Abstract

This article presents a discussion among researchers involved in the project “Representations of the ‘Koreannees’,” commissioned by the editorial board of the journal Korean Studies and the Academy of Korean Studies. The participants explored various discourses surrounding Korean Studies, reflecting on the term “Korean Studies” and the challenges faced in defining its scope. They pointed out that Korean Studies still tends to focus on the “past” in temporal terms, adhere to traditional academic fields such as literature, history, and philosophy, and often adopts a normative approach that highlights the positive aspects of the national community. Centering on their experiences with the “Representations of the ‘Korean” project, the participants described their efforts to incorporate dynamic and sometimes critical representations of contemporary Korean society—such as chaebols, public squares, misogyny, suicide, low birth rates, and K-pop fandom—topics that have rarely been addressed in conventional Korean Studies. Through this, they discussed the need to expand the field’s boundaries to include popular culture, science, and technology studies (STS), everyday life, and social issues. Moreover, they emphasized the importance of Korean Studies evolving beyond the mere importation and application of foreign theories to become a field capable of producing original concepts and theories based on Korea’s unique experiences— thus becoming a subject that actively contributes to the global academic community. Finally, they emphasized that for such efforts not to remain isolated “provocative Korean Studies” events, there must be parallel efforts made to identify and theorize concepts that cut across diverse micro-representations, as well as critical reflection on the institutional foundations and research environments that support the field.