ASAN 466 – Transpacific Youth Pop Culture: From K-pop to Tiktok
East Asian media has boomed in global popularity because of the rise of digital platforms like You Tube, Netflix, and Tiktok…
About the Instructor
Jade Lum (ABD) is a candidate of Doctor of Philosophy in English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she also received her Master’s degree in English with a focus on literary studies. Jade has taught multiple writing and popular culture media courses at UH Mānoa and UH West O‘ahu in the English, Asian Studies, and History departments. Her research interests include fairy tale studies, East Asian popular culture, gender studies, adaptation studies, and visual and new media storytelling and rhetoric, particularly in connection to digital games and play. And as someone who also consumes a lot of popular culture, Jade is always excited to bring a critical and academic lens to media that is so commonly taken in today.
For inquiries: email jlum24@hawaii.edu
Varied Dates (7/6-8/4/2026) (online asynchronous)
The rise of digital media platforms and East Asian pop culture has not only provided individuals with Asian representation, but also allows young adults to become a part of a transnational “Pop Pacific” culture involving both East Asia and America. Through the lens of comics, videos, music, and games, students will gain a better critical awareness of how transpacific pop-culture media represent the issues that are most relevant to young adults locally, nationally, and transnationally.
This online synchronous course has students consume, examine and then discuss East Asian and Asian American popular culture, while also completing an upper-division, writing-intensive requirement. Students will be allowed to do two project papers and presentations on any East Asian or Asian American popular culture texts or phenomenon of their choice, and engage with their own interests through lenses of culture and rhetoric. So if a student has ever wanted to present on and write about a particular anime, East Asian music group, video game or webtoon, this is definitely the course to take!
Fulfills major requirement: DH, WI
Updated 03/05/2026