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The Passenger: South Korea
Fully-illustrated, The Passenger collects the best new writing, photography, art and reportage from around the world.
IN THIS Hell Joseon by Elisa Shua Dusapin • The View from the North by Lee Hyeonseo • Lessons in Democracy by Jiyoung Choi • the Samsung Republic and the most militarized border in the world, the real reason why Korean women don’t have children, democracy and K-pop, baseball, esports, and shamanism, and much more…
From kimchi to TV series, from Oscar-winning films to K-pop, from webtoons to cosmetics, in recent years Korea has captured the global imagination, one viral trend at a time. In this volume, The Passenger sets out in search of the world’s coolest nation.
Eighty years ago, at the end of a devastating civil war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, under constant threat from the Communist regime north of the 38th parallel and completely dependent on the United States for its security and prosperity. Today, it is the world’s tenth-largest economy, a dynamic and innovative country with a per capita GDP similar to that of Western Europe, a lively and participatory democracy that stands up to its larger, more powerful neighbors. And above all, the country is the origin of the hallyu—the Korean wave—which has reached every corner of the world and taken the global entertainment, food, and culture industries by storm.
This extremely rapid and astonishing transformation has inevitably brought ruptures and contradictions. If the global youth looks to Korea as previous generations looked to Hollywood and New York, young Koreans instead talk about Hell a country that is rapidly aging, an economic system dominated by powerful chaebols (family-controlled conglomerates), a fiercely competitive educational system, a generational gap in outlook and behavior and, at the center of it all, the role of women— one of the keys that The Passenger has chosen to try to decipher a complex, fascinating country, central to the dynamics of today’s world, and that is often exoticized and idealized to the same extent.
IN THIS Hell Joseon by Elisa Shua Dusapin • The View from the North by Lee Hyeonseo • Lessons in Democracy by Jiyoung Choi • the Samsung Republic and the most militarized border in the world, the real reason why Korean women don’t have children, democracy and K-pop, baseball, esports, and shamanism, and much more…
From kimchi to TV series, from Oscar-winning films to K-pop, from webtoons to cosmetics, in recent years Korea has captured the global imagination, one viral trend at a time. In this volume, The Passenger sets out in search of the world’s coolest nation.
Eighty years ago, at the end of a devastating civil war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, under constant threat from the Communist regime north of the 38th parallel and completely dependent on the United States for its security and prosperity. Today, it is the world’s tenth-largest economy, a dynamic and innovative country with a per capita GDP similar to that of Western Europe, a lively and participatory democracy that stands up to its larger, more powerful neighbors. And above all, the country is the origin of the hallyu—the Korean wave—which has reached every corner of the world and taken the global entertainment, food, and culture industries by storm.
This extremely rapid and astonishing transformation has inevitably brought ruptures and contradictions. If the global youth looks to Korea as previous generations looked to Hollywood and New York, young Koreans instead talk about Hell a country that is rapidly aging, an economic system dominated by powerful chaebols (family-controlled conglomerates), a fiercely competitive educational system, a generational gap in outlook and behavior and, at the center of it all, the role of women— one of the keys that The Passenger has chosen to try to decipher a complex, fascinating country, central to the dynamics of today’s world, and that is often exoticized and idealized to the same extent.
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192 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 27, 2024
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 19, 2024
Well, I said I wouldn’t, and yet I did. A forthcoming meeting with a SK grandmaster made me do it, with the hopes that I could add some interesting perspectives about the place and initiate some interesting launching points of discussion to prove that I wasn’t a philistine corporate hack. A 0.7 birth rate, K-Pop, an admiration for baseball and esports are about all I’ll take away from this volume – leaving me very little to go by.
It seems to me that lately these collections follow the formula of fact-heavy pieces (GDP, employment rates, local delicacy consumption rate per capita etc) and then towards the end adding one or two more personal pieces that provide some cultural texture. In this case it would be the confused identities of Korean orphans that were shipped out all over the world in the 80’s – it’s the standout piece but I’m not even sure I’d recommend it to anyone.
I suppose I’m also a little bored with the format and I also found myself agitated at having to stop mid essay to read the sidebar information, I think that would be better left to the end, perhaps at the price of layout aesthetics.
So the run rate for the Passenger Series is about two out of eight – woefully low, but my willpower isn’t good, so I’ll probably get back in at some point – if the Amazon bots are lurking give me 70% of RRP and we’ve got a deal.
It seems to me that lately these collections follow the formula of fact-heavy pieces (GDP, employment rates, local delicacy consumption rate per capita etc) and then towards the end adding one or two more personal pieces that provide some cultural texture. In this case it would be the confused identities of Korean orphans that were shipped out all over the world in the 80’s – it’s the standout piece but I’m not even sure I’d recommend it to anyone.
I suppose I’m also a little bored with the format and I also found myself agitated at having to stop mid essay to read the sidebar information, I think that would be better left to the end, perhaps at the price of layout aesthetics.
So the run rate for the Passenger Series is about two out of eight – woefully low, but my willpower isn’t good, so I’ll probably get back in at some point – if the Amazon bots are lurking give me 70% of RRP and we’ve got a deal.
Displaying 1 of 1 review