The homework, to  be clear, was to figure out or design an “anatomy” of the conspiracy theory. That is: make a list of criteria that a conspiracy theory needs to fulfill if we are supposed to expect it to “succeed” — that is, to attract followers.

(A similar example I gave in class was regarding the criteria for an American rock band. Rock bands need to:

• play music in a group that usually includes bass, drums, guitar, and a singer, but sometimes other instruments; the music should have a simple, repetitive structure, whether or not the music itself is complex or simple.
• dress like rock musicians: their clothing usually must be casual, often with rock music T-shirts, long hair, and so on. This is not necessarily required (The Ramones always wore suits to perform) but it is a common criterion.
• communicate standard teen-oriented messages of rebellion, resistance to authority, sexual freedom, and so on. (There are exceptions, like Christian rock bands, but they are the exception that proves the rule.)
• perform in places where young people go to see live music.
• “act the part” of rock musicians. If they act timid on stage, they will not be respected and will be seen as a joke.

As you can see, I don’t want you to design your own conspiracy theory — that can be fun, but that isn’t your homework. Rather, I want you to make a list of the things a conspiracy theory seems to require in order to be successful.

This is similar to thinking about what the different conspiracies mentioned in your group have in common: the difference is, I challenge you to think about other conspiracy theories you’ve heard about and check whether they fulfill the criteria you outline as well. (That is, test your theory against a larger sample of conspiracy theories — more than just three of them!)

For Week 12 (21/23 May) I will be discussing some different “conspiracy theories” (modern and historical), the difference between imagined and real conspiracies (because there are also real conspiracies; the mainstream accepts that the 9-11 attack was the result of a conspiracy by Islamist terrorists, for example; I will mention other, less-known “real conspiracies” in the history of the Anglophone world), and talk about the significance of both conspiracies and conspiracy theories to understanding Anglophone cultures. I will also show you some popular culture material involving conspiracy theories.

The remaining time we have in class will be used for presentations of the ideas you’re developing for your final essays. Bear in mind: our schedule is going to be a bit upset by some national holidays: May 28 is Buddha’s Birthday, and June 6 is Memorial Day: both these holidays will rob us of classtime together. However, we still have time to get everyone’s presentation in, as far as I can tell. Since we will be doing three presentations in an hour, your presentation should be between 7-9 minutes in length, to allow for some questions and discussion after each presentation. You do NOT need to use a powerpoint presentation, though you are allowed to do so if you want. However, make sure to test your ppt file before class, as we are on a very tight schedule.

There are currently two presentation slots available on 13 June, in case anyone missed class on the day of the sign-ups. (If more people need to present, we may need to add a class meeting on 18 June.)

Our presentation schedule is as follows:

Wed. 30 May:

• Nayoung Kim
• Jinsoo Kim
• Hyeja Cho
• Moonsoo Song
• Jisun Noh
• Younggyu Kim

Mon, 4 June:

• Heejeong Wang
• Imjung Ha
• Jaehyun Kim

Mon. 11 June:

• Seong Wook Park
• Mikyung Lee
• Sungho Shin

Wed. 13 June:

• Hyoeun An
• Jiyeong Kim
• Minjung Kim
• Daniel Kim

If you are not on this list, please speak to me after class next week so I can add you to the list for 13 June.

While the Spring Festival has eaten up a lot of our time for Week 11, we will be continuing strong in Week 12. On May 21, we will finish off our Fairytale Speeches.

Either in the remaining time of May 21st, or on May 23rd, we will move on to argumentation structure.

A heads-up for this class: our schedule is going to be a bit upset by some national holidays: May 28 is Buddha’s Birthday, and June 6 is Memorial Day: both these holidays will rob us of classtime together. However, I still have high hopes: we will study argumentation structure on May 23rd, and possibly move to some basic logical fallacies. May 30, we will continue (and wrap up) with logical fallacies, and then on June  4, 11, and 13 you will make policy speeches in class.

In the week of June 11, you will also be making your final exam speeches. I have asked for a room to be booked, but I don’t think I’ve received final notification. I will post here when I have!

Next week is Week 12, and the Week 12 (originally Week 11) group will be leading us on May 22 and 24. Likewise, Week 13 group will be leading us on May 29/31. They have mentioned their topics to me, but I am not sure which group is which.

One of the groups wants to discuss slacktivism. The other group wants to discuss the politics of TV and/or radio broadcasting in Korea.

While I am not sure which group is which, I suspect the slacktivism group is Week 12 Group. However, check back soon and there will be links for some article they will suggest for discussion.

Until then, enjoy the school festival.

Since our May 17 class was canceled on account of the Spring Festival, we will meet again on 22 May. At that time we will have Student-Led discussions on the topics mentioned in class.

I will post regarding the activity we will complete on May 24th later on this week, when I have decided on one. Until then, enjoy the festival.

By the way: I know I am a little behind on replying to your latest Challenge submissions. I will be working through them on Wednesday, so please check back here late on Wednesday; I’ll post an update when I have posted the results to the Challenge Tracking page.

As we agreed in class on Tuesday, we will be meeting again in a week (i.e. 22 May) and adding an hour to our class then; this time will be used for one-on-one conferences with students.

However, the conferences will come after a critique session, during which we will discuss Jinsoo’s story, which is already in our folder. On Thursday, 24 May, we will either discuss “Dhuluma No More” further, or we will do one more writing exercise before we start in on a series of group critiques of everyone’s ongoing writing projects.

First off: here is a copy of the MP3 lecture on flappers that I mentioned in class, along with the powerpoint file I used. The MP3 and the PPT go together, so check them out at the same time.:

• The Flapper (MP3 lecture)
• The Flapper (PPT file)

These files are available at Mediafire; this site apparently is blocked on the campus servers, which is stupid considering plenty of legally uploaded material is available there (like, for example, the two files linked above). However, you can either download it on another network (say, at a cafe) or by using a proxy.

Next, I asked you, last time, to think of some recent conspiracy theories in Korea as well as any conspiracy theories you know about from the English-speaking world. We will begin discussing conspiracy theories on our one class meeting in Week 11. (14 May.) 16 May there will be no class, due to the school festival.

As for what we’ll discuss after that, I’ve been thinking about what to do, regarding your panel discussion/presentation grade, since it’s such a significant part of your mark. I thought about deleting it from the grading system, transferring those marks to your final exam, and more, but I thought completely removing it would be unfair.

Therefore, I’ve come up with a compromise. For our class, you are going to write a final essay (not an exam, an essay) and you are going to present the basic points of your research, and your ideas, sometime in Weeks 13 and 14 (28/30 May and 4/6 April), and possibly into Week 15 if necessary. Each student will have eight to ten minutes to present the basis ideas of his or her paper, and there will be a few minutes for discussion. This will give you a chance to rethink your ideas, research more, and work on your thesis and argument before handing in your final essay.

I will circulate a sign-up sheet on Monday, 14 May for you to choose the date and time for your presentation. You will not be required to specify the topic of your final paper until a week later, but it’s a good idea to start thinking about it now.

Week 15 will be open for us, in case we need more time for presentations; if we don’t, then we can talk about one more topic, probably a comparative discussion of American and Korean pop music.

Oh, and for the record, your final paper will be due on the Friday that marks the beginning of exam week. That is, 15 June 2012. The paper must be handed in to the Department of English Language & Culture office (IH341) by 5:00pm.

Your paper should be from 1,250 words minimum, to 2,000 words maximum. It can be on any topic related to popular culture, not just the ones we have discussed — for example, we have not discussed sports, or modern fashions, or drug culture, but you can look at any of these (or other topics) if you want to.

However, you should make an effort to approach these topics using the analytical tools we have developed in our class, like questioning about anxieties, discussing the idea of “social backlash” (I didn’t call it that in class, but that was the point of our analysis of the way men used to term “된장녀” or “flapper” to describe changes that made them uncomfortable), the formation of alternative communities or identities based on pop culture, and so on.

On Monday, 14 May, we will (I hope) finish our fairy tale storytelling. Since this week is a festival week, we will not be meeting on the Wednesday.

In week 12 (21/23 May) we will move on to the next section of our Public Speaking course, turning to argumentative speeches. In a nutshell, we will deal with:

1. Argumentative Speech Structure

2. Fundamentals of Logical Argumentation

3. Handling the Q&A

That will be about all we have time for this semester. You will be making one more speech in class, and one speech in your final exam. Both of these speeches will be policy speeches.

(A policy speech is one where you argue that we should, must, or ought to do something.)

The in-class speech will be about a social issue in Korea — something society-wide. (For example, “We should create much bigger multiculturalism education programs for elementary schools,” or “We should make smoking illegal in all public spaces” or “We should burn down all the hakwons in Korea!”)

The final exam speech will be about a social issue at CUK: you will choose the most serious social problem at our university and suggest a policy for dealing with it. You will also give three reasons why you think your policy is the best policy.

I’m telling you think so you can begin to prepare for these two speeches. I strongly recommend you spend some time doing research, interviewing classmates, and so on.

Weeks 12 and 13 will be coordinated by the Week 11 and Week 13 groups.

Weeks 14 and 15 will be taken up with a discussion of advertising, specifically of Adam Curtis’ 4-hour documentary The Century of the Self. And that brings us to the end of semester!

I have uploaded my story, which I promised to you, in PDF format. It is in the “For Critique” folder, and you will need to sign in to access it. Sorry to upload it somewhat late, it slipped my mind between a million other things. We will discuss the story, and the complexities of writing characters from other cultures — and the question of ethics in fiction — this Tuesday!

I’ve just added feedback pages for all the group discussions we had last week, on the usual page. Go fill out your feedback for  Jae Eun, Seung Min, Jaehyun, and Yong Ho.

Next week, Jeong Gu and Hae Rim will be leading discussions on Tuesday, and we will not be meeting on Thursday due to the school festival.

But on Week 12, we will (as usual) have a group discussion on the Tuesday. We’ll be discussing an article on Thursday (24 May), but I haven’t chosen one yet for discussion. I hope to post it in the next few days (i.e. during week 12), so please check back soon!