Asian Popular Culture the Global Dis continuity

Abstract

The chapter provides an overview of the volume by situating the Korean culture wave in South Asia. It elaborates the conceptual underpinning of transcultural flow in the age of globalization. Authors pointed out the lack of empirical research to understand the fandom, subculture and transcultural communication in the disciplinary domain of media, culture and communication in South Asia. Moving beyond the typical cultural studies approach to study media, youth and cultural texts, this chapter invites interdisciplinary approaches to capture the contemporary media practices. The chapter also outlines the chapters and thematic purview of the book.

The past four decades have witnessed continuous theorizing of the 'global' and the 'local' with a view to assess the renewed configurations in the spheres of politics, economy and culture in the world (Hamelink 2002; Held et al. 2000; Hirst and Thompson 1999; Robertson 2001). Most of these discussions centre around a vertical axis following either a top-down model originating from the Global North to the Global South or the reverse. Scholars have been trying to assess the different strands of globalization unleashed by neoliberal policies and practices that have been embraced by various nation-states in the world. Transcultural flow appears as the communicative consequence of media globalization. Media and cultural communication in the age of globalization is intimately and inherently linked to the aspects of network and flow (Castells 2000; Hepp 2013; Thussu 2006). Andreas Hepp approaches transcultural communication as an action-oriented or practice-based concept for media and communication studies that helps in exploring the burgeoning global connectivity of media and culture. The framework of transcultural communication not only helps in moving beyond the cross-cultural studies and comparative media studies but also provides a renewed methodological orientation which is not limited by empirical nationalism (Couldry and Hepp 2012; Hepp 2015; Robins 2006). As the region South Asia no longer remains at the periphery of the globalized media culture with its dynamic growth, dramatic transformation and diverse set of cultural artefacts and mediated phenomena, its complex fields of media and communication culture seek rigorous scholarly attention (Banaji 2011; Udupa and McDowell 2017). Transcultural approach may benefit the scholarly inquiry to map the South Asian media cultures and understand the changing mediascapes of contemporary South Asia (Roy 2021). Suffices to say that the digital interventions and the Internet culture have added a significant dimension to the South Asian media cultures. Along with the transcultural approach, scholars have found the intermedial approach effective in situating South Asia in the global digital culture and remediation of public culture across South Asia in the age of the Internet (Punathambekar and Mohan 2019). The case of the Korean wave in South Asia has enabled us to delve deeper into the mediated culture from an approach of transcultural and intermedial communication approach while examining the digital platforms, fandom and subcultural practices.

The Korean wave is a unique phenomenon that has challenged the conventional notions of globalization and the terms of debates on the transcultural flow of music. It has aroused fascination with the melodies and the artists continue to open new transnational horizons for people in the South Asian region. The Korean wave is not only shaping images of the region but also driving cultural tourism across the region. The interpretations of intensified musical and cultural globalization in South Asian societies are also changing as knowledge institutions are themselves transformed by globalization. There is a perpetual aspiration of the local people of South Asia to catch up with the global and modern culture and economy. It makes a ground for the global and Western media elements to enter into the South Asian societies with great force. The question arises, whether the entry of these media forms is well articulated by the logic of global cultural flow? It is pertinent to examine the interface between local and global and eventually the interactive dynamics of traditional and modern. Anthony Fung (2013) argues for the long-term appeal of global media elements among 'the Asian consumers who aspire to "catch up" to global trends and modernity' (Fung 2013: 4). Nevertheless, there are simultaneous forces and actions of the local meanings, market and mediation that keep challenging the global media culture. Often, the global popular cultures are localized and adapted with dynamic modification, hybridization and co-creation. Therefore, it is pertinent to examine how these local forms of media culture are formed and circulated in a particular context. Further, it is important to understand how the global and local forms are negotiated to be sustained and mediated through popular media. Finally, to comprehend the overall complexity, it is imperative to delve into the context-based media practices and illustrate the complex dynamics of everyday media culture in South Asia.

Korean Cultural Wave in South Asia: Quest for an Empirical Mapping

Hallyu or Korean wave was introduced by the Chinese media in the 1990s and it eventually gained popularity across the globe. Scholars have considered the Korean wave as a counter-current of cultural globalization taking a framework of regionalization and transcultural flow. An unprecedented craze for Korean popular music videos, TV drama, movies, food and fashion made the K-phenomenon a global phenomenon at the outset of the twenty-first century (Jung 2011; Kuwahara 2014). Since the inception, Hallyu has a twofold perspective: socio-cultural and politico-economic. Although it has evolved from the clash between these two, one needs to understand the significant crosscurrent between culture and economy on which the Hallyu wave proliferated. The Korean wave or Hallyu has been critically evaluated by scholars as an economic phenomenon emerging in a certain political context and responding to the aftermaths of the cold war, postcolonialism, cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism and finally resulting in various socio-cultural implications at the regional and global level (Jin 2019; Shim 2006; Walsh 2014; Yoon and Jin 2017). Many scholars read Hallyu as a strategic model for exercising soft-power, fostering diplomacy and commercial ventures of South Korea. However, in this book, we have engaged with the cultural aspects of the mediated phenomenon of K-wave. Our interest, here, lies in understanding the interactive dynamics between media, culture and society. Formation of fandom, motivation of the youth, creation of subculture and co-creation of the cultural and mediated elements remain suggestive of the need to highlight the cultural aspects of K-Wave. Moreover, the questions of transcultural flow, cross-cultural media practices, localized media trends and mediatized fan culture in the digital age sought due attention in the studies of media and communication culture. An empirical basis is indispensable to produce any substantial knowledge on contemporary media practices, digital culture and participation of the youth in forming subcultural trends within the scope of social science. One can contribute to the promises of the interdisciplinary approach of social sciences by taking the new challenges of exploring the intersection of transcultural media practices, subculture and digital communities. In this volume, therefore, we have paid due attention to gather empirical materials as to how the Hallyu wave with its cultural and mediated forms entered the South Asian societies, inspired the digital generation and prompted the questions of identity, values, aspirations, adaptation, convergence and co-creation of media culture.

K-pop, Fandom and Intermediality

K-pop has extended beyond the geo-cultural boundaries and has been regularly followed by a large number of global fans. It exemplifies a typical fan-based transnational flow of youth culture that transcends racial, cultural and/or linguistic proximities with the help of new media (Wood 2017). This is a typical genre of pop music widely known for its boy/girl bands ('idols') and their signature dance performances and music videos. This music genre has been increasingly recognized beyond Asia. Scholars highlight that the popularity of K-pop has grown exponentially among young fans across continents during the first decade of the twenty-first century (Choi 2014; Han 2017; Jin 2016; Oh 2017). The Internet culture globally and particularly the age of digital convergence have facilitated fan activism vividly (Jenkins 2006) that includes the feelings of belonging and power, enthusiasm to bring change either by raising a collective voice or participating in some fan activities both in the virtual and social worlds. Jung (2012) indicated some of the complex consequences too that include cybervigiliantism, othering and discrimination from ethnic and gender aspects. The term fancom a shortened version of 'fan company' was coined and used by the critics of online fan groups of K-Pop (Gray 2003; Jung 2012). According to Jung (2012), the participatory activism online by K-pop fans have the potential to negatively impact the overall decision-making process of the users as well as consumers but one cannot undermine the role of fans in generating diverse voices, meaningful interactions and positive deliberations.

The flow of K-Pop and recognition in the mainstream media across the globe paved the way to grow the network fan bases who have found social media platforms handy (Brusila 2001; Han 2017). Scholars started paying attention to the discourses on transnational cultural flow, cross-border media and cultural practices beyond the West. As Morimoto (2017) has noted that fan studies lack insight and empirical data to generalize transnational flows of non-western cultural text. Iwabuchi (2010) provides a critical view on the transnational fan studies and states that the spread of fandom in the non-western nation-states are not to be romanticized while the lack of interest in exploring the complex process and practices of fans in relation to various new media and culture is alarming. Chin and Morimoto (2013) discussed the possibilities of developing the theory of transcultural fandom and highlighted the significance of locating fandom across the national borders. An approach of transcultural communication to study fandom situates the fans into the cross-cultural flow, mediated moments and subcultural practices while the national belonging and cultural loyalty may not dominate as key indicators. In Chin and Morimoto's words,

This is not to say that the nation is unimportant, but rather that it is but one of a constellation of possible points of affinity upon which transcultural fandom may be predicated. Nation-based differences or similarities may well appeal to people across borders; but so, too, might affective investments in characters, stories, and even fan subjectivities that exceed any national orientation. (2013: 99)

Harrington and Bielby (2005) analysed media texts within local cultural frames to understand the fandom and showed how the transcultural media flow affects the pleasure and identity formation of the fans. A closer look at such localized fan activities, engagement with various cross-cultural media texts, production and distributing, the temporal and geographic gaps between various ends enriched the transcultural fan studies (Allison 2006; Han 2017; Napier 2007; Shim and Noh 2012). Taking the Latin American context into consideration Benjamin Han (2017) argues that K-pop evolved as a subculture that transforms into transcultural fandom via digital mediation. He highlights the role of the Internet and new media along with the satellite broadcasting and traditional media practices. He notes,

In considering the popularity of K-pop in Latin America as a transcultural fandom, one must consider the conflating issues of diplomacy, economy, migration, and media exchange that have resulted in crystallizing K-pop as a digitally mediated intermedial and intertextual fandom in conjunction with other media genres and formats. More significantly, K-pop gets accommodated into mainstream culture via digital fan activism that further gets distributed through legitimate media distribution platforms. (2017: 2265)

As we see and experience the convergence of media culture in South Asia, it is imperative to discuss the aspects of intermediality in exploring the fandom. In our explorations into the K-pop fandom in South Asia, we do not read and analyse the exclusive media forms and communication norms of Hallyu, rather investigate multiple processes of mediation, interrelations between platforms, practices and public. Plurality, diversity in networking and the interactive dynamic between media platforms remain core concerns in the approach of intermediality (Fornäs 2002). Nikunen (2007) provides an extensive review of the intermedial practices of fandom and draws the necessary connection with media convergence. Intermediality remains as the building block of the theory of intertextuality that comes in handy in analysing the new media and Internet culture. According to Nikunen, there has been a dearth of empirical research or theoretical engagement in the domain of fandom studies from a viewpoint of intermediality. She points out the necessity to follow various connections and relations constructed within the fan cultures which will enable us to capture the emergence of interpretative communities. In her words,

The concept of intermediality enables us to examine among other things what kind of audience practices are connected with certain media and why these particular media are related. Fan studies provide interesting cases for the investigation of intermediality since the multiple uses of media are an essential part of fan cultures. (Nikunen 2007: 114)

A comprehensive and intensive engagement with fandom and fan culture takes one to the domain of audience practices and cultural practices of the mediated community. When Jenkins (2003a, 2003b, 2006) sees that the fans form the mediated core and thus there has been a fanification of audiences, others look at the formation of translocal community by the audiences and their mediated communication (Hepp 2015; Hepp et al. 2014). Hepp (2015) calls it 'translocal communitization' where affiliation, affective and subjective actions and collective self-identification are defining factors (Hepp 2015). In the context of globalized media culture, the translocal communitizations are maintained by 'communication communities' who are not necessarily using an exclusive platform or medium for communication. According to Hepp (2015: 209),

Translocal communitizations are of great interest from the point of view of transcultural communication. It is possible, for example, that local communitizations become transcultural through migration or the appropriation of 'foreign media products'. But it is primarily in translocal mediatizing communities that processes of transculturation become evident.

With the practices and modalities of participation in relation to a particular media culture, in this context the Korean popular culture, a translocal mediatization has been activated by the K-fandom in South Asia. The creative expressions and affective roles helped them to make their presence felt within the horizontal cultural flow in the age of media globalization. Provocatively enough, the popularity of K-pop in South Asia and the growing Hallyu fandom across the region made us curious to explore the conceptual threshold of subculture, popular culture and music in this context.

Subculture, Music and Globalization

Not surprisingly, there has been an enduring debate regarding the conceptual clarity of subculture in the disciplinary domains of sociology and social anthropology. In their attempt to rethink subculture, Gary Fine and Sherryl Kleinman (1979) proposed an interactionist framework to conceptualize subculture. According to them, it is not only the set of cultural behaviours, artefacts and values of a defined group but also the exchange of cultural elements, creative explorations and negotiation of the cultural forms, identification within and beyond the group and interaction in the interlocking group networks. There has been ethnographic attempt to study youth and popular culture from the vantage point of subculture. An engaged ethnographic research was conducted by Steve Readhead (1997) who highlighted the development of distinctive youth subculture in the late 1970s and early 1980s that was later on supplemented by dance 'club culture'. He has also indicated the role of socio-political and economic conditions, existing social factors that play a significant role in shaping the youth subculture. Pop music has a defining role in formatting the fandom and prompting subcultural activities.

A dearth of scholarly knowledge is clearly evident in South Asia in the way the Internet and new media have motivated, multiplied and manipulated the consumers of popular music. The scholarship on new media and South Asian popular culture is often qualified by the diaspora communities and their subcultural practices (Mitra 1997, 2005; Murthy 2010). One such ethnographic study was conducted online to capture the formation and practices of diasporic Pakistani music subculture on the Internet by Dhirjar Murthy (2010). Taking the particular case of 'Taqwacore' a transnational Muslim punk music scene, Murthy (2010) examines the role of the Internet and various social media platforms in the growing South Asian musical subcultures. He highlighted the social and symbolic functions of ritual behaviour online by the fans and followers that make the social world meaningful and thereby validate the subculture. Indeed, music became the quality of an experience based on corporeality, sensuality and imagination. K-pop and its fandom in South Asia has contributed to the creative construction of a youth and music subculture that expresses especially a certain music taste and a common creation act around this music consumption. Explorations into this new form of music culture or K-pop subculture led to the discovery of new cultural geographies, new modalities of transnational tourism and media communication. For sociological analysis of emotion, embodiment, formation of collective and everyday culture, the value of musical experience and contexts is remarkable. DeNora (2008) identifies music as the material of social ordering and social imagination while highlighting the importance of capturing the social life of this sonic medium. In order to understand the socio-cultural life of the youth and their emotive impulses towards contemporary subcultural practices, social researchers must pay attention to the sonic culture and socio-musical analysis wherein K-pop is just one case in point. According to DeNora (2008: 158)

socio-musical analysis, at least in its current configurations, draws attention to the aesthetic dimension in social life and social ordering, the non-cognitive, emotional and sensate bases of action as produced in relation to, in this case, musical materials. By examining situated examples of music as it 'gets into' social experience it is possible to illuminate the real-time and spatially located formation of sociology's generic concern with order and action—including the social and technological relations of that formation.

While research on culture and globalization in the South Asian region has proliferated since the 1990s, music studies continue to be dominated by what has long been known as methodological nationalism in sociology (Beck 2000; Martins 1974). Conversations about transnational musical connections in the region have historically been framed by monolithic and mythical narratives of nation-specific identities, emotional culture and nature, energized by music's powerful connection with space and the visual. The wide international appeal of these artists demonstrates that the idea of Korean wave music is powerful in popular culture. It is so powerful that it transcends the deeply rooted national structures in the region. This is not fully recognized in the existing literature, however, cultural unity is still a key priority in the South Asian region that has not yet adopted an explicit self-reflexive agenda and has not distanced itself from essentialist ideas of South Asian identity. In a globalizing society where migrations, reborderings and complex media circulations constitute the nature of South Asian media cultures, scholars, too, need to look beyond self-narration.

Globalization is an important context for understanding the significance of popular music in South Asian societies today. The impact of global media flow and economic formations are strongly felt in popular music and its continuing differentiation along the international dimensions of modernity. In many societies, music's significance has declined in traditional rituals and evolved in popular culture rituals and media practices. Music continues to enable and calibrate emotions, identities and cultural geographies within capitalism and processes such as urbanization, globalization and mediatization. The term 'popular music' is not without its problems. It is embedded in histories of entrenched cultural hierarchies and is such a broad label that it often becomes reductive, implying a false sense of totality. The term had an important role in the development of popular music studies as an international discursive community, empowering it to create a space for popular music in academia but also to later become a technocratic arm of neoliberal higher education. Appadurai and Breckenridge (1995) highlighted the complexities of using adjective terms popular and mass with culture as the public culture is not well-defined in South Asia. The cosmopolitan consumption and modern media technology continue to shape the public culture that begun in the late twentieth century in the region.

This volume challenges the reduction of popular music studies and the humanities more generally to a mere professional practice by exploring music's potential to complicate ideology, voice difference and challenge normative views of social worlds far beyond the sphere of music itself. As a piece of humanist scholarship, the book has both the freedom and the obligation to look beyond the popular narratives of soft-power, cultural diplomacy, fandom and marketing. The absence of the word 'popular' in the title of this volume is the result of a conscious decision to welcome non-specialist readers and to counter the compartmentalization of popular music in academic discourse and in social life more generally. The volume thus reflects the current expertise and interests in the field while recognizing the asymmetries and gaps that became clear in the process. The situation begs for more expertise in communicating local and national cultures in translocal and international discourse and for a rethinking of the broader relationship between musical scholarship and society. A necessary element in this process is a reflexive collaboration with scholars outside the region and with local stakeholders within and outside the academia. The latter was common in the pioneering popular music research. That community engaged broadly with interests in the wider community in a way that has since become rare. A weak connection with musical life has severe implications for the knowledge production and legitimacy of musical scholarship.

Few concerns are vital for South Asian scholarship on media and communication culture in the age of globalization to either pay attention to the musical life of the youth or the creative construction of communities in the contemporary digital world. First, in the disciplinary tradition of humanities and social sciences we lack a comprehensive dialogue to generate effective tools and frameworks (methodological and conceptual) to capture the complexities of contemporary culture and society. Second, which is as a consequence of the previously mentioned lack, in the practical realm we lack confidence and motivation to study youth subculture, subcultural identity, transcultural flow and fandom networks in the globalized and mediated South Asia. It is difficult to claim to have a historical trajectory of South Asian fandom of media. With the new media and Internet culture, the fandom networks are much active and expressive in contemporary societies. However, it is not difficult to assume the role of broadcasting culture, particularly radio and satellite television or cassette culture and VCR culture to contribute in forming fandom network in South Asian countries across the border. Lack of systematic and empirical endeavours to capture such cultural practices certainly created a void in the media and communication research to understand media fandom and fan culture in the region. There might not be an immediate remedy to this, however, a continuous effort to conduct empirical research, a substantial engagement in sonic and scopic analysis of the cultural life, enabling the transcultural communication approach would be beneficial for the scholarship. Furthermore, we can pay close attention to what Ien Ang (2008) advised the cultural studies analysts to push the disciplinary boundaries for capturing the cultural complexities effectively. She refers to the interesting example from Latin American cultural anthropologist Néstor García Canclini who indicated the challenge of transdisciplinary possibilities within social sciences to study the hybrid culture and notes 'The anthropologist arrives in the city by foot, the sociologist by car and via the main highway, the communications specialist by plane. Each registers what he or she can and constructs a distinct and, therefore, partial vision' (García 1995: 4). Ang (2008) advocated for using all the modes, means and mediums for reaching the target.

Digitalization, Mediated Identity and Youth

Digital media and technology have arguably changed the ways of life. James A. Dewar and Peng Hwa Ang illustrated the cultural consequences of the Internet and argued that it brought the truly 'any-to-many' or 'many-to-many' communication for the first time (Dewar and Ang 2007, 365–369). Since the print capitalism and eventual emergence of broadcasting media, there has been a culture of 'one-to-one' and 'one-to-many' communication. According to them, modern societies would go through various transformations with the advent of digital technology. Ravi Sundaram pointed out the dramatic changes in global governance due to the seamlessness of media use with the transition from old media to new media systems (Sundaram 2011: 183–202). The complexities in everyday life and culture multiplied with the arrival of the smartphone and public internet use. In Asia, the leading role of China, Korea and Japan in accessing and utilizing digital technologies helped in unravelling the significance of policy adaptation and social cohesion. How society reacted and responded to the emergence of the Internet and new media culture? What are the socio-cultural consequences of digital drive in Asia? Fostering economic growth and broader social progress, the Internet culture flourished in China, Japan and South Korea since the 1990s. The social impacts were judged by these societies since the mid-1990s when the public access to the Internet was available and online activities of children and youth started worrying the parents. For example, the addiction of playing online games and spending excessive time in internet cafés worried the parents and policymakers of China in the late 1990s.

The pace of growth of modern technology, telecommunication and the progress of satellites was enormous in Asia. With the ever-expanding media globalization and high aspiration towards information and communication technology, Asian societies entered into a complex situation of mediation. The Asian mediascape offered a complex trope because, on the one hand, it had to accommodate the dominant values and traditions, on the other hand, it sought to embrace the modern content and global technologies. The consistent confrontation and negotiation between values and desires, local and global, classic and modern have shaped and accelerated media practices in Asia. Especially the democratic transformation and socio-economic growth in the Asian region have been facilitated by the digital media circulation (Thussu 2006: 10–22; Fung 2013: 114). East Asian countries such as Japan and Korea took leadership in developing the infrastructure for high-speed internet and flourishing a digital society. The beginning of new millennia has marked a significant explosion of digital media. For instance, in the case of Korea the special attention towards IT (information technology) industry helped the country to overcome the economic crises of the late 1990s (Hijorth 2008: 203–205). Internet and smartphone culture has been highly influential in facilitating the Korean democracy since 2000 (West 2002; Kim 2003). In the post-2005 period, the reach of digital media all over Asia with high pace and effect brought tremendous changes in the traditional societies and cultural practices. All the countries aimed at fostering a digital society by setting up the goals for implementing e-commerce, e-governance and secure an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based development. The endeavour of making 'Digital Bangladesh', 'Digital India' or 'Digital China' is the supreme priority at this historical juncture of Asia (Shoesmith and Genilo 2013; Bhuiyan 2013).

The socio-cultural dynamic of media use is worth researching in the context of Asia. With the forces of globalization and transcultural flow, there is a great turn in the realm of popular culture and media practices in Asian societies. As Nissim Otmazgin puts it, 'globalization and economic development have reinforced East Asian cities' and citizens' connections to global markets, sources of capital and information, and transnational flows of popular culture' (Otmazgin 2014). The realities are not so different in other parts of Asia as far as media globalization is concerned. The impact of globalized media culture and transcultural flow bring a flux in the everyday life of the people. It is not simply the flow and effect of Western media but the Japanese and Korean media commodities played a crucial role in shaping the modern media terrain of South and Southeast Asian countries. Since the late 1990s, there has been a considerable entrance of East Asian media elements into the neighbouring societies and to some extent to the South Asian societies.

Youth culture beholds a greater value in the consumer culture as the market economy often commodifies the culture targeting the youth. Since the logic of consumer culture is to attract a greater mass by advertising and ensuring a product in exchange for the lowest cost, many cultural products were re-produced to trigger the youth for cultural consumption. Therefore, music, fashion and other cultures selected from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are presented again in different forms so that today's youth has an opportunity to experience all of these cultural and artistic trends of the recent past within the same time frame. To reinforce this strategy, large varieties of products must be generated and smaller consumer groups must be formed for each content item in the planning regarding subcultures. Today's subcultures are formed with a structure to aid the individuals to find the content most appropriate to their desires and needs and, therefore, to satisfy them both aesthetically and in terms of other senses and to improve the relationship of cultures with life.

The formation and transformations of identity in relation to media practices are significant aspects in order to comprehend the media culture at the regional level. The growing popularity of K-Pop among teenagers, Korean movies and dramas among the youth of Bangladesh and other South Asian countries is one of the clues of regional media flow. The burgeoning influence of Korean films on the Indian film industry should not be considered an isolated case. These phenomena owe to the trend of regional media circulation in contemporary Asia. This volume intends to unearth the complex dynamics of creating new connections and carting new identities by the individuals who live in a value-oriented and media-saturated society. The question of identity is crucial because media at once influences the shaping and reshaping of the identity of individuals and works as mediums of manifesting self-identity. Furthermore, by entering into the media world the individuals subscribe to a new identity position—a member of the mediated society.

Conceptual Organization of the Book

This book is organized conceptually along three dimensions—Identity, Fandom and Culture. These three dimensions are explored in the context of mediated and musical experiences in the evolving transnational dynamics of South Asia.

This book represents an evolution in this disciplinary formation. Many of the chapters analyse the cultural and social dimensions of musical practices and discourses, drawing inspiration from cultural and social theory for contextualizing musicology, fandom studies and youth and media studies. They adopt a social science approach by analysing music within broader social processes, framing the analysis by theories of society, economy or geography, for instance.

In the first section, questions pertaining to identity formations and transitions with expanding media practices have been dealt with at length. Chapters under this section are centred around the theme of identity and politics. This section conceptualizes the growing popularity of K-phenomenon in contemporary South Asia along with the advancement of media technologies and prospering social networks emerging in new forms of identities. The chapters bring in instances of identity politics rooted in the aspiration of the current socio-cultural milieu surrounding the K-Wave. The authors put together their empirical cases to understand the trajectories and modalities of K-phenomenon. At the same time, the chapters examine how globalization and information flow influence the teens and the youth of a particular society.

Steven Kim in his chapter has elaborated the quest of Hallyu 2.0 to achieve mainstream status transcending its Korean limits. While reading K-pop and K-dramas as media texts, Steven Kim investigates the growing popularity of Hallyu 2.0 in the regions of strategic importance to Korea. Kim in his chapter presents the quest and growth of Hallyu 2.0. Ratan K. Roy delves deeper into the questions of identity formations and transformations while introspecting the logics of social media. Roy's chapter attempts to unearth the complexities of identity formations and (re)formations in a mediated environment. While taking instances of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Maldives, Roy has attempted to unravel the politics of identity formation under the influence of burgeoning K-Wave in South Asia. Further, Athikho Kaisii has extrapolated the nuances of K-phenomenon and burgeoning media landscape to understand the development of youth and hybrid popular culture in North-East India.

The second section explores the emergence and growth of 'Fandom' and of novel youth subcultures in the age of the Internet. Digital media has changed the ways in which we used to think and act. In the Global South, a new set of unified voices are heard that highlight the significance of newly emerging fan cultures, fan clubs, fan networks, etc. These 'fan groups' are modern and not predominantly westernized; whether these 'fandoms' are an alternative to westernized modernization, this section shall unravel under the theme of Fandom and Politics of Affection.

Kashifa Arif has conducted an ethnographic investigation to understand fan identity and to present the emotions behind the expression 'I am K-Fan'. While analysing the behaviour, actions and levels of satisfaction, Arif has tried to highlight the sense of empowerment an individual achieves while recognizing her/himself as a fan and follower of K-Wave. Pal and Saha have tried to capture the emotional and aural experiences of the K-pop audience in and around Kolkata. While intending to observe the transformation of 'virtual space' into an 'affective space'. Pal and Saha are decoding the politics behind K-pop's success and appeal in the region, juxtaposing Kolkata's listening culture and musical taste of its young listeners. Chandi and Trehan have attempted to gain insights out of the shared experiences of Indian fans of BTS (a popular K-Pop Band) vis-à-vis the consumption of transcultural popular media. The authors have studied the online presence of BTS fandom in India—mediation, motivations and experiences in order to get a sense of K-Wave in India. Soman and Jaggi have studied Indian youth, their aspirations and consumer practices through the lens of popular Korean Dramas. Their study provides insights about youth-viewing experiences and discusses the modalities of the engagement of K- pop culture with the Indian culture.

Societies in South Asia got exposure to a vibrant cultural world that offered multiplicity in meanings. Simultaneously, it invoked new tensions in the societies that often lead to the confrontations between new and old, traditional and modern, self and other and native and alien.

The third section Adaptation, Cultural Effects and Co-creation deals with the localized forms of culture and various modalities of engaging with these alien forms. As such, new forms of challenges and adaptation strategies have emerged over time. Manifold socio-political and economic factors remain crucial in the backdrop of such transformations and adaptations. This section engages with localized forms and variations of adaptation, expression and modification within the cultural milieu. The chapters in this section contextualize the Korean cultural forms in the local settings and examine the underlying social response and modes of cultural adaptation.

Amalini Fernando while opting for evolutionary perspective examines the socio-cultural dynamics of the Korean wave in Sri Lanka, delving into the origin, spread and landmark moments of the wave, local reception and consumption, influence on the cultural status quo, characteristics and types of audiences and the future of this cultural phenomenon. Rinku Pegu's attempts to study the process of circulation of South Korean media products by focusing on the local networks and infrastructure. The effort is dedicated to tracing the process of dissemination and identifying the major players engaged in the production, reproduction, transmission and circulation of Korean media products in Mizoram. Prashant Pradhan while taking up the case of Darjeeling and Kalimpong attempts to read the K-POP memes on social media adopting a gendered gaze.

Concluding Remarks

This volume has tried delving deeper into the interactive dynamic of media, culture and society by engaging with the digital media practices of South Asia. In a broader sense, it looks at subcultural practices, popular culture, youth and identity in relation to contemporary media culture in the region. Needless to say, the media culture has reinforced a vibrant transnational culture flow by enabling fandom networks. The entrance of Hallyu wave in South Asia and the enthusiasm of the fans need to be explored with more thorough viewpoints. Because, it is not merely a common character of transnational culture but also a cultural trend closely related to traditionally marked, nationally defined and socially bonded community.

The chapters offer analytical framings and authoritative accounts of important developments, they also open up new avenues of research and have a shared recognition of media's social agency and, therefore, its power to shape the future. Such a perspective motivates further research and holds the potential to strengthen its contribution to conversations about musical and cultural life in globalization. The challenges to future research are not only matters of epistemology but also of social capital to respond to global change, identifying new agendas, mobilizing new networks and communicating their relevance. While linguistic and geographic frameworks are not neutral filters, it is important to focus on the analytical challenge in growing discourses that integrate the local and the translocal in terms of both culture and language, to overcome the dichotomy of local-language localism and English-language cosmopolitanism. A deep understanding of a culture still requires knowledge of its language but globalization expands the opportunity for many cultures to enter a process of self-recognition through broader international collaborations.

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Acknowledgements

이 책은 2021 년도 한국학중앙연구원 해외한국학지원사업의 지원에 의하여 발간되었음 (AKS-2021-P-002). This publication was supported by the 2021 Korean Studies Grant Program of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2021-P-002).

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1. International Research Center, SIMEC Institute of Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

   Ratan Kumar Roy

2. Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

   Biswajit Das

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1. International Research Center, SIMEC Institute of Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

   Dr. Ratan Kumar Roy

2. Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Delhi, India

   Prof. Biswajit Das

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Roy, R.K., Das, B. (2022). Transcultural Flow in the Age of Globalization: Digital Platforms, Fandom and Mediated Culture in South Asia. In: Roy, R.K., Das, B. (eds) Korean Wave in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8710-5_1

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