The Global Impact of South Korean Popular Culture

Valentina Marinescu is reader at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work at Bucharest University.

This volume fills a gap in the existing literature and proposes an interdisciplinary and multicultural comparative approach to the impact of Hallyu worldwide. The contributors analyze the spread of South Korean popular products from different perspectives (popular culture, sociology, anthropology, linguistics) and from different geographical locations (Asia, Europe, North America, and South America). The contributors come from a variety of countries (UK, Japan, Argentina, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Indonesia, USA, Romania). The volume is divided into three sections and twelve chapters that each bring a new perspective on the main topic. This emphasizes the impact of Hallyu and draws real and imaginary "maps" of the export of South Korean cultural products. Starting from the theoretical backgrounds offered by the existing literature, each chapter presents the impact of Hallyu in a particular country. This applied character does not exclude transnational comparisons or critical interrogations about the future development of the phenomenon.All authors are speaking about their own, native cultures. This inside perspective adds an important value to the understanding of the impact of a different culture on the "national" culture of each respective country. The contributions to this volume illustrate the "globalization" of the cultural products of Hallyu and show the various faces of Hallyu around the world.

Chapter 1: Many faces of Hallyu in the global world-Valentina MarinescuPart I: Hallyu in AsiaChapter 2: The Cultural Identity and Korean historical television dramas-Sunny YoonChapter 3: Hallyu in Indonesia - Suray Agung NugrohoChapter 4: Japanese-Korean International Marriage through the Korean Wave in Japan-Atsushi TakedaPart II: Hallyu in EuropeChapter 5: Cultural perception and social impacts of the Korean wave in the Czech Republic-Vladislava MazanáChapter 6: Wind of Change: Poland is One Step Away from the Korean Wave-Pawel KidaChapter 7: Hallyu and students' motivation in studying Korean-Irina SotirovaChapter 8: Pop goes Korean Popular Culture: An investigation into the popularity of Hallyu culture in the UK-Colette BalmainChapter 9: Audience persceptions and representations of Korea-The Romanian experience-Valentina Marinescu, Ecaterina BalicaPart III: Hallyu in AmericaChapter 10: Hallyu for Hire: The Commodification of Korea in Tourism Advertising and Marketing-Sherri L. Ter MolenChapter 11: HallyU.S.A: America's Impact on The Korean Wave-Crystal S. AndersonChapter 12: Hallyu and Cultural Identity: A sociological approach to the Korean Wave in Argentina-Paula Iadevito