There has been burgeoning scholarly research on popular music as heritage in cultural studies over the few decades. It is perplexing because there is no official or fixed definition of popular music heritage as it demands contextual and discursive analysis. Therefore, defining popular music heritage is intrinsically difficult as its scope and content vary according to national heritage policies and practices. Depending on which government administration defines and perceives popular music as heritage as well as how popular music is practiced in the heritage sector characterises the concept of popular music heritage. The aim of this paper and presentation is to scope and frame South Korean (1948–present)’s popular music heritage from the relevant cultural policy and practice approaches. In the first part, the cultural heritage element of popular music will be identified by sketching the ways in which South Korean cultural policy documents such as cultural heritage and cultural industry acts and laws have described popular music. Among the legislative categorization and definitions of South Korean cultural heritage the national policies describe, I will extract popular music parts. The latter part will focus on the popular music heritage practice by connecting cultural institutions’ practices such as museum exhibitions and the tourism industry to explore how popular music heritage has been engaging audiences as part of heritage practice. In particular, contemporary K-Pop exhibitions will be discussed as the recent case study. Ultimately, this study seeks to contribute a contextual analysis of popular music heritage as part of cultural studies.

Authors:
Sumi Kim, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Sumi Kim is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in South Korea

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

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