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Abstract
In the early 2010's, the expansion of South Korean popular culture around the world is led by popular music, usually known as Kpop. In this paper I seek to answer two questions. First, what are the sources of its success beyond the South Korean national border? Secondly, what does it say about contemporary South Korean society and culture?
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... While Afro-American and Latin cultures have been marked by their unique histories of having been marginalized and/or colonized, these cultures' roles in the contemporary global music industries are highly influential and relatively powerful, especially when compared with many non-Western cultures. Moreover, Korean culture may not be hegemonic in global power relations; Korea, the origin country of K-pop, has a history of having been marginalized and colonialized, which can be compared with Afro-American and Latin histories (Lie, 2012). While K-pop artists' exploitative acts, such as ignorant uses of another culture's symbols, are problematic, such acts may generate meanings different from, and more complex than, White artists' blackfacing, which explicitly references a majority culture's abuse of a minority culture. ...
... Frequent citational practices have increased cultural hybridity in K-pop, as well as in other Korean media genres, such as films and dramas. K-pop's highly hybrid styles and formats have obscured its Koreanness to a large extent (Lie, 2012). Despite the Korean cultural industries' frequent citational practices, it may be questionable how, in practice, they generate cultural hybridity that contributes to an alternative 'third space' (Bhabha, 1994). ...
... However, in response to controversies over K-pop's explicit appropriation of other cultures, some scholars and critics have called for a nuanced understanding of K-pop's citational practices (Anderson, 2020;Cho, 2022;Fuhr, 2016;Lie, 2012). They suggest the consideration of the complexity and historicity behind Korean pop culture industries' interaction with foreign cultural influences, as exemplified by Korean musicians' engagement with Japanese and American music during the colonial and postcolonial periods. ...
Drawing on qualitative interviews with K-pop fans in Lima, Peru, this study explores how Latin fans think about and negotiate K-pop industries' citations of Latin pop music tropes. It addresses the ways in which K-pop's practices of citing other cultures are perceived by the audience whose culture is cited. The Peruvian fans in this study suggest that the citations of other cultures observed in K-pop offer versatile entry points for them to easily engage in the cultural genre. For them, K-pop is a novel cultural genre that has become an alternative yet intimate cultural resource, especially compared to hegemonic American pop music. By providing an analysis of Latin K-pop fans' lived experiences through the lens of cultural hybridity and appropriation, this audience study contributes to the field of transcultural media research.
... There has been a surge in interest in Korean popular culture, with a growing number of people in various parts of the globe expressing a strong affinity for it (Lie, 2012). It will be a significant question when those who enjoy K-Pop are people from Western countries and are even always updated in watching K-dramas and K-movies. ...
... Hallyu has gained international recognition due to its ability to showcase the nation's cultural heritage and its appeal to the entertainment industry, which has the capacity to attract global attention (Longenecker & Lee, 2018). This implies that Korean popular culture is capable of integrating traditional and modern elements, thereby conferring value upon them through the symbol "K," which represents Korea (Lie, 2012). Furthermore, the world, which has been dominated by Western entertainment for an extended period, has been introduced to a new perspective with the emergence of East Asian performers. ...
(Korean Popular Culture as A ‘Lethal Weapon’: A Journey Towards Nation Branding of the Republic of Korea) The crisis that occurred in 1997 was experienced by the Republic of Korea as a sign that today the Republic of Korea has become a developed country. The government of the Republic of Korea took the initiative to borrow funds from the IMF for the first time in the history of Korea. The Republic of Korea's turnaround process was revived from adversity due to the impact of the crisis, which led to a day called "National Embarrassment Day". After the funds from the IMF are in the hands of the ROK government, the next duty is to use these funds wisely to restore the economic conditions. Based on the above facts, the purpose of this research was to analyze popular culture as a process of nation branding in South Korea. The method in this research was qualitative with a case study approach, the data obtained comes from in-depth interviews, non-participant observation and literature review. This research concludes that the crisis is an initial process for the Korean government's initiative to take bold and anti-mainstream steps. The funds obtained from the IMF were used to produce popular culture, which was then used as a tool by the government and expanded to restore the country's economic condition, the government's initiative at that time brought about major changes in the current economic condition of the Republic of Korea, and popular culture became the nation branding of the Republic of Korea.
... Even though Korean Wave has been shown to be more successful than "Japanese Wave" after outperforming them in song charts and on DVD store shelves, it is evident that the trend is imitating Japan, whereas Japan first replicated and modified western music and drama before injecting their own exaggerated style to create originality (Lie, 2012). Koreans accomplished the same thing, with one of the important elements being strong marketing efforts for their music, which features dynamic rhythms, energetic dances, and rebellious lyrics that appeal to the youth. ...
... The rise of East Asian media cultural globalisation was argued as a one-way flow in previous studies (Eriko, 2012;Hae-joang, 2005;Iwabuchi, 2010;Lie, 2012;Wahab, 2012). In this argument, other Asian countries are allegedly not well-connected to the rest of Asia, resulting in unequal and asymmetrical cultural interaction, particularly among the local youth (Wahab, 2012). ...
Media and cultural globalisation have progressed to a new level of development and penetration in the age of ubiquitous media technologies and applications. While powerful missionaries of global media culture have penetrated and integrated various media markets, the development of East Asian media cultural production and inter-Asian media production and consumption has become apparent. These developments, on the other hand, enable the disguising of anti-ethnocentric patterns of cultural production, circulation, and connection as globalisation. This eventually invites dialogic connections among people from different regions. In the context of the uneven globalisation process, this article critically reviews the rise of East Asian media culture production and how inter-Asian connectivity plays its role in limiting symmetrical cultural exchange within Asia. The debate spans two of East Asia's most powerful media imperialists: Japan and Korea, as well as their transnational media and culture industries and how they started. The methodology used is literature review and observation, which leads to findings based on secondary data. Arguments on the impact of their advancement also discuss the effects of the media and cultural swapping on their Southeast Asian counterparts based on past research. In future studies, researchers must investigate the unevenness and inequality in the inter-Asian mass culture network, particularly their impact on Southeast Asian countries, where upcoming research can collaborate transnationally with various social actors to advance inter-Asian media culture connections in a more democratic and dialogic manner.
... Yoon 2018). K-pop is captivating because it offers bright and colourful videos and powerful choreography to complement the fast-paced musical beat (Lie 2012;K. Yoon 2019a). ...
K-pop fans in Indonesia use social media extensively to interact and form connections. The platforms of X (previously Twitter) and Instagram are used to create a community of speech that is characterized by multilingualism. This research focuses on how K-pop fans communicate by using a mix of colloquial Indonesian, local languages such as Javanese and Sundanese, and foreign languages such as Korean and English. Our study collected tweets, posts, and comments that were created by popular K-pop fans from 2021 to 2023. These primary data were then transcribed, coded, and analysed thematically. The result of the study demonstrates that Indonesia’s K-pop community performs translanguaging as they swiftly transition between several linguistic codes. It was also found that in the digital space, K-pop culture has intersected with the fans’ religious and cultural identities.
... In the context of the K-Pop industry, which has gained global popularity, the diverse and often complex lyrical characteristics of the genre have acquired attention. While some K-Pop songs explore themes of self-empowerment and personal growth, others delve into more somber topics such as mental health struggles, societal pressures, and personal hardships [13]. Specifically, the music from 'High School Rapper 2' appears to contain lyrics regarding personal difficulties and experiences of suicide. ...
This paper examines the phenomenon of elevated rates of emergency room visits by adolescents during the period of the broadcast content featuring music with lyrics related to self-harm. A notable rise in self-harm-related emergency department visits has been observed among adolescents aged 10 to 24. Specifically, there has been an increase from 0.9 to 3.1 among those aged 10-14, from 5.7 to 10.8 among those aged 15-19 and from 7.3 to 11.0 among those aged 20-24, with rates expressed as per 100,000 persons. The objective of this study is to ascertain the impact of lyrics on adolescent impulsivity. To this end, the top 20 songs on Melon, a popular music streaming platform among teenagers, from April to October 2018. To identify the most frequent words, Python's KoNLPy (Korean Natural Language Processing in Python) and Kkma [1] libraries were utilized. This analysis resulted in the identification of the top 20 significant words. A correlation analysis revealed that the words "sway", "think", "freedom" and "today" had a statistically significant association with increased self-harm-related emergency room visits. This effect was more pronounced among females than males. This study introduces a computational approach to examining the influence of music lyrics on adolescent self-harm behavior, aiming to establish a foundation for further research into the impact of song lyrics and music genres on adolescent psychology.
... One group that the uses of social media shaped their identity was K-Pop fanboys. Korean music pop or better known as K-Pop was part of a broader phenomenon called the Korean Wave or Hallyu (Kim, 2013) that focused on the expansion of popular culture from South Korea to the rest of the world led by popular music (Lie, 2012). The creativity, stage acts, and attractive visuals of K-Pop stars had attracted individuals from various backgrounds including men to become fans. ...
This study explores the methods used by micro-celebrity K-pop fanboys to negotiate their masculinity as male K-pop fans on Instagram. K-pop fanboy micro-celebrity is a term used to refer to K-pop fanboys who had transformed into micro-celebrities. The existence of K-pop fanboys wa often associated with non-hetrosexual streotypes and stigmas such as 'sissy' and 'faggot,' which placed them was in an unfair social order. Therefore, K-pop fanboys, especially those who had become micro-celebrities, it felt the necessaries to negotiate their masculinity as male K-pop fans. The netnography method was used by observing of this study the Instagram accounts of K-pop micro-celebrity fanboys to understand the ways and strategies they used in negotiating their masculinity. Based on the results of the study, it was found the finding that the negotiation of masculinity carried out by K-pop micro-celebrity fanboys was done by adjusting themselves to the existing hegemonic masculinity values. This study observation was done through the formation of an 'ideal' body, showing their heterosexual relationships, and displaying various preferred activities other than K-pop. By aligning themselves with the values of masculinity developed in society, K-pop fanboys tried to show that as male K-pop fans, they could express their enthusiasm without having to sacrifice their masculine image.
... K-pop has selectively broadcasted specific effects in the quest for global resonance, adapting the music and marketing strategies to align with global characteristics [9]. This approach includes artists from target markets, promoting a creative synthesis of styles that captures the essence of innovation within K-pop [5]. ...
K-pop has made outstanding achievements in the global market from multiple aspects. This study analyzes the global market strategies that have propelled K-pop groups to the international stage: these strategies have enabled K-pop groups to link cultural and national boundaries effectively. The success of incorporating multicultural elements retains the group's Korean identity while appealing to a broad, global audience. Digital and social media initiatives facilitate direct engagement with fans worldwide and build a loyal and expansive following. Unique brand narratives and identities further help these groups to stand out in a competitive global market. The insights gathered from this study offer valuable approaches for cultural products seeking global market success and cultural acceptance.
... Kpop and Youth Social networking sites (SNS) have played a significant role in the success of K-pop globally, with Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook bringing fans together (Choi et al., 2014;Chun, 2017;Pulvera, 2021;Ryoo, 2009). SNS provides a space for shared interests, availability of a judgment-free zone, and influences youth who consume Korean content (Arambam, 2019;Choi et al., 2014;Lie, 2012;Malik & Haidar, 2020). In Thailand, K-pop gained popularity rapidly among the youth, along with Korean dramas and films (Siriyuvasak & Hyunjoon, 2007). ...
Korean Wave, or Hallyu, refers to the popularity of Korean culture forms, including films, television dramas, and music, among others. K-pop has gained significant attention, leading to many groups achieving international success and recognition. In India, the Korean Wave was first noticed in the
Northeast region during the 2000s. With the pandemic, more people in India have been consuming K-pop content, making it the new Korean Wave. This paper examines K-pop’s impact on the youth of India, studying the fandom activities and consumption pattern among fans in the Indian context. A survey was conducted involving 131 participants between the ages of 18-30, who have some relation to K-pop. The questionnaire was distributed through friends, acquaintances, and K-pop social media pages. The research revealed that many people in India have started listening to K-pop in recent years. Although there are many fans and fan communities, a significant number of the population are passive
supporters of K-pop. The study highlights that K-pop is a booming industry in India with immense potential for research.
... What interests us here is the meaning that fans attribute to their consumption, their interpretation of what they identify as South Korean cultural differences and how they employ these in support of their efforts to enhance openness towards others, decenter their cultural perspective, and adopt a vision of a more inclusive and multipolar cultural world. The K in K-pop therefore plays the role of a floating signifier (Lie, 2012) whose strict adherence to the truth (or authenticity) of Korean culture and society is less relevant than its performativity when appropriated by international fans. It is through this hermeneutical perspective on cosmopolitan amateurs that we must recontextualize the value of "care," as perceived and praised by the latter. ...
Young people’s taste for K-pop must be contextualized as part of the development of an aesthetic capitalism that has transformed the production of aesthetic goods, marketing, and the consumption of difference into vectors that have contributed to the rise of emotional consumerism and aesthetico-cultural cosmopolitanism. This article therefore looks at the French reception of K-pop by young fans, in order to understand the cosmopolitan emotions it elicits for them and what function these emotions serve. After demonstrating to what extent the characteristics of K-pop favor certain kinds of attachments between fans and their chosen product, this article will draw on semi-structured interviews with 74 young people to shed light on this unique “love” and its modes of construction, before looking at the forms of empowerment derived from this attachment: self-care, affinity selection and the development of new perspectives on the future in a global world.
... Since the early 2000s in Korea, many TV programs that target ordinary Korean audiences, such as dramas, often include English and even apartment names are all written in English. Korean cultural products are almost always English, for example, calling it K-culture (Lie, 2012;We, 2012). Our reality has changed, so English is no longer an unfamiliar language. ...
... POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN K-POP AND PANSORI Some researchers argue that K-pop is hardly Korean music. According to Lie (2012), "there isn't very much 'Korean' in K-pop"; "K in K-pop is merely a brand"; "K-pop . . . is naked commercialism"; and "It would be too much . . . to regard this [K-pop] as having anything to do with traditional Confucian, Korean culture" (Lie, 2012, p. 361). This comment has some truth in it if we consider only the contents side of Kpop without examining the whole system, as represented in the conceptual framework of the K-pop system in Figure 1. ...
This study aims to distinguish between creativity and innovation in K‐pop using a conceptual framework of the K‐pop system and to examine if any traces of Korean traditional Pansori are found in K‐pop. Innovation refers to successful implementation of creative ideas, and creative ideas without successful implementation are of no use in the business sector. A conceptual framework of the K‐pop system, developed by the author, consists of enabling people, contents, system processes, and environments. This study identified eight innovative aspects of K‐pop, which include manufacturing K‐pop stars using a specific formula; providing government leadership for K‐pop export; using well‐balanced copyrights to encourage K‐pop fans' social media sharing of their copycat versions; and embracing culturally hybrid K‐pop music styles for global markets. K‐pop's possible links with Pansori are found in K‐pop singers' Grit, similar to Pansori singers' Gongryeok; and female K‐pop idols willing to take personal sacrifices of “no dating” and “curfews,” resembling Pansori singers' “punishing effort.” Confucian influence on K‐pop is traced in South Korea's top‐down approaches by the government and music industries, and gender inequality imposed on female idols as the male gaze.
... ‡ Esta supuesta maldición, también ha sido explicada en términos económicos, pues se considera que después de ese tiempo los grupos dejan de generar ganancias para las empresas que los patrocinan.Publicación semestral, Magotzi Boletín Científico de Artes delIA, Vol. 11, No. 21 (2023) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] ...
A través de su difusión masiva en internet, el K-Pop (Pop Coreano) ha logrado instaurarse como parte importante de la identidad de múltiples colectividades de jóvenes alrededor del mundo. La trascendencia de esta cultura dancístico-musical reside en su potencial para crear comunidad a través de la práctica del Dance Cover, rebasando la barrera lingüística y la dinámica de mercado en la que se encuentra inserta.
Desde una mirada etnocoreológica, este trabajo se aproxima a la práctica del K-Pop en Puebla para explorar los procesos didácticos émicos, a través de los cuales, la juventud poblana crea y reproduce técnicas corporales de diversos géneros urbanos con ayuda de la mediación tecnológica.
Finalmente, este enfoque permite evidenciar la necesidad de generar un espacio de reflexión para las culturas dancísticas y musicales de carácter transcultural, su confluencia y los procesos que, a su alrededor, construyen nuevas identidades kinéticas.
https://doi.org/10.29057/ia.v11i21.9854
... We aim to discover the effects of cultural diffusion on the identity construction of fans as well as the new in-group dynamics that this has produced. Albeit not the first instance that this cultural phenomena has occurred, the "Korean Wave 2.0" (Lie, 2012) marks an era where technological affordances may enhance the interactivity between these fandom dynamics, cultural exchanges, and their subsequent outcomes relative to identity. ...
Within the context of cultural exchange, research into the impact of Korean pop (K-pop) music and its idols largely focuses on their marketability rather than the psychological effects this exchange may have on their fandom. The aim of this research, therefore, is to investigate the formation and dynamics of a transcultural fandom as a result of cultural diffusion through K-pop through the relationship between Bangtan Sonyeondan (a K-pop group) and their fandom, Adorable Representative Master of Ceremonies for Youth (ARMY). Through this research we hope to examine the formation of a new transcultural fandom “in-group” as a function of cultural diffusion, as well as the role of the idol in this process. A quantitative design was employed, consisting of a cross-sectional survey with 116 participants completing measures of identification with all of humanity, universal values, online group identification, knowledge of in-group norms, and remote acculturation levels. Results revealed that stronger identification with the in-group, ARMY, was a significant predictor of ability to detect and use in-group cues to predict target identities successfully, increased remote acculturation, and increased identification with all of humanity. Overall, the research provides insights into the relationships between idol and fan, the levels of remote acculturation experienced by ARMY, and the subsequent identities that are constructed within the new transcultural context of their global community.
... Shim (2006) further asserts that Eastern contemporary cultural developments, particularly Korean media like K-dramas, K-pop music, and K-movies, have taken their place on the small screens that once showed Western dramatic pieces, movies, and pop music. If one takes a closer look into the politics of policies that have dominated South Korea, the government and its transition from its earlier stance as a censor to one of popular cultural promotion is very apparent (Lie, 2012). Moreover, Kanozia and Ganghariya (2021) claim the widespread popularity of K-pop as an "Asian Phenomenon" (p. 2) and South Korea as an outpost of the world's cultural industries (Otmazgin & Lyan, 2014;Yang, 2012). ...
The Korean Wave has surged as a powerful force in today's globalised media landscape, reshaping our consumption patterns, entertainment choices and virtual interactions. As a result, Korean pop culture, its growing influences across nations and how audiences react to Korean entertainment have recently found space in academia. Adhering to the ever-increasing influence of K-pop, this study primarily attempts to decode masculinity as represented by K-pop artists and is not just limited to performance, music and cultural hybridity. Moreover, in relation to the primary findings of this study, this research paper ventures to comprehend the perception of masculinity as portrayed by multiple K-pop bands among Indian youth through the usage of the qualitative research technique of Focus Group Discussion (FGD). By transcending artistic representation, it unveils nuanced socio-cultural impacts, enriching discussions on masculinity amid global media shifts.
... Providing digital literacy is difficult because it must be adjusted to the target needs. Meanwhile, the K-Pop fans have unique characteristics (Jang & Song, 2017;Lie, 2012). Therefore, this study is preceded with need identification and developed a digital smart book that is interesting and easy to assess by children. ...
This study aimed to develop a digital module for Digital Literacy for children and teenagers who were KPop fans to prevent cyberbullying. Data showed that K-pop fans consisting of children and teenagers in Indonesia were one of the largest Internet users in the world. The high use of the Internet was also directly proportional to the cyberbullying that occurred to them, not only as victims but also as perpetrators. This was the reason why this study was important because it specifically targeted KPop fans while they were active internet users. This study was development research referring to the 4-D model, which consisted of four developmental stages: defining, designing, developing, and disseminating. It was simplified into three stages: defining, designing, and developing. The defining step aims to assess the children and teenagers' needs, the designing stage aims to create the product based on data obtained from the previous stage, and the developing stage is to improve the product based on the results of validation and evaluation. The digital literacy e-modul produced in the study consists of an introduction, search engine, social media and online conversation applications, and online shopping, adapted to KPop Fans' characteristics.
... O k-pop emergiu de um processo de democratização na Coreia do Sul. Segundo Jamie ShinshuLie (2012), trata-se de um movimento de resistência, bem como um exercício de liberdade de expressão das gerações de jovens deste país. De acordo com o k-popper e youtuber K-Dan, 24 o k-pop vem das danças tradicionais coreanas (changaa) e, em 1910, quando a Coreia foi dominada pelos japoneses, foi proibida de ser dançada porque as letras denunciavam as opressões do colonialismo.Em 1945, com a divisão do país entre Coreia do Norte e Coreia do Sul, deu-se início a um processo de democratização. ...
Este artigo mostra como um currículo-dançante, criado a partir de experimentações com dança no território de um currículo em ação, se reinventou e desencadeou outros modos de aprender ao se conectar com uma dança-menor, aquela que está nos corpos estudantis e é frequentemente marginalizada no currículo maior. Utilizou-se como metodologia o dançarilhar, isto é: uma composição feita de cartografia + dança e que se inspira tanto nos estudos de Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari como no “Andarilho” de Nietzsche para apostar em um currículo-dançante. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar como um currículo-dançante funcionou ao se conectar a uma dança-menor no território de um currículo, seguindo alguns sons da cultura hip-hop, como o funk, a trap dance e o k-pop. Essa dança-menor com um professorar sensível e à espreita de brechas para fazer o movimento acontecer no meio de disciplinas autorizadas ensinadas nas escolas possibilitou quebrar, romper e subverter as regras, a visão de corpo e de dança de um currículo-maior. O artigo mostra, também, que, por meio dessa conexão, estudantes aprendem seguindo a linha dançante do prazer e da alegria. O argumento desenvolvido é o de que um currículo-dançante se tornou um espaço de transgressão e criação ao se conectar a uma dança-menor, enunciando corpos, dança e um currículo por vir.
... As Table 2 presents, the participants have a fairly positive perception about K-Pop. In a study by Lie (2012), people generally find the connection to the politeness, attractive appearance, and tender attitude of K-pop singers combined with the use of English Words and phrases. Similarly, a study conducted in Peru shows that K-Pop had a positive influence on the Peruvians, and has the potential to attract tourists to visit Korea (Bang, Joo, Seok & Nam, 2021). ...
Korean popular culture has spread like wildfire over the world in the last decade. This expanding popularity of Korean popular culture has been dubbed the "Korean wave." The Korean wave surged in the media, causing a rippling effect throughout the world. The main focus of this paper is to determine the level of perception and the impact of the Korean wave among students at a local university in the Philippines. This descriptive quantitative research involved 101 participants selected through a convenient sampling technique. This study shows that students have a fairly positive perception of K-pop and Korean dramas and movies. Also, there was an average extent of the impact of the Korean wave among them. The perception of the students regarding the Korean wave has led to an interest in and understanding of Korean culture. Moreover, this study will help understand the perception of university students in the Philippines about the Korean Wave phenomenon.
... Seotaiji and the Boys in 1992 emerged as resulting in a quantum leap. This was the first group that introduced rap and hip-hop to South Korean popular music (Lie, 2012). ...
This article gives insight into K-pop fans' practices from the perspective of consumption patterns to a participatory approach. Digital advancement requires reshaping strategies to persuade fans to participate for idols' good image. The article examines and explores trends of participation by fans emerging due to psycho-social needs of connectedness with idols and fan communities. The study uses a systematic review method and discusses the different ways in which fans participate in the K-pop genre of fandom. The findings highlight the importance of fan communities in digital times and how they use social media to connect with other fans to participate in fandom activities. The study concludes that K-pop strategies for fans' involvement and retaining them as enthusiastic participants are exceptional. A case study of K-pop may be taken as a complete understanding of digitized fans targeting and utilizing their energies for K-pop image building.
... Evidence of this is found in how Korean pop performances have consistently broken records of downloads, streams, and views on global streaming sites. Foreign markets, in particular, were a central focus for the K-Pop industry as they reached markets within Asia and further abroad in the U.S. Japan centric promotion of K-Pop artists such as BoA, sang in Japanese and acted like J-Pop performers (Lie, 2012). It became common for K-Pop artists to release multi-lingual content in languages, such as Korean, Japanese, and English. ...
This study demonstrates how bridges of digital intimacy were created in light of BTS’s success on a global scale, based on three pathways of digital networks, the K-pop industry, and fandom. A central critical focus is placed on how all three pathways have played their part in creating a magnetic ground for a global culture to thrive in. A multimodal critical discourse analysis of this global culture is applied to the digital and cultural transmutation in the realm of music networks. An assimilation between Manuel Castells’ concept of constructed network society and Stuart Hall’s approach on cultural resistance is performed in this study. BTS, as a counter hegemonic cultural anomaly, found a way to exist from the periphery sidelines. BTS has become a movement that has unlocked ideological secrets to a Korean Wave that has found a place for non-western, marginalized societies to bloom in a global domain of intercultural enlightenment. Keywords: BTS, fandom, ARMY, K-pop industry, network society, digital networks, critical discourse analysis, Korean Wave. https://www.communicationrr.epistelogic.com
... The Korean Wave, according to Woongjae Ryo, was a sign of new global and local changes in the cultural and economic spheres, implying that Asian countries were increasingly accepting cultural production and consumption from neighbouring countries with similar histories and cultural backgrounds, rather than from politically and economically powerful countries [5]. K-pop, according to John Lie, became such an easy "sell" to foreign customers precisely because there wasn't anything "Korean" in it [6]. In this sense, the K in K-pop was merely a brand, part of Brand Korea that had been the export-oriented South Korean government. ...
... In the late 1990s, Korean cultural agents, such as drama, films, and music, became widely popular among Asian audiences [29]. As the dramas (e.g., Winter Sonata and Dae Jang Geum) gained significant popularity, Korean content's popularity was proven, creating added value by increasing Korean visitors and culturally stimulating economic growth [30]. ...
This study examined the effect of four dimensions (i.e., the experience of education, entertainment, aesthetics, and escape) of the experience economy on participants’ attachment values toward tourism places in the context of the virtual Korean Wave experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also tested the relationship between attachment values and continuous immersion intention in virtual reality. An online survey was conducted on Asian people who experienced the Korean Wave culture, and 387 questionnaires were completed. Statistical analyses were used to establish the relationship between experiences, satisfaction, and continuous immersion intention comprising descriptive analysis, explanatory factor analyses, and multiple regression analysis. The result showed that the virtual Korean Wave (entertainment, educational, aesthetic, and escapism experience) significantly impacted participants’ attachment values. The meaningful virtual experiences would provide new insights into enhancing participants’ attachment to tourist places. There is little research examining the cultural experience and the attachment values of online users within the experience economy, despite the emergence and continuation of the novel coronavirus, which has led to many challenges in social, economic, technological, and medical systems’ lifestyles
Since its emergence in the 1990s, K-pop has constantly gained popularity and reached a wider audience. K-pop has been described as a blend of different music genres, such as pop, hip-hop, R'n’B and electronic music. However, there was Korean popular music before the rise of K-pop and not all popular music in Korea is K-pop. Using data from Spotify at the track level and exploratory data analysis tools, the paper provides an empirical analysis of the characteristics of Korean popular music since the 1990s and compares K-pop and related genres with Anglo-American pop genres in terms of acousticness, danceability, energy, speechiness and valence. While K-pop is close to the dance pop genre through its danceability, it has on average more energy and cheerfulness than Anglo-American pop. There is also more diversity in Korean popular music than suggested by the K-pop phenomenon. Finally, as K-pop became more successful, it did not become more similar in its audio features to Anglo-American pop.
The increase in research of cultural issues in International Relations reveals that the interpretations of associated concepts present many dissonances, sometimes being used in an overlapping or mistaken way. This article focuses particularly on the concepts of cultural diplomacy and soft power and conducts a critical theoretical-methodological analysis of the contents and limits of each concept’s use. To this end, we recovered the definitions offered by the literature for the concepts, contextualizing them with the political-historical intentions around their creation and use, both in their origins and today. We analyzed problems in the application of the concepts, both regarding the agents involved in its practical application and the nature and selection of the content mobilized. To contribute methodologically to future work, we elaborated possible research structures linked to both concepts.
Hundreds of millions of people globally engage with musical products distributed through services that have engendered a contentious and inadequately understood system of production, distribution, and consumption. According to some, these new communication environments enhance cultural openness and diversity, facilitating a horizon for the free exercise of collective intelligence in the spirit of participatory culture. Conversely, others contend that these developments signal a regressive drift, increasingly dominated by the conformities of commercial culture. This book undertakes a critical examination of the symbolic, political, economic, spatial, interactional, and ideological dimensions of the current media ecosystem. It includes the presentation of a number of empirical studies designed to explore the perceptions of record executives, music managers, marketing professionals, songwriters, producers, and listeners. The book aims to provide scientifically grounded responses to a question that has predominantly been confined to common discourse: is digital capitalism genuinely an ally of culture?
Audiovisual translation has been the subject of substantial scholarly inquiry, with fansubbing being recognized as a unique mode within this field. Fansubbing involves translating and subtitling of foreign videos such as films into another language by fans, rather than by licensed translators. Performing a kind of play labor, fansubbers typically do not receive monetary remuneration for their efforts. Instead, they are motivated by their fandom's satisfaction, gaining visibility and receiving likes. The concept of visibility has been subject to varying interpretations, with the first and most prominent example being Venuti's notions of visibility and invisibility. The advent of digital platforms provided translators with an opportunity to establish a digital presence and voice, which has opened up new avenues for enhancing the notion of translator's visibility. Adopting a quantitative strand of research, this study examines a corpus of 200 K-pop (Korean pop) music video subtitles translated by Iranian fansubbers, focusing on different aspects of translator's visibility across textual, paratextual, and extratextual domains. As per the study results, fansubbers exhibit a higher degree of visibility in the paratextual domain (47%), followed by the textual domain (26%) and the extratextual domain (17%). The most commonly employed strategy for enhancing visibility was mentioning social media ID before or after the subtitle content. Many other strategies were overlooked by fansubbers, either due to a lack of awareness or restrictions imposed by superiors. Different aspects of visibility identified in this study donate valuable insights for subtitlers seeking to enhance their visibility and engagement with respective communities.
Through a series of in-depth interviews, this article investigates how fans of color negotiate incidents of cultural appropriation in K-pop. Respondents employed various coping mechanisms to navigate the impact of such offenses while simultaneously grappling with the dissonance arising from negotiating alienating rhetoric and their own cultural identities. Criticism of cultural appropriation incidents was met with severe backlash, particularly exacerbating the marginalization faced by Native American fans who encountered underrepresentation and limited support. Drawing attention to the paradoxical interplay of globalization and ethnic nationalism in Korea, this research unveils a troubling cycle in which incidents of cultural appropriation in K-pop silence and render fans of color invisible within hostile environments.
The topic of Korean Pop or Kpop music is a very interesting discussion, especially among teenagers. Kpop it self has a distinctive style of song lyrics, with a mix of Korean and English, so that everyone can enjoy the song as a whole. The lyrics of the song it self contain a series of words that are produced from the form of meaning, expression or mood, about something that happens in the singer. This study aims to get an idea of what the meaning of the motivational messages contained in the song Stay Alive sung by Jeon Jungkook BTS is. This research uses descriptive qualitative method with semiotic analysis approach of Ferdinand De Saussure. The results of the study show several meanings of motivational messages contained in the song stay alive, namely always love your self, don't forget to always be grateful and fight for anything in life and accept God's destiny with a positive attitude.
Az 1990-es évek második fele óta egy olyan, napjainkban már világméretűvé vált folyamat indult el Dél-Koreában, amelyre érdemes figyelmet fordítanunk. Ez a folyamat a Hallyu, amely a dél-koreai kreatív és kulturális ipari (CCI) termékek globális elterjedését jelenti. A Hallyu kezdete óta a dél-koreai CCI vállalkozások marketing stratégiájának egyik kulcseleme a modern, online és digitális eszközök alkalmazása. A zenei tartalmak esetén például elsődlegesen az ingyenesen, könnyen hozzáférhető csatornákat (YouTube) alkalmazzák. A dél-koreai kultúra hazai fogyasztói egy nagyon szűk fogyasztói csoport, számuk a becslések szerint 30.000 fő körüli. Egy ilyen szűk fogyasztói réteg szokásainak felmérése mégis érdekes tapasztalattal szolgálhat a marketing szakemberek számára. A tanulmány célja, hogy összefoglalja az online és digitális kommunikációs eszközöket, illetve bemutassa és elemezze a fogyasztók online és digitális kommunikációját ezen speciális fogyasztói csoport, a dél-koreai filmsorozatok és popzene hazai rajongói körében. A tanulmány elméleti hátterét az online és digitális marketing, valamint a Hallyu szakirodalom elemzésre képezi. Ezt követően a „Hallyu fogyasztók” preferenciáinak elemzésével foglalkozunk egy hazai, 2022-ben végzett, a Hallyu diffúziójával kapcsolatos hazai kutatás alapján. A tanulmány összefoglalja azokat a sajátosságokat, amelyek a fent említett szubkultúra fogyasztóira jellemzőek, különös tekintettel az online és digitális kommunikációra, eszközök alkalmazására. A Hallyuban érintett vállalatok napjainkban az online eszközök alkalmazásával az egyedi tartalmak létrehozására, a fogyasztók tartalomgyártásba történő bevonására koncentrálnak. Ez a marketing módszer hazánkban is érezteti hatását, a kutatás alapján megfigyelhető a rajongók ilyen irányú tevékenysége (Shim & Gajzágó, 2023). Ezek a speciális módszerek példaként szolgálhatnak más CCI szervezetek, vállalkozások számára.
Le goût des jeunes pour la K-pop est à replacer dans le développement d’un capitalisme esthétique qui a fait de la production de marchandises esthétiques, du marketing et de la consommation de la différence les vecteurs de l’essor d’un consumérisme émotionnel et d’un cosmopolitisme esthético-culturel. Dans ce contexte, cet article interroge la réception française de la K-pop par les jeunes fans, afin de saisir les émotions cosmopolites que celle-ci leur procure et ce à quoi ces émotions leur servent. Après avoir montré dans quelle mesure les caractéristiques de la K-pop favorisent certains attachements entre les fans et leur produit d’élection, cet article (fondé sur des entretiens semi-directifs réalisées auprès 74 jeunes) met en évidence les contours de cet « amour » et ses modes de construction, avant de se pencher sur les formes d’empowerment tirées de cet attachement : se réparer, choisir un lien et réenvisager l’avenir dans un monde global.
This chapter examines Hallyu, a transnational, trans-geographical, and transcultural phenomenon, in the context of Manipur while locating the larger cultural and sociopolitical background of its emergence and popularization in the region. It will look at this subculture within Manipur by delineating certain materialities of its diffusion (K-Drama, K-Cinema, K-Pop, etc.). The main focus will be on the role played by social media (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter); a key player that has enabled newer emergent materialities of popular culture reproductions, a stage also known as Hallyu 2.0 (Hong 2013; Jin, Dal Yong. New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media, University of Illinois Press, 2016.; Lie 2012). It will situate this cultural phenomenon within the larger social media networks that enable the formation of user-generated content (UGC) through an interactive economy and fandom-generated transcultural production. Relevant case studies drawn from existing fan bases in Manipur that are actively engaged in the transcultural production of Hallyu 2.0 will demonstrate this continuing formation of subculture. This will locate the rise of digital popular cultures in Manipur through the transnational flows of cultural and popular content via social media.
Human imagination is generative and creative yet deeply rooted in culture and familiarity. Recent studies have quantified the effects of culture on stories that are imagined during music listening, but the music used in previous work was always drawn from a tradition familiar to participants from at least one of the cultures. Here we report the first study of imagined stories to music written in a musical system that is novel to participants from each culture, thus allowing for a direct comparison of narratives prompted by the same set of excerpts that is comparably unfamiliar to both groups. Music composed in the Bohlen–Pierce scale was presented to participants from two geographically defined cultures: Boston, United States and Beijing, China. We also examined how individual differences, such as in musicality and sensitivity to musical reward, might affect narrative engagement and semantic content of the imagined stories as measured by tools from natural language processing. Results showed that semantic spaces of music-evoked imaginings differed between Boston and Beijing cohorts. While both cultures were similarly engaged by the story response task, differences emerged in the semantic content of the imagined stories. Boston participants who reported being more absorbed by music wrote more unconventional stories, whereas Beijing participants who reported more emotional responses to music wrote more conventional stories. These results reveal the roles of culture and individual differences in modes of narrative engagement and imagination during music listening.
This dissertation aims to explore the evolution of Korean pop music (K-pop) and the impact and acknowledgement it has over the western culture, the exposure in social media and the audience interaction and response in the music market. The study covers over 30 years of Korean music since the beginning of the modernization of popular music in South Korea until the globalization of K-pop, worldwide success with records and awards and the inclusion of Korean artists in political affairs. The research compiled information from online websites including news and blogs, written essays, online journals, graduate dissertations, streaming platforms, video documentaries and social media. It discusses the K-pop phenomenon from its roots and the development throughout the years, classified into four generations that defined the music trends and preferences of each era and the spread of K-pop in other countries, introduced by the Korean Wave (Hallyu) in Asia. This paper brings the exploration of social issues in the Korean music industry, concerning mental health, discrimination and racism, abusive work contracts, cyberbullying and suicide. These topics have raised awareness in the Korean society to protect their artists and transform the diligent music industry, approaching a more diversified and liberating market. It suggests future outcomes with technology and the possibility to create AI idol groups that can substitute K-pop singers in the music industry.
K-Pop, short for Korean popular music, is a genre that has grown into a global phenomenon over the last few decades, influencing not only the international music scene, but also social and cultural issues that extend beyond the realm of the music industry. Apart from the various academic studies regarding its model of success, its financial contribution to Korea’s economy, and the behavioral patterns of its fandom, K-Pop offers fertile ground for semiotic research, and harbors many aspects yet to be uncovered and further examined. The current article explores the issue of Korean cultural representation and misrepresentation through KPop, by examining the two diametrically opposed perspectives within the framework of history and cultural identity. The study suggests that the divergent vantage points between the proponents of each stance consist in their understanding and interpretation of culture itself.
Many young K-Pop fans are very active in using social media so that it is indicated that it will trigger academic procrastination behavior. This study aims to find out the general description of academic procrastination in young Indonesian K-Pop fans. This study uses a quantitative research design. The subjects of this study were 400 young K-Pop fans (388 girls and 12 boys). The technique of determining the sample using nonprobability sampling technique with purposive sampling method. In this study, data measurement used the academic procrastination questionnaire which measures academic procrastination in the area of academic procrastination and the reasons for doing academic procrastination. The results showed that the picture of academic procrastination in young Indonesian K-Pop fans was in the moderate category. The results of this study are expected to provide insight and become a reference in designing guidance and counseling services to reduce academic procrastination.
We explored the need for an ecosystem approach based on relational systems when conducting research on South Korea’s cultural industry. We used Mollard’s (2009. L’ingeniere culturelle . Paris: PUF) idea of the participants in the French cultural system as a key reference and extended it to the notion of the platform , which is the core concept of South Korea’s cultural industry ecosystem (CIE). We also utilized the idea of the “semiotic square of consumption values” from Floch to explicate each platform and participant, which play a significant role in South Korea’s CIE. By defining a role rooted in the relationship and values for each subject (i.e., the production, consumption, authority, and intermediary subjects), we aimed to better understand the ecosystem of the cultural industry and focused on K-pop as a specific aspect of South Korea’s cultural sector by identifying the current identity of each participant.
The article examines an aspect of the meta-theoretical context of the renewed confrontation between the political West and Russia. A distinction is drawn between democratism, the purposive instrumentalization of democracy agendas in great power conflict, and democracy as a responsive, reflexive and participatory mechanism of popular control over government. In the post-Cold War era this gave rise to inter-democracy, the combination of NATO and the European Union as the basis for the continued predominance of Atlanticism in the political West. This served to exclude alternative security arrangements in post-Cold War Europe, notably pan-continental variants. At the same time, the political West, a constellation of power that was created during and shaped by the Cold War, advanced transdemocracy, the view that democracy was the foundation for the creation of a genuine security community. Drawing on democratic peace theory, this approach substituted democratic internationalism for the sovereign internationalism at the heart of the UN-based Charter international system established in 1945. This gave rise to a distinctive style of international politics, described as democratism in this paper. Rather than overcoming conflict, democratism serves to sharpen antagonisms and thus helped to regenerate Cold War practices and undermined the credibility of liberal internationalism itself. The blowback effects, however, should be distinguished from the continuing struggle for democracy and a style of international politics that remains true to Charter principles.
Статья посвящена сравнительному анализу влияния стриминговых сервисов (Netflix и др.) на индустрию кино и сериалов в Китае, Японии, Южной Корее и, соответственно, на ресурсы и стратегии мягкой силы этих стран. Автор рассматривает особенности и факторы успеха стриминговых сервисов в сравнении с традиционной бизнес-моделью киноиндустрии. Исследование показало, что Китай очень ограниченно сотрудничает с американскими сервисами, не предоставляет им доступ на национальный рынок и не стремится продвигать продукцию национальной киноиндустрии посредством цифровых платформ – тенденция, которую автор объясняет стремлением сохранить культурный суверенитет. Южнокорейские профессионалы индустрии кино, напротив, активно сотрудничают с Netflix, что вписывается в общую стратегию по продвижению культурной продукции страны, основанную на использовании цифровых медиа и социальных сетей как канала дистрибуции. Эта тенденция поддерживается правительством Южной Кореи в рамках национальной стратегии мягкой силы. В Японии в последние годы также интенсифицируется сотрудничество производителей аудивиозуального контента (в первую очередь анимации) и американских стриминговых сервисов, чему способствуют ситуация на внутреннем рынке японских креативных индустрий, старение населения и необходимость в диверсификации доходов. Сотрудничество с глобальными цифровыми платформами, однако, сопряжено с рисками передачи управления национальными культурными индустриями под внешнее управление, размывания культурной идентичности страны. В заключении обсуждаются проблемы, которые рассмотренная тема ставит перед исследователями, подчеркивается необходимость учитывать стратегические задачи стран при оценке эффективности их стратегий мягкой силы.
Son yıllarda dünyada ve ülkemizde hızla yaygınlık kazanan K-Pop mü-ziği, şarkıcı ve gruplarına olan hayranlık dikkat çekici hâle gelmekte ve birçok çalışmaya konu olmaktadır. Bu müzik tarzını ve gruplarını temsil eden kişilerin günlük yaşam ve hayat biçimlerinin genç kuşakların gündeminde fazlaca yer alması ve taklit edilmesi, K-Pop müziğinin araştırılmasını gerekli kılmaktadır. Dünyada ve Türkiye’de yapılan araştırmalar, K-Pop’un gençler üzerinde önemli etkileri olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Endüstriyel ve kültürel formlarla desteklenen bu akım, gençlerin dikkatini çekmekte ve hayat anlayışlarını etkilemektedir. Dinamik besteleri, hareketli dansları, masum ifadeleri, cinsiyetsiz görünüşleri, kendilerine özgü giyim kuşamları, makyajları, imajları, jest ve mimikleri ile gençleri etkileyen K-Pop şarkıcı ve gruplarının genç hayran kitlelerini nasıl etkilediklerinin ve dinî, milli ve kültürel açıdan sonuçlarının araştırılması önem arz etmektedir. Bu çalışma, fenomenolojik desende hazırlanmış ve kartopu örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen 2000 ile 2010 yılları arasında doğmuş olan 20 genç ile mülakat yapılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Analizler sonucunda veriler, gençlerin K-Pop’a ilgisi ve K-Pop’un gençler üzerindeki etkisi olmak üzere iki tema olarak tasnif edilmiştir. Çalışmada K-Pop müzik tarzının ve grup üyelerinin ergen tasavvurunda nasıl ve hangi konularda etkili olduğunu ve bu durumun din-ahlak eğitimi ve gelişimi açısından anlam ve önemini tespit etmek amaçlanmıştır. Katılımcıların K-Pop şarkıcı ve gruplarına hayran oldukları, hayat tarzlarını beğendikleri ve bu kişilerin her davranışını olumlu gördükleri müşahede edilmiştir. Duygu, davranış ve düşünceler üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiş, din-ahlak eğitimi açısından avantaj ve dezavantajları değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmanın sonunda din eğitimi açısından gençlerin fenomen ya da idol seçecekleri kişiler hakkında seçici davranmalarına yönelik öneriler verilmektedir.
Die vorliegende Untersuchung entwickelt sich aus der grundlegenden Fragestellung, ob mediale Artikulation, die sich als bewusste Explikation individueller implizit-qualitativer Erfahrungen in symbolischen Medien auszeichnet, nicht nur aus der anthropologischen bzw. bildungstheoretischen Perspektive, sondern auch aus einer machttheoretischen Perspektive interpretiert werden kann. Um diese Fragestellung zu diskutieren, werden zentrale Begriffe wie neoliberale Gouvernementalität, Selbsttechnologien aus den Spätwerken Foucaults und Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie, mediale neoliberal-gouvernementale Selbsttechnologien aus den Arbeiten von G. Franck, H. Bublitz und A. Reckwitz thematisiert. Aus dieser theoretischen Arbeit wird die zentrale These der vorliegenden Untersuchung formuliert, dass mediale Artikulation als Form der medialen neoliberal-gouvernementalen Selbsttechnologie verstanden wird. Für die empirische Überprüfung dieser formulierten zentralen These wird ein konkretes Forschungsthema ausgewählt, in diesem Fall die sogenannte „Aegyo-Inszenierung“, die man als bewusste Inszenierung des Selbst als eine niedliche bzw. kindliche Person versteht. Daraufhin werden 198 Profilbilder auf Facebook mit dem Aegyo-Repertoire von Pädagogik-Studierenden an einer südkoreanischen Universität nach dem Geschlecht des Abgebildeten klassifiziert und miteinander verglichen. Für die Geltungsüberprüfung werden sie zusätzlich mit den öffentlichen Pressefotografien weiblicher, südkoreanischer Prominenter verglichen. Durch diese empirische Untersuchung mit der Bildanalyse bzw. dem -vergleich kann resultiert werden, dass mediale Artikulation am Beispiel von Profilbildern auf Facebook als Form der medialen neoliberal-gouvernementalen Selbsttechnologie verstanden werden kann, damit jede der Abgebildeten mithilfe der Aegyo-Inszenierung soziale Aufmerksamkeit von anderen Personen im medialen Raum erregt. Dabei fungiert der Körper des jeweiligen Abgebildeten für die Aegyo-Inszenierung als Humankapital, um soziale Aufmerksamkeit zu erlangen. Zusätzlich kann aus dieser empirischen Untersuchung noch eine weitere These der vorliegenden Untersuchung formuliert werden, dass das Aegyo-Phänomen in Südkorea als ein Beispiel der ökonomisierten Transformation der tradierten idealen Weiblichkeit verstanden wird. Im Prozess der Modernisierung der südkoreanischen Gesellschaft fungieren Schwäche, Passivität, Gehorsamkeit, Niedlichkeit usw., welche jeweils als ideale Weiblichkeit in der traditionellen konfuzianischen Gesellschaft galten, immer weniger als Geschlechternorm, sondern vielmehr als Mittel für die Herstellung sozialer Aufmerksamkeit. In diesem Kontext inszenieren die weiblichen Abgebildeten sich selbst aus eigenem Antrieb als ideale Frau – nicht für die Erfüllung der tradierten Geschlechternorm, sondern um soziale Aufmerksamkeit zu erzeugen.
In the current article, I examine the continuing fascination with the outstanding success of Korean popular culture beyond national and regional borders, known as the Korean Wave or Hallyu, through the mediatized emotions of shock and surprise. More specifically, by studying emotions, I employ Erving Goffman's seminal work on stigma and its management to understand the ambivalent reception of this so-called global success. For this purpose, I follow the media coverage of Korean popular culture by one of the mainstream media stages, the New York Times, measuring the emotional tone of its 112 items between 2002 and 2021. By identifying and analyzing three major categories-(1) enchantment with a cultural "miracle"; (2) fascination with fans; and (3) disenchantment because of global success but local failure-I question the celebration of non-Western alternative cultural globalization from the margins as, by definition, an ambivalent and partial project.
Encounters involving different cultures and languages are increasingly the norm in the era of globalization. While considerable attention has been paid to how languages and cultures transform in the era of globalization, their characteristic features prior to transformation are frequently taken for granted. This pioneering book argues that globalization offers an unprecedented opportunity to revisit fundamental assumptions about what distinguishes languages and cultures from each other in the first place. It takes the case of global Korea, showing how the notion of 'culture' is both represented but also reinvented in public space, with examples from numerous sites across Korea and Koreatowns around the world. It is not merely about locating spaces where translingualism happens but also about exploring the various ways in which linguistic and cultural difference come to be located via translingualism. It will appeal to anyone interested in the globalization of language and culture.
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