The Global and the Vernacular: The Appropriation of Transnational Cultural Imagery and the Reconstruction of Cultural Identities in the Realm of Contemporary Korean Popular Music

Park, Hyunju. 2003. The Global and the Vernacular: The Appropriation of Transnational Cultural Imagery and the Reconstruction of Cultural Identities in the Realm of Contemporary Korean Popular Music. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

This thesis examines theoretical debates about cultural appropriation and postmodern plurality and hybridity in the formation of cultural identities. This is approached here through a case study of how the multiplicity of national and cultural identities are constructed in the processes of appropriating transnational popular musics, within the Korean context. On the basis of data obtained by interviewing contemporary musicians and young music enthusiasts, the thesis investigates the appropriation of global pop, mainly western pop music, within the non-Western context. In Part One, which encompasses theoretical and methodological frameworks, Chapters 2 and 3 explore the recent discourse on cultural hybridity in post-colonial studies, and wider theories of popular music, identity and locality, from a global/transnational perspective. Methodological questions are discussed in Chapter 4. Part Two contains a case study: Chapters 5,6, and 7 present an interview-based study of the contemporary Korean popular music scene, where various musicians and young music enthusiasts consume and rework imported musics from a variety of positions. Some musicians are concerned with national cultural identity and attempt to incorporate traditional Korean elements into Western musical genres; other musicians show a large degree of cosmopolitanism; and young hip hop music fans articulate their identities, through the contrasting and differentiated consumption of transnational musical products. The main themes here are the formation and transformation of Korean identities in popular music in contemporary Korea. Lastly, Chapter 8 contextualises the argument of the whole thesis and reviews its limitations within the context of recent debates on consumption and new citizenship.

Item Type:

Thesis (Doctoral)

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00028688

Keywords:

contemporary Korean popular music, Cultural Identities, hip hop, Western musical genres

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies

Date:

2003

Item ID:

28688

Date Deposited:

09 Jun 2020 09:05

Last Modified:

08 Sep 2022 12:36

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/28688

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