Welcome
The USC Korean Studies Institute (KSI) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year as a dynamic hub for interdisciplinary research and academic exchange in Korean studies at USC and beyond. The Institute supports research and teaching on globally relevant issues within the Korean context through its research-oriented initiatives and student-centered programs.
The KSI Event Calendar
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Faculty-Led Research Initiatives
The institute supports a range of research initiatives that include global Korean history, language and literature, politics, media and performance arts, technoscience, urban studies, and environmental humanities.
New Courses for Spring 2026
New and Updated Courses in Korean Cultural Studies
CTPR 485 How They Made It: K-Pop Demon Hunters
This course by Professors Gail Katz and Nic West covers how this record breaking animated film was made from pitch to creation to the ongoing developments. An explorataion of the creative and business decisions, Korean cultural influences, and more. Featuring the talent and executives who made it all happen!
EALC 430 Gender and Sexuality in Korean Literature and Culture
This course by Professor Sunyoung Park examines the evolving representations of gender and sexuality in modern Korean cultural texts. Course materials will include literary works and films, complemented by critical texts in gender studies, cultural theory, history, and the social sciences.
EALC 465 Topics in Korean Visual and Cultural Studies: “Feelings in Korean Popular Culture”
This course by Professor Youngmin Choe will explore how contemporary Korean pop culture—through Hallyu hits on screen, streaming platforms, contemporary art, and popular cultural practice—express and elicit emotional responses.
COMM 400: Crooked Studies of K-pop: Reimagining K-pop’s Dominant Discourses Through G-Dragon
This course by Professor Hye Jin Lee examines K-pop through a new lens by exploring the artistry and cultural impact of G-Dragon. Challenge dominant narratives about authenticity, creativity and celebrity while analyzing how his work reshaped global perceptions of Korean pop, identity and performance. [Image credit: The Korea Times]
Congratulations to Professor Esther K. Chae and the Production Team of Nickelodeon’s Wylde Pak for Its Nomination for the 2026 Children’s & Family Emmy Awards!
On October 7, 2025, the USC Korean Studies Institute hosted a screening of Wylde Pak, Nickelodeon’s 2D-animated series about a blended, multigenerational Korean American family. The event was followed by a conversation with members of the creative team, including creators and executive producers Paul Watling and Kyle Marshall. Check out the event highlight video!
Professor Esther K. Chae of USC’s School of Dramatic Arts served as the show’s Korean Cultural Consultant, collaborating with the team to ensure cultural veracity throughout the entire series.
KSI extends its warm congratulations to Professor Chae and the entire Wylde Pak team on the show’s nomination for a 2026 Emmy Award in the category of Children’s or Young Teen Animated Series.
K-Woolim Korean Speech Contest
Together with the Korean Language Program, we hosted a K-12 Korean language speech contest, K-Woolim Speech Contest, on Saturday, November 1st, 2025. A number of local elementary, middle, and high school students participated and were recognized with medals, prizes, and certificates. Students also enjoyed special performance by USC Taekwondo and USC Spade A Dance. Take a look at the highlight video, by courtesy of the Torrance Unified School District.
The event was organized by the Korean Language Program at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Korean language teachers at the Torrance Unified School District, and co-sponsored by the USC Korean Studies Institute, the International Korean Educators Network and the Korean Language Teachers Association.
Traditions of East Asian Typography Conference
The Conference on Traditions of East Asian Typography seeks to investigate the autochthonous traditions of movable type in East Asia before the arrival of Western letterpress and lithography in the late nineteenth century. Woodblock was the dominant and preferred method of printing in East Asia up until the nineteenth century. By contrast, East Asia’s home-grown typographic traditions often seem like an afterthought, an eccentricity, or an abandoned experiment that failed to match the Gutenberg revolution. Yet, typography was never entirely discontinued, and diverse actors utilized movable type at particular times, in specific places, or for certain objectives, often in direct competition with xylography. The aim of this conference is to interrogate these traditions as distinct technological systems, explore their possible mutual interactions, and to push the English language scholarship on East Asian typography, and East Asian book history more broadly, in new directions. We welcome proposals from scholars of any academic rank or geographical location. All proposals must engage substantially with East Asian contexts and typography prior to the twentieth century, although comparative chronological or geographic investigations are welcome.
Deadline for submissions is November 15, 2025. The conference will be held March 6, 2026, at the University of Southern California.
USC Graduate Conference in Korean Studies
The USC Korean Studies Institute hosted an Annual USC Graduate Conference in Korean Studies on October 24-25, 2025. Over two days, junior scholars presented papers on topics related to women artists, portrayal of Korean identities in the media, history literature, Buddhism, modernization, rhetoric in premodern Korea, and translation and multilingual texts. The panelists comprised of graduate students at USC and beyond. Through their participation, a number of programs from across the country and even across the Pacific were represented, including Duke University, Ewha Womens University, George Washington University, Ohio State University, Seoul National University, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, and Yale University.
This annual graduate conference fosters a multidisciplinary community of local and regional graduate students whose research projects significantly engage Korean society and culture across the periods. It offers a platform for emerging scholars to present their work-in-progress, receive feedback from faculty and peers, and participate in interdisciplinary discussions within a supportive environment.
KF-USC Korean Studies Forum
USC KSI hosted an annual all-day regional forum that presented the current trends of the field of Korean studies on Thursday, October 16. A select multidisciplinary group of leading scholars from the universities in the Southern California region came to discuss their research agendas. The event was sponsored by the Korea Foundation. See the full program and participants’ bios. KSI also hosted the 2025 Korea Foundation Fellows Mentoring Workshop on October 17.
Korean Studies Programs at USC
Our Community
Graduate Students
Graduate Students can organize the annual USC Conference in Korean Studies, participate in the Bridging Asia Conference, and receive the Summer Fieldwork Grant.
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate Students are invited to join the KSI Fellows Program and participate in the Joint Conference with the Nam Center of Korean Studies at the University of Michigan.
Visiting Scholars
KSI annually hosts visiting scholars from academia, government, and private organizations. Visiting scholars are welcome to take active part in the institute’s activities.