered a niche subculture, Korean popular music (hereafter, K-pop) is now extremely popular transnationally, with many K-pop groups having worldwide fanbases. Over the last fifteen years, this has led to a rise in interest in Korean Studies at colleges, with more students registering to take Korean or Korea-related classes. However, if many students are interested in learning more about the language or culture of Korea, it is harder to get them to elect a Korean Studies major, especially in a context where finding a job post-graduation is getting harder and harder. This research starts with the paradox that K-pop has yet to be widely acknowledged as a relevant object of pedagogy/study in Korean Studies. Based on experiences with students and observations from witnessing the growth of the field, it inquires about methods to overcome this obstacle. Overall, it argues that students’ interest in K-pop is often misunderstood as a superficial interest in Korean Studies—while it is actually the opposite. Undermining the strength of K-pop as a gateway to Korean Studies prevents students from majoring in the field while limiting them from exploring more ways to incorporate this interest in their future career paths.
Ethnographic Video and Photography in Documenting Culinary Hospitality: Israeli and Palestinian Food Cultures in Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning at Carnegie Mellon University. View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nevine Abraham, Ralph Vituccio, Michal Friedman
This paper showcases the experience of coteaching a multidisciplinary travel course designed to prepare students to document their ethnographic encounters with food cultures through film and photography in Israel and the West Bank. Much of these ethnographic experiences entailed direct exposure to local cultures of hospitality involving the sharing of food. Some of the questions we address are: the role of ethnographic documentary filmmaking and photography in highlighting the diversity of local cultures and their different approaches to hospitality; its role in fostering understanding of societies with entwined politically fraught histories yet asymmetrical present-day embodied experiences; whether prior academic exposure prepared students for these encounters; students’ reactions to cultures of hospitality encountered; whether more reciprocal engagement, such as their participation in food preparation, as opposed to the more passive reception of food from our hosts, influenced their relationship with local cultures and interlocutors; students’ engagement in the ethics of hospitality, despite their different cultural backgrounds and language barriers; and whether these relations were captured through film and photography. This study also examines how this course prepared non-filmmaking students to document their ethnographic encounters, their creation of final media projects, and their incorporation into an interactive-documentary showcasing their experiences and interviews with local interlocutors. Some of the shared techniques include: exposing students to various videos on social media platforms and critiquing their content and delivery, from basic breakdowns of online video journal entries and travel videos to longer documentary-form pieces and exposing them to visual storytelling techniques and practices.
Connecting Youth, University, and Community: Building Partnerships with Historically Resilient Teenagers and Local Arts Organizations in Pittsburgh
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Ceurvorst
Since the fall of 2021, Carnegie Mellon University’s LEAP program has taught historically resilient high school students about social justice through storytelling in the arts and humanities. Students connect with professional artists, activists, and scholars to learn how they leverage their expertise to create impactful narratives that benefit their communities. One such collaboration involves the National Opera House (NOH), a historic center of Black arts and culture in Pittsburgh. Over time, NOH fell into disrepair and was named one of the country’s most endangered historic sites. Today, there is an effort to physically restore NOH and continue its legacy of celebrating artists and musicians of color in the steel city. Through the LEAP program, students met with Jonnet Solomon, the executive director of NOH, to discover the organization's rich history, its future plans, and the challenges it currently faces. Inspired by this partnership, LEAP students developed illustrative designs that captured NOH’s story. Assisted by a local printmaking collective, students screen-printed their designs onto promotional materials that were used to raise awareness and funds for NOH’s restoration efforts. This case study demonstrates how institutions of higher education, local arts organizations, and youth can collaborate to foster community empowerment.
