Archiving Slow Resistance: Korean Popular Culture and Everyday Care
When the world feels unlivable, what does Korean pop culture make possible? Join us for a panel conversation and workshop on Korean popular culture and everyday care, on April 29th from 5:15-8:00pm at the IEAS Conference Room. It is on the 5th floor of 2111 Bancroft Way Berkeley, CA 94720.
Admission Information: Free and open to the public.
In Person Event | RSVP Required
RSVP HERE: https://www.mentmagazine.com/events/archiving-slow-resistance
Contact Info: cks@berkeley.edu
Access Coordinator: Kelsey Wong, cks@berkeley.edu, 510-642-5674
Event Details:
In the midst of burnout, financial strain, and racialized precarity, what does Korean pop culture make possible? How do songs and dramas on repeat get us through the week? How do everyday fan practices—group chats, viewing parties, dance covers, fan art—help us build community and imagine life otherwise?
Join us for an evening of conversation and collective making as we explore how Korean pop culture, and the broader histories that have shaped it, can cultivate and sustain diverse social worlds. Bringing together scholars, artists, writers, and fans, the event examines depictions of struggle and resistance in Korean pop culture, how audiences live out these themes in their everyday lives, and how digital archives can preserve or extend their force.
Attendees will also be invited to reflect on their own engagements with Korean pop culture by creating and archiving artifacts of personal fan practice. All are welcome (but not required) to bring in an existing artifact to work with during this lab portion of the event. Examples of artifacts may include: screenshots, playlists, ticket stubs, handwritten notes, lyrics, and other traces of everyday engagement.
Dinner and refreshments will be provided.
This event is organized in conjunction with the forthcoming release of issue 3 of MENT Magazine, a publication dedicated to critical and creative perspectives on Korean pop culture. The event is co-sponsored by Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies and the Center for Korean Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and by Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Dartmouth College.
Speaker/s: Yin Yuan (MENT Magazine), Andrea Acosta (MENT Magazine), Irene Bakola (critic/essayist), Aiyana Lapeyrolerie (video/visual artist), Anisa Khalifa (podcast producer/host), Rée (creative director/producer/learning designer), Abigail De Kosnik (UC Berkeley)
Program:
5:15–5:30 Arrival and refreshments
5:30–5:35 Welcome remarks
5:35–5:55 Opening reflections
(Yin Yuan and Andrea Acosta, editors of MENT Magazine)
6:00–6:40 Panel conversation
(Irene Bakola, Aiyana Lapeyrolerie, Anisa Khalifa, and Rée)
6:45–6:55 Reflections on fandom and the archive
(Abigail De Kosnik)
6:55–7:50 Interactive lab: create and annotate your own fan artifact
7:50–8:00 Share-out and closing
Speaker Bios:
Irene Bakola is a critic and essayist based in Athens. Their essays and articles have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Loom Literary Journal, and Queer East among others. They studied theatre and performance at National and Kapodistrian University (Athens), RCSSD and Guildhall (London). Their thesis, In Search of National Cinemas, explored how the concepts of resistance, time, and place are employed on the post/colonial screen. They frequently collaborate with film festivals in PR and production positions, curate the biweekly newsletter Post-Index, and co-host the forthcoming podcast This Film Exists.
Aiyana Lapeyrolerie (she/her) is a video and visual artist who explores graven images, idols, angels in East Asian studies and Art History. Lapeyrolerie explores her artistic practice through her studies and professionally in video creation in the music industry. She intends to continue her studies as an artist scholar and video artist, paving a new path in experimental video.
Anisa Khalifa is an award-winning podcast producer and host at WUNC. She grew up in a public radio household, and fell in love with podcasts shortly before her friends convinced her to start one with them about Korean dramas. Since joining WUNC in 2021, Anisa has produced Me and My Muslim Friends, CREEP, Tested and Dating While Gray, and is the host of WUNC’s weekly podcast The Broadside. Anisa is also the co-creator of indie podcasts Dramas Over Flowers and Muslim in Plain Sight. In her non-podcast life, she’s a culture writer, poet, visual artist and chronic insomniac, who is fascinated by the stories we tell about ourselves and each other.
Abigail De Kosnik is an Associate Professor in the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM) and the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS), and an affiliated faculty member of Gender & Women’s Studies, Film & Media, and Folklore. She researches histories and theories of new media, film and television, social media, fan studies, piracy studies, cultural memory, and archive studies. She is particularly interested in how issues of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and transnationalism intersect with new media studies and performance studies.
Speaker: Yin Yuan, MENT Magazine
Speaker: Andrea Acosta, MENT Magazine
Speaker: Irene Bakola
Speaker: Aiyana Lapeyrolerie
Speaker: Anisa Khalifa
Speaker: Rée
Speaker: Abigail De Kosnik, UC Berkeley