Call for Papers: The 12th Korean Screen Culture Conference (KSCC) 2025 CFP
The annual Korean Screen Culture Conference (KSCC) is dedicated to exploring all aspects of Korean screen culture, including television, K-pop, internet, computer gaming, webtoons, and film from both North and South Korea.
Previous successful conferences were held at: SOAS, the University of London (2012 & 2013), Sheffield Hallam University (2014), the University of Copenhagen (Denmark, 2015), King’s College, London (2016), Universität Hamburg (Germany, 2017), the University of Helsinki (Finland, 2018), the University of Central Lancashire (UK, 2019), the University of Tübingen (Germany, 2020), the University of Tübingen (Germany/ZOOM 2021), Monash University (Australia, 2023), and Goethe University in Frankfurt (Germany, 2024).
2025 Theme: ‘New Configurations of Sociality in Korean Screen Culture.’
South Korean and international news media alike increasingly fixate on social problems associated with low birth rate and aging society, single-person households and loneliness, gender inequality and gender wars, ultra-competitive schooling and workplace environments, and abuses within the entertainment industry; Korean film, television, webtoons, music videos, and beyond have equally insistently addressed these social changes through asserting new modes of sociality. For example, media depicts family-like support outside of the traditional family form, extends the meaning of “family,” or invents alternative modes of sociality or revives forgotten modes of sociality (such as communal village arrangements, etc.). Although these social issues and media creators’ responses to them mainly pertain to South Korea (ROK)—in contrast, North Korean (DPRK) society and media get far less international attention than its politics, and the global Korean diaspora is often subsumed under various national contexts—it is hoped that this conference can open up discussions of new configurations of sociality in South Korea, North Korea, and the Korean diaspora. Approaching Korean screen cultures with a focus on sociality has potential for pushing the boundaries of global Korean Studies.
We welcome proposals for papers and panels on the theme of the conference and all aspects of Korean screen culture, including but not limited to: Korean cinema – North and South, past and present; video games; production, distribution & reception of film, television, and K-pop music videos; and the transnational and intermedial aesthetics of Korean screen culture such as the impacts of the Korean Wave (Hallyu), transnational and intermedial adaptations, co-productions, collaborations, and various intermedia practices.
The conference will take place across two full days, on the Leiden University campus. Speakers will be expected to arrive on 29 June 2025. In principle the conference is not a hybrid conference, but special requests to participate remotely may be considered.
The organizers will arrange two nights of accommodation to all presenters whose papers have been accepted. Presenters who wish to extend their stay beyond two nights can expect to bear this cost themselves. Unfortunately, budget limitations do not allow us to reimburse travel expenses.
Deadline for proposals is: 10 March 2025
Applicants will be notified of the result by 24 March 2025.
Proposal format:
In your proposals - both for individual papers and panel proposals - please include your name, institutional affiliation, paper title, an abstract of 300 words, and a 50-word biography of each author.
Please send the abstract as an email attachment to Bonnie Tilland at: b.r.tilland@hum.leidenuniv.nl
The email subject should be the same as the file name, which should be: family name first name KSCC2025. (for example: bonnietillandKSCC2025)
All applicants will receive an email confirmation of receipt of their abstract within 5 working days. If you do not receive confirmation, please email. For all other inquiries, contact Bonnie Tilland at the above email.
KSCC 2025 is organized by a committee comprised of Dr Ji-yoon An (UBC), Dr Mark Plaice (University of Central Lancashire), Dr Andrew Logie (Helsinki University), Dr Shin Dong Kim (Hallym University), Dr Andrew Jackson (Monash University), Dr Yonson Ahn (Goethe University) and Dr Bonnie Tilland (Leiden University).
The 2025 conference is supported by the Korea Foundation.