February 28, 2024 “Making over ‘The Big Reveal’: Medical Tourism YouTube Vlogs and the Globalizing of the South Korean ‘Look’ by Dr. S. Heijin Lee
The Center for Korean Studies and The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures jointly present:
"Making over 'The Big Reveal': Medical Tourism YouTube Vlogs and the Globalizing of the South Korean 'Look' by Dr. S. Heijin Lee.
- When: February 28, 2024, 12:00pm-1:00pm
- Where: Moore Hall #258 (1890 East-West Rd, 96822)
Abstracts:
Sponsored by medical tourism agencies, Medical Tourism YouTube vlogs chronicle the YouTuber’s journey to South Korea, their multiple surgeries, the pain of recovery and surgery’s results. Focusing on US-born BIPOC YouTubers, the speaker shows how these vlogs "translate" K-surgery, and other elements of K-culture like K-pop, to an Englishspeaking audience. Ultimately, the speaker argues that the vlogs enact the South Korean “look,” made popular by K-pop idols, onto non-Korean bodies and illuminate how the "Korean look" destabilizes global ideas about race.
Speaker:
Dr. S. Heijin Lee is Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Lee’s research explores the imperial routes of culture and media.
The talk is open to the public. For more information, please contact Pier-Carlo Tommasi (tommasi@hawaii.edu) or Emily Jungmin Yoon (ejyoon@hawaii.edu). For disability access, please contact the EALL office at 956-8940 or eall@hawaii.edu. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Institution.
