Korean studies

Korean studies is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of Korea, which includes South Korea, North Korea, and diasporic Korean populations. Areas commonly included under this rubric include Korean history, Korean culture, Korean literature, Korean art, Korean music, Korean language and linguistics, Korean sociology and anthropology, Korean politics, Korean economics, Korean folklore, Korean ethnomusicology and increasingly study of Korean popular culture. It may be compared to other area studies disciplines, such as American studies and Chinese studies. Korean studies is sometimes included within a broader regional area of focus including "East Asian studies".

The term Korean studies first began to be used in the 1940s, but did not attain widespread currency until South Korea rose to economic prominence in the 1970s. In 1991, the South Korean government established the Korea Foundation to promote Korean studies around the world.

Korean studies was originally an area of study conceived of and defined by non-Koreans. Korean scholars of Korea tend to see themselves as linguists, sociologists, and historians, but not as "Koreanists" unless they have received at least some of their education outside Korea and are academically active (for example publishing and attending conferences)in languages other than Korean (most Korean studies publications are in English but there is also a significant amount of Korean Studies activity in other European languages), or work outside Korean academia. In the mid-2000s, Korean universities pushing for more classes taught in English began to hire foreign-trained Koreanists of Korean and non-Korean origin to teach classes. This was often geared towards foreigners in Korean graduate schools. There are now graduate school programs in Korean Studies (mostly active at the MA level) in most of the major Korean universities. BA programs in Korean Studies have now been opened at two Korean universities. The BA programs are distinctive in that they have few foreign students.

Debates in the field

What exactly Korean Studies is, who is teaching it, who is learning, and what should be taught continues to be debated.

There has been a small series of works debating Korean Studies published in academic journals. A sort of historical overview by Charles Armstrong titled "Development and Directions of Korean Studies in the United States" comes strongly from Armstrong's perspective teaching history at Columbia University, as his work: "Focusing on the discipline of history, ... traces the emergence of Korean Studies in the 1950s, the evolution of the field and the changing backgrounds of American scholars working on Korea in the 1960s to 1980s, and the rapid growth of Korean Studies since the early 1990s." Another historian, Andre Schmid published an early contribution to the debate in 2008, challenging the ways that English academia was pushing or shaping the directions of Korean Studies. Schmid explained, "In the unequal global cultural arena where English still dominates, the direction of Korean Studies in the United States disproportionately shapes international representations of Korean culture." University of Berkeley Sociologist John Lie contributed two pieces to the debate, the more recent of which challenged the Korean Studies, claiming "senior Koreanists seem rather content with their progress, telling their followers bizarre tales from the field and seeking to reproduce the archaic and mistaken Harvard East Asia paradigm." Lie discusses the weaknesses he sees in this paradigm for the remainder of the essay. In 2018 CedarBough Saeji, a scholar who has taught extensively both in Korea and in North America, published an article in Acta Koreana on the difference in teaching Korean Studies in Korea and outside Korea.

In 2026 Korean Studies is wrestling with denationalization of Korean Studies. Some scholars who have been talking about this topic include David Oh, Dal Yong Jin, Benjamin Han, and Michael Hurt. Major conferences like the World Congress of Korean Studies (Sept 2026, Kyoto) included keynotes by Vladmir Tikhonov, Joanna Elfving-Hwang, and CedarBough Saeji on the topic of future directions of Korean Studies. The three scholars represent Korean Studies in Europe, Oceania, North America, and Korea. As Korean Studies grows to be a larger field, it may further subdivide. There are already highly active organizations such as the Korean Literature Association, which regularly bring together Korean Studies scholars only within that sub-field.

One interesting way to keep track of the field is to follow the Korean Studies Event Database , which was founded at Copenhagen University under the initiative of Professor Barbara Wall.

Institutions

Academic journals

• The Journal of Korean Studies (JKS) has just moved to George Washington University after stints at University of Washington and Columbia.
• Korean Studies (KS) University of Hawaii.
• Korea Journal Formerly published by the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Seoul, South Korea, this journal is now published by the Academy of Korean Studies.
• Acta Koreana Keimyung University, Daegu.
• Chosen Gakuho: Journal of the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan, Tenri University.
• Korean Culture and Society, Association for the Study of Korean Culture and Society.
• Routledge Research on Korea Series.
• Korean and Korean American Studies Bulletin (KKASB). East Rock Institute

Associations for Korean Studies overseas

• Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan Archived 2013-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
• The Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE)
• Association for the Study of Korean Culture and Society (Japan)
• British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS)
• Committee on Korean Studies of the Association for Asian Studies (CKS)
• Korean Studies Association of Australasia (KSAA)

Koreanists

The term Koreanist generally indicates an academic scholar of Korean language, history, culture, society, music, art, literature, film, or any other subject who primarily publishes in a Western language. All such Koreanists are fluent in Korean and various other relevant research languages.

Koreanists who have published at least one Western-language academic book or more than half a dozen academic articles include:

• Archeology: Gina Barnes, Mark E. Byington, Hyung Il Pai.
• Cinema: Andrew David Jackson, Kyung Hyun Kim, Michelle Cho, Jinhee Choi.
• Early Koreanists: James Scarth Gale, William E. Skillend, Richard Rutt.
• Fine arts: Burglind Jungmann, Maya K. H. Stiller.
• Folklore and anthropology: Hesung Chun Koh, Nancy Abelmann, Chungmoo Choi, Martina Deuchler, Stephen Epstein, Joanna Elfving-Hwang, Roger Janelli, Laurel Kendall, John Lie, Shimpei Cole Ota, Hyung Il Pai, Mutsuhiko Shima, CedarBough Saeji, Bonnie Tilland, Olga Fedorenko, Jeon Kyungwook, Kyong Yoon, John Sungpae Cho.
• History: Remco E. Breuker, Mark E. Byington, Mark E. Caprio, Yong-ho Ch'oe, Bruce Cumings, John B. Duncan, Carter J. Eckert, Kyung Moon Hwang, Andrew David Jackson, Hugh H. W. Kang, Anders Karlsson, Nan Kim, Kirk W. Larsen, Namhee Lee, James B. Lewis, Christopher Lovins, Yumi Moon, James B. Palais, N. M. Pankaj, Eugene Y. Park, Mark A. Peterson, Kenneth R. Robinson, Michael Robinson, Edward J. Shultz, Felix Siegmund, Vladimir Tikhonov also known as Pak Noja, Edward W. Wagner, Todd Henry, Jisoo Kim, Jisoo Hyun, Michael Kim, Young-ick Lew.
• International relations: Victor D. Cha, Stephan Haggard, David C. Kang, Sung-Yoon Lee.
• International Law: Kwang Lim Koh
• Linguistics: Ross King
• Literature: Yang Hi Choe-Wall, Kyeong-Hee Choi, Marion Eggert, Gregory N. Evon, Bruce Fulton, JaHyun Kim Haboush, Christopher Hanscom, Peter H. Lee, David R. McCann, Michael J. Pettid, Marshall Pihl, Youngjoo Ryu, Serk-Bae Suh, Brother Anthony of Taize, Barbara Wall, Jenny Wang Medina, Immanuel Kim
• North Korea: Charles K. Armstrong, Suzy Kim, Andrei Lankov, Nina Špitálníková, Suk-young Kim, Cheehyung Harrison Kim, Immanuel Kim.
• Performing arts: Keith Howard, Hwang Byungki, Lee Byongwon, Lee Duhyon, Lee Hye-ku, Roald Maliangkay, Stephanie Choi, Suk-young Kim, Jocelyn Clark, Hilary V Finchum-Sung, Donna Kwon, Hyun Kyong Hannah Chang, CedarBough Saeji, Areum Jeong.
• Philosophy and religion: Juhn Y. Ahn, Don Baker, Robert Buswell Jr., Donald N. Clark, James H. Grayson, Michael Kalton, Daeyeol Kim, Hwansoo Ilmee Kim, Sujung Kim, N. M. Pankaj, Jin Y. Park, Franklin D. Rausch, Isabelle Sancho, Sem Vermeersch, Boudewijn Walraven, Antonetta L. Bruno.
• Pop Culture / Hallyu Studies / Communications: Stephen Epstein, Doobo Shim, Suk-young Kim, Olga Fedorenko, Dal Yong Jin, Michelle Cho, CedarBough Saeji, Areum Jeong.
• Sociology: Gi-Wook Shin, Andrew Eungi Kim, Hyuk-rae Kim, Michael Hurt

See also

• Korean Wave also called Hallyu
• Economy of South Korea
• List of academic disciplines
• North Korean studies

References

Further reading

• Noriko Asato, ed. (2013). "Korea". Handbook for Asian Studies Specialists: A Guide to Research Materials and Collection Building Tools. ABC-CLIO. p. 289+. ISBN 978-1-59884-843-4.