ETHNMUS 122Global Dynamics of K-Pop
Ethnomusicology · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
Focused study on K-pop—South Korea’s most significant cultural export. Close attention is paid to global influences that have shaped Korean popular music in earlier decades and in turn, unprecedented global reach of K-pop in recent history. Study is divided into three units: contextualizing K-pop, transnational flows in K-pop, and critical takes on K-pop. Each unit features distinctive case studies, and lectures draw out some of broader linkages between units as they relate to modern Korean history, Cold War geopolitical formations and legacies, modern South Korean state and economy, and spread of Korean popular culture. Study draws on wide array of scholarly articles, journalistic pieces, music videos, webinars, and online resources while foregrounding larger issues that emerge through cultural analysis.
P/NP or letter grading.
When it runs
- Winter 2026
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
UCLA lists no requisites for this course.
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
Nothing — this is an entry point.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.