LAUSR

This conference aims to explore and generate new critical perspectives on the cultural history of 1980s South Korea through a transnational intellectual dialogue among some of the most distinguished international experts on the period. The decade of the 1980s is rightly celebrated by Koreans today as the era of minjung (people's) culture, a time when a collective effort by ordinary citizens and intellectuals alike led to upheaval and the democratization of the country within the space of a few years. Previous representations of the era, however, have tended to privilege a political narrative of liberation over many complexities and contradictions. On the one hand, the focus on democratization has left in the shadow other coeval processes such as rapid economic expansion, the rise of a middle class as a social subject, and the opening up of culture through new media and technology. On the other hand, the persistent centering of minjung intellectuals as the agents of democratization has led to a neglect of the contributions of workers, women, and common Koreans as well as the downplaying of the international aspects of the movement. Bringing together Korean, American, and Australian scholars, this conference encourages presenters and participants alike to engage in a broadening and contextualizing reflection on the significance of the 1980s for Korean culture then and today. Some of the major issues to be raised in panels are the extent and significance of internationalism both inside and outside the minjung movement, the agency of working-class masses in the decade's cultural production, the impact of new media and technologies on 1980s cultural imaginations, the affinity and variances between different media cultures, and the ruptures and continuities that characterized Korean culture as the 1980s gave way to the democratic 1990s. As a closing event, a round table forum will attempt to take a new and enriched look at 1980s Korean culture from a transnational and interdisciplinary perspective.