2nd Conference

Co-hosted by SKKU Korean Language and Literature and Penn State IKS, Variations is the theme of the second international conference of Korean Popular Narratives and Media Studies, encompassing organic movements of popular narratives through repetition, adaptation, translation, diffusion, mutation, and deviation of popular narratives mediated through various media in the transnational context. It aims to expand the scholarship of Korean popular literature and visual media by paying serious attention to historically and aesthetically significant cultural works produced and widely consumed since premodern times that have yet to gain vigorous academic interests. Inspired by recent scholarships that provide insightful frameworks of transmedia and transnational storytelling of adventure and romance, this conference gathers scholars of premodern and modern popular culture who engage in various forms and styles of popular cultural products in multicultural, multimedia, and multitemporal perspectives.

Barbara Wall (University of Copenhagen, Vice President of AKSE) 

Transmedia Storytelling of The Journey to the West (The Monkey King)

   * The author of The Dynamic Essence of Transmedia Storytelling: A Graphical Approach to The Journey to the West in Korea (2024)

James Welker (Kanagawa University) 

Queer Transfigurations of BL

   * The author of Transfiguring Women in Late-Twentieth Century Japan: Feminists, Lesbians, and Girls’ Comics Artists and Fans (2024)