KPK: Kpop Kollective houses research by Dr. Crystal S. Anderson on digital cultural studies projects, which focus on Hallyu (Korean Wave) popular culture. The research examines the hybridized nature of Hallyu cultural production, its blending of various global cultures with Korean culture and the impact of global cultures on Hallyu. She is the Editor-in Chief and Contributing Writer for the KPK: Kpop Kollective WordPress Blog, which publishes scholarly research and digital essays on Hallyu by members of KPK and provides useful information for those new to Kpop culture.
Digital Essays
Let’s Call This Song Exactly What It Is: Defining K-pop
Can We Get Some Facts,Ma’am?: Erroneous Reporting on Kpop by Maintream Media
The Unsung and the Unsaid in Kpop
An Informal Review of Sun Jung’s Korean Masculinities, Part 4, Or, Who Are You Calling a Cult?
Why I Do Kpop Even Though Chuckleheads Keep Giving Me The Side-Eye
Don’t Hate the Playa AND the Game: Recent Criticism of Kpop
Digital Humanities Projects
Hallyu Harmony: A Cultural History of Kpop (Omeka) is a digital exhibition on the cultural history of Hallyu Kpop.
iFans: Mapping Kpop’s International Fandom (Omeka) is a digital humanities project that maps the global spread of Kpop fans, collects infomation on individual fan cultures and curates artifacts created by fans in an effort to understand global fan attitudes and practices. Individuals and fan groups interested in being interviewed or contributing digital fan objects (i.e. fanmade video or fan art) should email Dr. Anderson at: kpopkollective@gmail.com.
Collaborative Projects
KPOPIANA (Exhibition Editor, Crystal S. Anderson): This Omeka site houses detailed information on artists, groups, agencies, and members of the Korean music industry collected and organized collaboratively by members of KPK. It also features content curation in special exhibits. (Coming soon)
KPK: Kpop Kollective YouTube Channel (Manager, Crystal S. Anderson) centralizes and organizes Kpop videos housed in YouTube.
Ongoing Research Studies
Using qualitative and cultural studies methods, Dr. Anderson studies born-digital materials (websites, blogs), cultural texts that migrate to digital spaces (music, videos, Kdramas, film), culture industries, industry and creative personnel (i.e. the artists) and international audiences, many of whom primarily experience Korean popular culture as a digital phenomenon.
The Korean Popular Music International Fanbases Study explores the appeal of post-1997 Korean Popular Music (Kpop) for international audiences. Dr. Anderson asserts that Kpop appeals to international audiences because of its hybridized nature, which combines elements of American (often African American) and Korean culture. Because international audiences engage Kpop in a mostly digital format, they form digital communities, discourses and cultures. Her research fills a void in the current body of knowledge of global popular music and culture by interrogating fanbases for Kpop outside of East Asia. See Hallyu Kpop Survey.
The Korean Drama International Audiences Study explores the appeal of contemporary popular Korean television dramas (Kdramas), 2005-present and how international non-Korean speaking audiences understand them. Dr. Anderson assert that Kdramas of all genres (historical, romantic comedy, comedy, melodrama, action) appeal to a variety of global audiences of both genders. In focusing on international audiences and a variety of Kdrama genres, this project fills a void in the current scholarship on Kdramas, which tends to focus almost exclusively on modern melodramas. See Hallyu Kdrama Survey.
This research has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Elon University, North Carolina, United States. If you would like to see the IRB documentation for this project, click here. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a research subject, you may contact the Chairman of the IRB, Stephen Bailey at baileys@elon.edu or 336-278-6431.
Hallyu Survey Results
Hallyu Kpop Survey Results: Favorite Kpop Groups (As of 8/8/11)
Hallyu Survey One and Two Kpop Results (As of 8/8/11)
Hallyu Kpop Survey One and Two Results (As of 6/15/11)
Hallyu Kpop Survey One Results (As of 5/28/11)
Hallyu Kpop Survey Two Results (As of 5/28/11)
Institutional Review Board Approval
- IRB Addendum for Research Subjects 16 and Over: KIFIRBAddendum
- IRB Revised Application: KIFKpopIRBReSub
- Consent Form (18 and over): KIFconsentform, KIFconsentform2
- Assent Form (16-17): KIAassentform
- IRB Addendum for Research Subjects 16 and Over: KIAIRBAddendum
- IRB Revised Application: KIAKdramaIRbReSub
- Consent Form (18 and over): KIAconsentform, KIAconsentform2
- Assent Form (16-17): KIAassentform
Addendum Letter to IRB: Addendum to Kpop and Kdrama IRB Applications
9 comments
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April 12, 2012 at 10:28 am
tadiwa mutongwizo
i want to do my dissertation on kpop on the globalisation or westernisation of Kopop but i have no idea what to iclude …..the ideas that I have so far are advertising endorsements, hybridization, fandom, Korea before Kpop … copmparisons please help
April 14, 2012 at 10:25 am
KDK
Hi Tadiwa, please check your email – thanks for stopping by!
April 15, 2012 at 11:26 am
CeeFu
Tadiwa,
We are so pleased that you are considering undertaking a dissertation project on Kpop and globalization. Trena has already emailed you, but I’d like to reiterate that I’d be happy to help you also with methodology, relevant theories or outside readers. Hwaiting!
April 16, 2012 at 10:31 am
Tadiwa
Hi, Kpop Kollective Team
Thank you so much for your helpful email I have replied back to the email from Kaetrena with my proposal ideas. I was an exchange student in Korea last semster and I’m very interested in the globalisation of Kpop. Once again thanks ^^
April 20, 2012 at 4:21 am
Brady
Hi i live in Australia, and I am doing my HSC major work on the globalisation of K-Pop and the rise of international popularity of K-Pop, so I was wondering if you could send me some information too!
So far I have conducted a questionnaire and focus group to pinpoint which demographic(s) of people K-Pop is most popular with and analysing why. But I am I am also interested in finding out how the internet, media, globalisation, immigration, hybridisation, etc. have been driving forces behind the K-Pop phenomenon.
I have found it incredibly difficult to find any information on these, so please help me, any information at all that you guys could send me would be appreciated so much!!!
May 1, 2012 at 2:43 pm
emselinger
Hi! Just sent an email to your contact address–I’m the editor of an interdisciplinary journal focused on romantic love in global popular culture (http://jprstudies.org), and just discovered the amazing world of K-pop. Would LOVE to get some submissions on K-Pop romance, both for the journal and for our upcoming international conference at York University, UK. So glad I found your site!
May 24, 2012 at 8:51 pm
catherina
Hello!, i’m a student of sociology in Chile and i have to do a presentation for my course of social comunication about sociological comunication theories, cultural studies and medias (and new medias) so i chose k-pop in orden to apply that content, and also because hallyu has reached even my country, so i’m looking for papers, studies, and whatever information that can be useful for my presentation, is more a theorical frame than an empirical study.
i wish you could help me
thank you
catherina
June 19, 2012 at 12:15 am
anthony yooshin kim
hello! i’m a doctoral student in socal who studies different waves of korean/american performance (with respect to the postwar afterlives of national division, military dictatorship, and capitalist development)… as well as someone who grew up listening to the ‘golden age’ of kpop during the ’90s. i’m glad i found your site! it’s great resource.
June 21, 2012 at 8:18 pm
CeeFu
Hi! Thanks for commenting on the site. It’s great to see more people doing work on Korean cultural production (and listening to Kpop!). Check your email for an opportunity you may be interested in!