Stanford professor Dr. Dafna Zur is an Associate Professor of Korean literature and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures of Stanford University. She specializes in Korean literature, cinema, and popular culture. In this video, Dr. Zur covers the origins, features, consequences, and future of Korean popular culture.
A free classroom-friendly discussion guide for this video is available for download below. The discussion guide contains a complete transcript of the video and is appropriate for advanced secondary students and university students. This discussion guide complements and expands upon Dr. Zur's video lecture. After watching Dr. Zur’s lecture and several related K-Pop music videos, students synthesize lessons from the video and contemplate the direction and staying power of K-Pop. As a culminating activity, they work in groups to develop a plan for another country to elevate its soft power by drawing on what they learned about South Korea’s success.
The video lecture and guide were made possible through the support of U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center funding (to Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies) under the auspices of Title VI, Section 602(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965.