International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)

Christopher Zysik

Media ethics, philosophy of technology & AI

Christopher Zysik is research assistant in the DFG-project “Japanese Visual Media Graph.” Currently, he is a PhD candidate at Paderborn University researching the music phenomenon Kawaii Metal.

 

 

 

 

Research Areas

  • Aesthetics of Popular Culture
  • Popular Culture of East- and Southeast-Asia
  • Audiovisual Media Cultures
  • Phenomenological Aesthetics
  • Cultural Psychoanalysis
  • Cultural Phenomenology
  • Postcolonial Theory and Globalization

Current Research Interests

  • Japanese Metal- and Idolmusic
  • K-Pop
  • Japanese Film
  • Mental Health in Popular Culture
  • Synaesthetical Experience and Sustainable Development of Urban Soundscapes
  • Intersubjectivity, Empathy, and Indifference
  • Artificial Life and Fluid Androids

Career

2024Visiting Assistant in Research at Yale University (12 months)
2023M.A. Media Studies and Philosophy
Since 2017Ph.D. candidate at Paderborn University
2016M.A. Popular Music and Media
2014B.A. Musicology and Philosophy

Publications

Research Articles

(2024): »The K-Pop Body. Beauty Standards, Patriarchal Authoritarianism, and the Big Other of Korean Popular Music Culture«, in: Samples. Special Issue “Rock Your Body”, Issue 22.

 

(2021): »K-Pop and Suicide. Marginalization and Resistance in the Korean Pop Industry«, in: Samples. Special Issue "Not Ready to Make Nice", Issue 19.

 

(2019): »Hang on the Box and women's identity in China«, in: Punk & Post-Punk, Issue 8, No. 2, pp. 243-255.

Presentations (Selection)

2025/08: “Girls-Metal-Band-Boom” und die Aufteilung des Sinnlichen im transkulturellen Kontext. Japanologentag 2025 (Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main).

 

2025/06: Kawaii Metal and Gender – Imaginaries of Gender Disparity and Gender Fluidity in the Aesthetics of Cuteness. Waseda International Workshop: Rethinking the Relationship Between Beauty and Gender (Waseda University, Japan).

 

2025/06: Intersubjectivity and Empathy in Your Name. Mechademia Kyoto 2025 (Kyoto International Manga Museum, Japan).

 

2025/06: Kaiju Genre Data Analysis in the JVMG Project. Mechademia Kyoto 2025 (Kyoto Seika University, Japan).

 

2025/02: Researching Japanese Popular Culture. MondoCon (Budapest, Ungarn).

 

2023/09: »The K-Pop Body – Beauty Standards and Sexist Authoritarianism in Korean Popular Music Culture« (in German), 33rd GfPM Annual Conference Rock Your Body, University of Siegen, Germany

 

2023/06: »Cuteness and Suicide – Affective Deconstruction of Stigmas About Mental Health«, XXII. biennial IASPM International Conference Popular Music in Crisis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

 

2023/05: »Third Space(s) and Cultural Hybridization« (in German), 15th Graduate Conference Transdisciplinary Spaces in Cultural Studies, Paderborn University, Germany

 

2022/07: »Mongolian Rock Music and the Mongolian Minority in China«, XXI. biennial IASPM International Conference Climates of Popular Music, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea

 

2022/04: »The Voice of Cuteness – Constructing Gender Segregation in Japanese Idol Music«, Differentiating Sound Studies: Politics of Sound and Listening, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea

 

2021/09: »Girls-Metal-Band-Boom – Between Japanese Gender Identity, Exoticization and Transregional Flows«, 1st IASPM Poland Conference Regional experiences and external influences: reclaiming identities by popular music in the digital era, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland

 

2020/09: »K-Pop und Suicide – Marginalization and Resistance in the Korean Pop Industry« (in German), 30th GfPM Annual Conference „Not Ready to Make Nice“. Macht und Bedrohung im Kontext populärer Musik, Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts and Pop Academy Baden-Württemberg, Germany

 

2019/11: »J-Pop, K-Pop and Co. – Imagining National Identity through Popular music terms in East-Asia« (in German), 29th GfPM Annual Conference One Nation Under a Groove: ‘Nation‘ as a Category of Popular Music?, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany

 

2019/07: »Wota – Constructing a Space for Marginalized Identities in Japanese Popular Culture« (in German), 12th Graduate Conference The Relevance of Cultural Studies, Paderborn University, Germany

 

2018/07: »Kawaii-Metal – About the Postcolonial Analysis of Cuteness as a Commodity Aesthetic in Heavy Metal Music« (in German), 11th Graduate Conference, Paderborn University, Germany

Public Talks and Panel discussions

2021/09: »Studying Popular Culture« presented by The Popular Culture Studies Journal, MPCA/ACA, Online

 

2021/03: »Folklore and Popular Culture« presented by The Popular Culture Studies Journal, MPCA/ACA, Online

 

2021/03: »Global Popular Culture«, presented by The Popular Culture Studies Journal, MPCA/ACA, Online

 

2021/01: »Digital Popular Culture«, presented by The Popular Culture Studies Journal, MPCA/ACA, Online

 

2020/11: »Popular Culture and Democracy«, presented by The Popular Culture Studies Journal, MPCA/ACA, Online

Teaching

Winter semester 2025/2026
Filmaesthetics and Ethics - Reflections on Space Ethics and Environmental Ethics Through Movies (Stuttgart Media University)
T-IES Insight Germany: Reflecting on Interucultural Experiences (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen)
Summer semester 2025
Film Analysis (Stuttgart Media University)

Memberships and Board Activities

Membership

DGAe - German Society for Aesthetics

ESA - The European Society for Aesthetics

IAA - International Association for Aesthetics

DGPF - German Society for Phenomenological Research

IASPM D-A-CH - International Association for the Study of Popular Music, German-speaking Branch

GfPM - German Society for Popular Music Studies

IAPMS - Inter-Asia Popular Music Studies Group

GfM - German Society for Media Studies

Board Activities
10/2022–11/2024Advisory Board Member (IASPM D-A-CH)
12/2021–07/2022

Permanent guest in the board of directors

Graduate Centre of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities GKW, Paderborn University

08/2020–05/2021Vice Graduate Representative
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn University
01/2019–07/2022GFKW – Graduate Forum of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Paderborn University