BTS - RM
The hobby of RM, member of the group BTS, appeared in a course related to mental health at Stanford University in the United States.
Until now, in foreign universities, courses analyzing the popularity and industrial structure of K-pop as well as fandom culture were mainly open. This time, it is not the music or the secret to the success of an idol, but his daily life and lifestyle that have become the starting point of the course. The way of teaching K-pop at university is thus even more diversified.
Stanford University has been offering since the fall semester of this year a course titled “Namjooning, and Other Well-Being Inspiration from BTS”. It is a 3-credit seminar intended for first-year students, opened in the field of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. The term “Namjooning” which appears in the name of the course is an expression derived from RM‘s real name, Kim Nam Joon. It is used by fans to designate activities such as visiting art museums like RM, reading books, riding bicycles and enjoying free time in the middle of nature.
In the course, they examine what impact these activities have on mental health. It addresses various topics including nature, art and literature, as well as sleep and anxiety, self-awareness, exercise and psychotherapy. While reading novels and appreciating works of art, students analyze scientific articles and data in order to examine the impact of daily activities on well-being.
It is not a course simply consisting of imitating RM‘s hobbies. Beyond the general advice that sufficient sleep is good for health, they examine in a concrete manner from how many hours sleep is sufficient, what are the impacts of a lack of sleep and what are the results of associated research. Students perform short presentations, writings and quantitative analysis assignments, while also leading a final project inspired by RM‘s solo mini-album, “INDIGO”.
Course presentation page of Stanford University in the United States
Professor James Jacobs, who teaches the course, is vice president of health and well-being at Stanford University and a professor in the field of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He explained during an interview with a local media outlet that the BTS concert at Stanford and RM‘s art exhibition were the trigger for the design of the course. Since last October, RM co-organizes and presents the exhibition “RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), where he notably presents his own collections.
Professor Jacobs became interested in examining through scientific evidence what impact activities such as visiting art museums really have on health. The goal is to have the effectiveness of these practices examined on the basis of research results rather than unconditionally accepting the lifestyle of a beloved artist as being good.
This is not the first time that K-pop is addressed within the framework of a regular course in a foreign university. At the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States, the course “Next Generation Leaders: BTS” focused on the theme of BTS was opened in 2019. It was a 2-credit course designed and managed directly by students, which analyzed the music, activity history, social contribution actions and global influence of BTS. By examining music videos, interviews and articles, they explored the reasons why the group acquired global popularity and also studied the universe contained in their albums and videos.
During the spring semester of this year, the University of Southern California (USC) in the United States opened courses having as respective themes G-DRAGON and the group I-DLE. The course related to G-DRAGON, titled “Crooked Studies of K-pop: The Case of G-Dragon”, is a 4-credit course in the field of communication. Handled by Professor Lee Hye Jin, this course examined the K-pop industry and cultural discourse through G-DRAGON’s music, artistic identity and promotion methods.
Professor Lee explained in a previous interview that the purpose of the course was to examine with a critical eye the received ideas surrounding K-pop through G-DRAGON, rather than unconditionally evaluating it in a praiseful manner. Based on G-DRAGON’s activities, students analyzed the creative autonomy of idols, image construction methods and industrial structures.
The course related to I-DLE opened in the same university, titled “Promoting i-dle in the U.S.”, presents an even different nature. It is a practice-oriented course that studies promotion strategies aiming to better make the group known on the American market. Students dealt with fandom analysis, market studies, brand collaborations and digital marketing, experiencing the process of creating actionable results in the real industrial field.
Although the courses of these three universities all took K-pop artists as their main subject, their educational goals differ. UC Berkeley addressed the success and social influence of BTS, while USC dealt with cultural and industrial criticism through G-DRAGON’s music as well as promotion strategies abroad for I-DLE. In contrast, Stanford University explores mental health and well-being through RM‘s lifestyle. The difference lies in having gone beyond the analysis of K-pop itself by using it as a subject to understand other disciplines.
Of course, existing K-pop courses have not all been confined solely to music or the industry. Academic research dealing with the psychological impact of K-pop fandom or the relationship between listening to music and stress already existed before. It is also difficult to consider that the general educational trend of American universities has changed on the basis of only a few cases. However, the course at Stanford University deserves to be highlighted in the sense that an artist’s lifestyle became the starting point of a course scientifically exploring mental health.
What is important is knowing whether interest in an artist leads to real learning. The course at Stanford University does not fix in advance the conclusion according to which RM‘s lifestyle is good for health, but leads students to judge its effectiveness on the basis of scientific evidence. Beyond explaining the reasons why K-pop acquired global popularity, cases have appeared where one learns other disciplines through K-pop artists. It will be interesting to observe whether this educational method will extend to other universities and academic fields in the future.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: SNS BTS, Université de Standford
