Research Presentations

I presented my research on Marry My Husband at the Global Fusion Conference on Saturday, October 18, 2025. The global success of the 2024 Korean drama calls for a critical examination, particularly because Korean popular culture does not just reach local audiences but also its global fan base through transnational digital platforms. I argued that the drama reaffirms the patriarchal, neoliberal ideology of self-love, success, and happiness.

If you're interested in learning about the subject, please check out the presentation.

I presented my research on Pokémon GO at the CDCS Symposium: Reframing Leisure, Humor, and Play in Global Digital Culture held at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, April 25, 2025. This case study closely examined a Pokémon GO community on Discord. Through participant observation, this study explores a wide variety of intersections technologically engineered by the game’s design and culturally negotiated by its members.

If you're interested in learning about the subject, please check out the presentation.

I gave a talk, "When your imagination becomes a reality: What do Korean and Japanese girls’ comics, K-pop idols, and Queen Yuna have in common?" virtually for the Pre-Conference: East Asian Media and the Politics of Nostalgia at the 2022 Global Fusion conference held at Temple University in Philadelphia, on October 14. This talk is based on my personal nostalgia, as well as my observations and reflections while teaching Korean media and pop culture class at North Park University in the spring 2022. 

If you're interested in learning about the subject, please check out the presentation.

I gave a talk about Korean pop culture at North Park University in Chicago in 2015. "Gangnam Style" is the world’s most watched video with 2.4 billion clicks on YouTube. Behind the funny video and Psy's global stardom is South Korea’s history of tragedy and hardship and the long-held sentiment of Han. In my talk, I claimed that Han is an experiential reality to contemporary Koreans, revisited and relived through the collective memory and national identity.

If you're interested in learning about the subject, please check out the presentation.