Becoming Korean: K-pop idol culture and the rise of soft power in Iran

成为韩国人：韩国流行偶像文化与伊朗软实力的崛起

• 批准号: 2876443
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2876443
• 关键词: Becoming; Korean; pop; idol; culture

This study examines practices of K-pop music listening among Iranian fans and the emergence of Iranian fandom in a globalized context at the intersection of global Islam and Korean soft power. I propose that Iranian fans of K-pop constitute a new counter-public in Iran today, one that focuses on listening, analysis, comparison, and knowledge production, which generates methods of expression among fans.The post 1979 revolutionary Iranian government gender segregates and monitors public spaces. Surveillance occurs through the politicisation and control of art, music, women, Gen-Z/teenagers and social activities. However, the government permits certain media, including Korean popular culture. At South Korean funded Sejong Institutes, for instance, Iranian women gather to study the Korean language and consume Korean media. Ensuing discussions compare K-pop with other popular music in Iran. Contrary to common understandings of K-pop as simply derived from Western models, these listeners find linkages with Iranian, Turkish and Arab popular music.These discussions continue in online spaces that fall betwixt-and-between government surveillance. Although the government blocks most social media platforms, the Iranian counter-public uses filterbreakers to access these platforms to connect with each other and worldwide communities of K-pop fans. Placing Iran within flows of global popular culture that sits entirely outside of the West, cultivates new forms of expression that do not depend on Western influence-a stance that enables safety in a location where the West is deemed an enemy.Extant scholarship on K-pop primarily focuses on the organisation of K-pop industry (Shin 2009; Lei 2012; Park 2013; Fuhr 2017), the spread of Korean cultural products (Oh 2014; Yoon 2017), and connections to Western models (Jung 2006; Fuhr 2017). Fandom studies examine East Asia and the West, focusing on cultural hybridity (Yoon 2017) and the social identities of fans (Keshin-Binark 2021). This project examines the growth of K-pop within the Iranian society for which no scholarship exists, and also offers innovative conclusions about the listening and analytical practices of K-pop in the making of a vibrant counter-public both online and offline. In the spirit of decolonising scholarship and decentring Western ideas, this project places global Korea and the agency of young Iranian women at its centre.Research questionsHow do Iranian counterpublics emerge through K-pop listening practices? How do practices of taste emerge from K-pop listening and how identities are reshaped in new taste groups?How might the case of Iranian listening practices offer novel insights into Korean popular music and movie studies away from a Euro American centred focus? How might analysis in social media settings build new fan bases?MethodologyThe project utilizes virtual ethnography to study fan communities. I will track Instagram and Telegram particularly, due to popularity with Iranian fans. I will engage with Iranian websites and forums providing Korean media. If safe, I will undertake several weeks of fieldwork in Tehran and Isfahan to visit Korean language institutes where K-pop fans meet. I will study the musical intersection between Iranian and Kpop music and understand how Iranian audiences hear familiarity in K-pop.

本研究考察了伊朗粉丝收听K-pop音乐的做法，以及在全球伊斯兰教和韩国软实力交汇的全球化背景下伊朗粉丝的出现。我认为，韩国流行音乐的伊朗粉丝构成了今天伊朗的一个新的反公众，一个专注于倾听，分析，比较和知识生产的人，这在粉丝中产生了表达方式。1979年革命后的伊朗政府性别隔离和监控公共空间。监视通过政治化和控制艺术、音乐、妇女、Z世代/青少年和社会活动而发生。但是，政府允许某些媒体，包括韩国流行文化。例如，在韩国资助的世宗学院，伊朗妇女聚集在一起学习韩语并消费韩国媒体。随后的讨论将K-pop与伊朗的其他流行音乐进行了比较。与人们普遍认为韩国流行音乐只是源自西方模式的理解相反，这些听众发现了与伊朗、土耳其和阿拉伯流行音乐的联系。这些讨论在政府监控的网络空间中继续进行。虽然政府封锁了大多数社交媒体平台，但伊朗的反公众使用过滤器访问这些平台，以相互联系，并与世界各地的K-pop粉丝社区联系。将伊朗置于完全不受西方影响的全球流行文化潮流中，可以培养不依赖西方影响的新的表达形式--这一立场可以在一个被西方视为敌人的地方实现安全。现有的K-pop学术研究主要集中在K-pop产业的组织上（Shin 2009; Lei 2012; Park 2013; Fuhr 2017），韩国文化产品的传播（Oh 2014; Yoon 2017）以及与西方模特的联系（Jung 2006; Fuhr 2017）。同人圈研究考察了东亚和西方，重点关注文化混杂（Yoon 2017）和粉丝的社会身份（Keshin-Binark 2021）。该项目研究了K-pop在伊朗社会中的发展，没有奖学金存在，并提供了关于K-pop在在线和离线制作充满活力的反公众方面的倾听和分析实践的创新结论。本着非殖民化学术和西方思想分散的精神，这个项目将全球韩国和年轻伊朗妇女的机构置于其中心。品味的实践如何从K-pop收听中产生，以及身份如何在新的品味群体中重塑？伊朗人的听力实践如何为韩国流行音乐和电影研究提供新的见解，而不是以欧美为中心的焦点？社交媒体环境中的分析如何建立新的粉丝群？该项目利用虚拟民族志研究球迷社区。我会特别关注Instagram和Telegram，因为它们在伊朗粉丝中很受欢迎。我将与提供韩国媒体的伊朗网站和论坛进行接触。如果安全的话，我将在德黑兰和伊斯法罕进行几周的实地考察，参观韩国流行音乐爱好者聚会的韩语学院。我将研究伊朗和韩国流行音乐之间的音乐交叉点，并了解伊朗观众如何在韩国流行音乐中听到熟悉感。