W5

Koreans have long believed in the myth that Korea is a homogenous nation. There is no doubt that Korea is a homogeneous nation speaking one language. I am not alone in this belief. A research shows that most of Koreans feel the same. 2000 Koreans were asked a question, ‘do you think that Korea is a homogeneous nation?’; 65.2% believe that we are a homogeneous nation. Shockingly, however, Wook Kim surveying origin of Korea commented that Korea is not a single race country, but a multi-race nation (SBS special 2006). Also Korea is not free from multicultural society anymore because of Southeast Asian women’s marriages to Koreans. Today I will explore a transnational culture associated with cultural identity, language and nationality.

In our globalised environment, there are physical flows, cultural flows and media flows. All the parts of flows affect each other and change dynamically. Transnationalization of Korean popular culture can be a good example. The term ‘transnationalism’ was coined by Koichi Iwabuchi and he used this term to mention the nationalistic ways in which the export of Japanese popular culture (JOO 2011, p. 489).

Recently K-pop concerts in Paris ended in great success. I can even feel the effects of K-pop culture because fans who have yet to see it on stage were formed flash mobs to hope more concerts (Chung 2011). The popularity of K-pop culture has truly become international. What makes Korean wave so-called ‘hallyu’ possible? That is a media such as the internet! Fans make K-pop expansion to share and reproduce music videos on YouTube and social networking sites (AHN 2011, p. 82).

 

References

AHN, S 2011, 'Girls' Generation and the New Korean Wave', SERI Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 80-86, retrieved 14 August 2012, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Chung, A 2011, ‘Book probes transnational identity of ‘hallyu’’, Korea Times, 29 July, retrieved 14 August 2012, <ttp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2011/07/142_91849.html>

JOO, J 2011, 'Transnationalization of Korean Popular Culture and the Rise of 'Pop Nationalism' in Korea', Journal Of Popular Culture, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 489-504, retrieved 13 August 2012, academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost,.

SBS special, television program, SBS, Seoul, 5 November.

Sources

kimgiza.com