Dr. CedarBough Saeji is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia. Previously at Korea University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, she is a scholar of the presentation of Korean culture, whether intangible cultural heritage or resolutely modern popular music.
In her seminar, Dr. Saeji investigates the ways the South Korean government and other affiliated organizations are using the popular practice of performing choreography to Korean popular music, or K-pop cover dance, to build nationalism in Koreans and soft power for Korea overseas. She argues that the breathless, unconvincingly astounded coverage of K-pop fans from around the world on Korean television programs essentializes foreign places and people with one singular focus: to prove the attractiveness of Korea to a Korean audience.