The Tao of K-Drama
Wise Narratives for a Troubled World
Mindy Thompson Fullilove author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:15th Oct '26
Should be back in stock very soon
K-dramas--South Korean television series that have captivated audiences worldwide--are often described as addictive, immersive, and emotionally generous. But in The Tao of K-Drama, Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, argues that they are something more consequential: a global site of collective meaning-making, where hundreds of millions of viewers encounter shared narratives of rupture, endurance, and repair. Far from mere entertainment, K-dramas offer a sophisticated vocabulary for living with--and through--trauma. At the heart of The Tao of K-Drama is a bold claim: that K-dramas form a sophisticated literature of healing, born from a culture that has endured catastrophe and learned how to recover from it. These stories begin where many Western narratives hesitate--at the site of trauma itself--and linger there long enough to teach us how injury reshapes individuals, relationships, and communities. Drawing on seven K-dramas as case studies, Fullilove shows how the genre's distinctive narrative arc moves steadily toward restoration, guided by a deep belief in human change and collective possibility. Recovery, these dramas insist, is not only personal but also social--and it unfolds not only within individuals but across families, neighborhoods, and cities. Reading seven K-dramas in depth, Fullilove follows the movement from injury to restoration as it travels through intimate lives and shared social spaces, showing how recovery is imagined, practiced, and sustained across entire communities. Her readings move with ease between theory and scene, history and affect, illuminating how these dramas translate complex social knowledge into felt experience. The inaugural volume in the Narrative Medicine series, The Tao of K-Drama is both scholarly and deeply personal. Drawing on Fullilove's work in community psychiatry and her lived experience as an African American woman, the book makes a compelling case for popular storytelling as a form of narrative medicine: a way of countering isolation, metabolizing trauma, and restoring social imagination. Inviting readers to watch differently--and to feel differently--The Tao of K-Drama reveals how stories can become shared tools for survival, connection, and healing in an increasingly fragmented world.
In The Tao of K-drama: Wise Narratives for a Troubled World, social psychiatrist Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, brings her deep understanding of environmental meaning-making in city landscapes, seen in Root Shock, Urban Alchemy, and Main Street, to her COVID-19-initiated binge-watching of K-dramas. Her sage vision creates a page-turner as addictive as the melodramas, and as deeply transformative, collectively and individually. To all who care about trauma and healing, this genre-defying, poetic, and scholarly tour de force sings wisdom! * Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Dean, Center for Action and Contemplation; poet, and award-winning translator of Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence and Anonymous' The Cloud of Unknowing *
Mindy Fullilove's The Tao of K-Drama: Wise Narratives for a Troubled World maps out how we might move beyond the solitary hero's journey favored by the West to the delicately negotiated 'stories of us' that are played out with imagination, boldness and wit in K-drama. Reading Fullilove's generous, revelatory, and brilliant work in these dangerous times, we discover a human path forward. * Vivian Heller, author of Analysis and Exile: Boyhood, Loss, and the Lessons of Anna Freud *
From entertainment to healing, The Tao of K-Drama by Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove explores Korean television as more than just storytelling but a pathway for navigating trauma and finding wholeness. This fascinating book bridges unlikely areas of research, connecting popular culture with themes of medicine, emotional healing, and human connectedness. Through the lens of K-Dramas, Fullilove unwraps how storytelling provides comfort, meaning, and even restoration in the midst of life's struggles. A compelling and insightful read for all K-Drama lovers and for all interested in the power of story to heal and transform. * Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Professor of Theology, Earlham School of Religion; author of When God Became White and Invisible *
Mindy Fullilove shows how the human art of enduring and transcending trauma is illustrated by K-drama's global reception and advanced by the aesthetic, moral and practical works of watching and responding to stories that possess both individual and collective resonance. A crucial lesson for global mental health and for ordinary quests for the wisdom to heal. * Arthur Kleinman, author of The Soul of Care; Professor, Harvard University *
If you're unfamiliar with the global phenomenon of K-Drama, or if you (like me) have become an intrigued fan, The Tao of K-Drama can be an excellent introduction for beginners or a guide to deeper understanding for devotees. Fullilove leads you into the deep themes, personal and social, that make K-Dramas resonate with people around the world. Her analysis is at once psychological, sociological, philosophical, and deeply personal. We can hope that more people will discover this rich storytelling genre that emphasizes the restoration of peace in a time of disruption and trauma. * Brian D. McLaren, author of Life After Doom; faculty, Center for Action and Contemplation *
ISBN: 9780197846971
Dimensions: 210mm x 151mm x 25mm
Weight: 390g
256 pages