Buddhism, Digital Technology and New Media in Korea introduces Ŭisang (625-702), a seminal figure in East Asian religion who founded the Korean Hwaŏm school of Buddhism from various angles and placing his thought in the interdisciplinary and transcultural context of the twenty-first century. The book presents and analyses the scope of Ŭisang’s teachings in Korean … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 24)
The Postdevelopmental State: Dilemmas of Economic Democratization in Contemporary South Korea
Examining the struggle to align high-growth economic models with the egalitarian promises of democracy. Over the last 25 years, South Korea has witnessed growing inequality due to the proliferation of non-standard employment, ballooning household debt, deepening export-dependency, and the growth of super-conglomerates such as Samsung and Hyundai. Combined with declining rates of economic growth and … [Read More]
Critically Capitalist: The Spirit of Asset Capitalism in South Korea
An ethnography of South Korea’s lay investors and aspiring millionaires that demonstrates how South Korea’s capitalism thrives on its critiques. Critically Capitalist presents an ethnography of South Korea’s asset seekers, including amateur stock investors, real estate enthusiasts, and money coaches, to demonstrate how financialized asset capitalism is sustained. As they hunt for profit margins, rent, and … [Read More]
The Language of Hallyu: More than Polite
The Language of Hallyu will re-examine the language of the Korean Wave by looking at popular K-content. In doing so, it will expose the meanings that get lost in translation, hidden under subtitles. Over the past decade, hallyu (the Korean wave) has exploded in popularity around the globe. K-films, K-drama, and K-pop were once small subcultures, known mostly … [Read More]
The Korean War Novel: Rewriting History from the Civil War to the Post-Cold War
Uncovers how historical novels rewrite the history of the Korean War Revisits the Korean War and the Korean War novels from a post-Cold War perspective of decolonisation Examines the dual role of East Asians as both victims and agents of the Cold War Recovers previously hidden dimensions of the conflict, including its framing as a … [Read More]
Chunja’s Nanjing
Chunja’s Nanjing explores in depth the tragic events of the 1930s dubbed the “Tragedy in Deer Valley” in Jiandao, a historical border region along the north bank of the Tumen River in China’s Jilin Province with many ethnic Koreans, in the beginning of the novel and the “Rape of Nanjing” in Nanjing, China, at the … [Read More]
Korean Art Since 1945: Challenges and Changes
Over the past decades, Korea has gradually risen to become one of the global representatives of Asian culture. Korean artists have been increasingly active at an international level, with many being invited for residencies and exhibitions all over the world. Nonetheless, for various reasons, the general understanding of Korean contemporary art remains insufficient. Although a … [Read More]
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster
SLAVE. ESCAPE-ARTIST. MURDERER. TERRORIST. SPY. LOVER. MOTHER. TRICKSTER. At the Golden Sunset retirement home, it is not unusual for residents to invent stories. So when elderly Ms Mook first begins to unspool her memories, the obituarist listening to her is sceptical. Stories of captivity, friendship, murder, assumed identities and spying. A life that moves from WWII … [Read More]
The Last Story of Mina Lee
In 1987, Mina Lee flies from Seoul to Los Angeles to start a new life. Thirty years later, Margot Lee speaks to her mother for the last time. Between these two moments extends a lifetime of secrets. These are stories of unexpected loves and devastating losses. Of choices made and those left behind. Of a … [Read More]
I Decided to Live as Me
The million-copy Korean bestseller read by BTS’s Jungkook on Bon Voyage, the hit reality TV show following K-pop sensation BTS! Don’t be kind to those who aren’t kind to you. Remember that no one lives a perfect life. Don’t be swayed by what others say. Don’t try too hard to get along with everyone. As soon as … [Read More]
The Rainfall Market
A rumour surrounds an old house. Send a letter and if it’s chosen a mysterious ticket will be delivered to you. No one is more surprised than Serin when she receives a ticket inviting her to a market that opens once a year when it rains. Here she’s offered to swap her life for another. … [Read More]
Death of a Crow
The 1957 publication of this inaugural collection of short stories on the 1948 uprising on Jeju Island was to inform the world of the incident Kim Sok-pom has devoted his writing career to raising awareness of the Jeju April 3 Incident through literature. Death of a Crow (1957) marked the beginning of his campaign; known … [Read More]
K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media
This book is about K-pop dance and the evolution and presence of its dance fandom on social media. Based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, choreography, and participation-observation with 40 amateur and professional K-pop dancers in New York, California, and Seoul, the book traces the evolution of K-pop dance from the 1980s to the … [Read More]
Base Encounters: The US Armed Forces in South Korea
An ethnographic introduction to the social, economic and political factors that have contributed to tensions on the ground over US bases in South Korea Base Encounters explores the social friction that US bases have caused in South Korea, where the entertainment districts next to American military installations have come under much scrutiny. The Korean peninsula … [Read More]
Blowfish
For readers of Han Kang and Sheila Heti, an atmospheric, melancholic novel about a successful sculptor who decides to commit suicide by artfully preparing and deliberately eating a lethal dish of blowfish. Blowfish is a postmodern novel in four parts, alternating between the respective stories of a female sculptor and a male architect. Death is … [Read More]
Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking
With a history of well over 1,500 years, Korean handmade paper, known as hanji, is familiar to Koreans but a mystery outside its home country. This lustrous paper that comes in a wide array of thickness, color, dimension, and translucency was once a coveted item inside and beyond Korean borders. Made by farmers and artisans … [Read More]