Featuring the book’s editors, S. Heijin Lee (NYU Department of Social & Cultural Analysis), Monika Mehta (SUNY Binghamton Department of English), and Robert Ku (SUNY Binghamton Department of Asian and Asian American Studies) as well as two contributors, Dredge Kang (University of California, San Diego) and Praseeda Gopinath (SUNY Binghamton Department of English), this event celebrates the launch of Pop Empires: Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019). This ambitious anthology places the mediascapes of India (the site of Bollywood), South Korea (fountainhead of Hallyu, aka the Korean Wave), and the United States (the site of Hollywood) in comparative dialogue to explore transnational flows of technology, capital, and labor. By adopting comparative perspectives and mobile methodologies that link popular culture to the industries that produce it as well as the industries it supports, Pop Empires connects films, music, television serials, stardom, and fandom to nation-building, diasporic identity formation, and transnational capital and labor.

Books will be available for sale. Please bring exact cash or credit cards only.

Organized by the Program in Asian/Pacific/American Studies and APA Institute; Co-sponsorsed by Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, Asian Film and Media Initiative, Office of Residential Life, Binghamton University Asian and Asian American Alumni Council