Aesthetics of the Male Body in Korea and Japan Roundtable Talk

While both Korean and Japanese beauty aesthetics often feature in media and have spawned multitude of dissertations and media articles on K-pop and J-pop masculinities in particular, this research Collaboratory seeks to bring together academics working on Japanese and Korean masculinities to examine and analyse male aesthetics in the two countries in comparative focus. Grounded in recent developments in masculinity theory in ways that seeks to build on existing work of global masculinity studies this exciting research collaboration seeks to focus specifically on the social and symbolic meanings attached to aesthetic practices in local Japanese and Korean contexts.

This Roundtable will bring together leading scholars in the field of Korean and Japanese masculinity studies, to examine how beauty aesthetics, fashion and grooming intersect with gender and masculinities in Japan and Korea. Following an invitation-only research Collaboratory in Perth on Thursday 23rd November, the speakers will present short reflections on their research on masculinity studies in dialogue with each other.

Through analysing representations of the male body two beauty cultures are often seen to run counter to Eurocentric understandings of global or transnational hegemonic masculinities in the past and present, this roundtable discussion will consider what analysing Korean and Japanese masculinities in comparative focus can add to the field of masculinity studies in Asia.

This roundtable discussion is free but registrations are essential.

This event is supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2022-OLU-2250005).