LAS232 History of Korean Popular Music

Autumn 2025/26

20 credits

Module Organiser: Dr Gemma Ballard (g.ballard@sheffield.ac.uk)

Overview

This module examines the social history of (South) Korea from the 1930s to the dawn of the millennium through the lens of popular music. The module starts with songs on gramophone records made during the Japanese colonial period and ends with Psy's 'Gangnam Style,' which achieved global popularity while satirising urban lifestyle in Seoul. Each week, students and the module lead perform a close analysis of the selected song(s), informed by relevant socio-historical contexts such as Japanese colonialism, national division, the Cold War, urban migration, state censorship, democratisation, and globalization. Secondarily, the module introduces students to issues that are relevant to the study of popular music in any national or transnational context. 

Topics Covered Include

• 1930s, New Popular Music, New Genres 

• 1930s, New Musical Infrastructures and Colonial Modern Sentiments 

• 1945-early 1960s, Sound, American Modernity, and Cold-War South Korea 

• 1960s, American Military Entertainment and Korean Popular Music 

• 1960s-, Trot (t'ŭrot'ŭ)  

• 1970s, Popular Music, Censorship, and Propaganda 

• 1970s, T’ong Kita and P’okŭ as Counterculture 

• 1980s, Television and New Urban Pop 

• 1990s, Seo Taiji and the Youth Culture Revolution 

• 2000s-, The International Rise of Korean Popular Music 

• The Next Generation: Marking the Sustained Success of Kpop 

Skills Development

• critical ability 

• communication skills

• academic writing skills

• cultural agility

• Independent learning 

• knowledge

• digital technologies 

Study Hours

The University recommends that you spend 200 hours working on a 20-credit module. This will include:

• Lectures 11 hours

• Seminars 11 hours

• Independent study 178

Assessment

• Portfolio of essays 100%