The new “7 Months, 7 Universities” episode will explore the Korean case as an example of resistance to cultural standardisation

The series of guest lectures “Seven months, seven universities” launches the 13th episode of its series: “From culture to a product: the Korean case” by Maeva Sagueton, International Project Assistant for Arqus from the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3. The online workshop will take place on 22nd June at 11:00 am CEST and it will be broadcast live on the Arqus YouTube channel.

Globalization has influenced cultures in the direction of a certain standardization of consumption habits, leisure activities and practices, an evolution in which new technologies have played a large part and have favored the growth of American influence. However, the world’s societies are still marked by great diversity, languages remain numerous despite Anglo-Saxon hegemonic practices, and religions have still retained their influence on people well beyond their region of origin.

This seminar will focus on the case of South Korea, which in a few decades has managed to place itself in the leading group of economic and political powers in the world. How has South Korea oriented its cultural policy in a liberalized world? How does Korean culture resist the trend toward uniformity or, on the contrary, how do Korean authorities use globalization to preserve and increase its own influence?

The talk is given by Maeva Sagueton, International Project Assistant for Arqus. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3. Her multicultural family background with Madagascar has given her a keen interest in all aspects of international cooperation, especially the relations between Africa and Asia. As part of her master’s degree in political science, she studied at Yeungnam University in South Korea. Fascinated by the history of this country, she was an intern at the cultural service of the French Embassy in Seoul where she analysed the cultural industry in the context of globalization and the emergence of the Korean soft power.

This is the thirteenth episode of a series of guest lectures (“Seven months, seven universities”) to be offered in the framework of the Action Line 4 of Arqus, Multilingual and Multicultural University (sub-line 4.8). These lectures focus on specific topics related to language and culture and target mainly graduate and post-graduate students as well as early-stage researchers interested in those topics. It will be broadcast live on the Arqus YouTube channel next 22nd June at 11:00 am CEST.