MAY 7 – ‘K-Drama Made Them Tom-Gay: Thai Hallyu Imaginaries and Lesbian Possibilities’ with Dredge Byung’chu Kang

Please join the Center for Korea Studies for a special colloquium with Dredge Byung’chu Kang, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. The aesthetics of K-Pop flower boy masculinity, the narratives of K-Drama cross-gender characters, and imagined Korean lesbianism have refashioned contemporary tom (Thai butch lesbian) gender presentation, partnership patterns, and sexual roles. Many Thai youth are “ba kaoli” (crazed for all things Korean), including young lesbians. In this talk, Kang examines how Korean media, consumer goods, and cultural assets are mobilized to imagine, enact, and embody Asian cosmopolitan identities.