...339 What Is the K in K-pop? South Korean Popular Music, the Culture Industry, and National Identity John Lie* In the early 2010’s, the expansion of South Korean popular culture around the world is led by popular music, usually known as Kpop. In this paper I seek to answer two questions. First, what are the sources of its success beyond the South Korean national border? Secondly, what does it say about contemporary South Korean society and culture? Key Words: K-pop, Korean Wave, Hallyu, South Korean Popular Culture, Popular Music I. Introduction T he phenomenal success of the Korean Wave has generated collective celebration in South Korea.1 In the early 2010s, the national self* John Lie is C.K. Cho Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University. His forthcoming books include The Global University and The Consolation of Social Theory. E-mail: johnlie@berkeley.edu. 1. The Korean Wave is the literal translation of the term which originated in China ( ; Hánliú). The first character refers to “Korea” and the second usually evokes “flow” or “current,” signifying “style.” The same Chinese characters KOREA OBSERVER, Vol. 43, No. 3, Autumn 2012, pp. 339-363. © 2012 by THE INSTITUTE OF KOREAN STUDIES. 340 John Lie congratulation is especially manifest for the popularity of South Korean popular music (K-pop), which has spread from neighboring Asian countries, such as Japan and...
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...Raves have historically referred to grass-roots organized, anti-establishment and unlicensed all night dance parties, featuring electronically-produced dance music (EDM), such as techno, house, trance and drum and bass. Since their late 1980s origins in the U.K., raves have gained widespread popularity and transformed dramatically. Consequently, their many cultural traits and behaviors have garnered much sociological interest, which mostly falls into two competing perspectives: cultural studies and public health. In this paper, we review what raves look like today compared to their high point in the 1990s. We then discuss how the cultural studies and public health perspectives define raves and have studied them over time, focusing on the “pet” sociological concepts each has sought to advance. Our analysis of these literatures reveals important differences in rave research by country and over time. We end by discussing the politics associated with the shift in rave research. Introduction Society has been greatly influenced by many alternative scenes, subcultures, or lifestyles oriented around music, youth and young adults (Epstein 1998). Some of the more notable ones include the English punk scene in the 1970s- 1980s, the U.S. jazz (1930s-1940s) and hippie scenes (1970s), and the 1990s rave scenes in the U.K. and U.S. From them have come musical innovation, social identity, fashion and other aesthetic nuances, and mainstream and alternative cultural production. Increasingly...
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...Compton is a parodic enactment of the racialized discourses of law and order during the late 1980s, or what I am calling the mark of criminality. Its release constituted a watershed moment in black popular culture that coincided with the devastating consequences of surveillance, containment, and spectacular scapegoating associated with Reagan-era crime control policies and rhetoric. Critics argue that the album and its reception by the law enforcement community of the late 1980s functioned as a confrontation over the meanings of race, place, and crime in the twentieth century. In addition to revealing the contingent meanings of criminality in popular and political culture, the legacy of Straight Outta Compton provides insights into the role of criminality in...
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...to explore and share the culture of other countries. She began doing so in college, when she was working on research as she was studying anthropology. Dunham always tried to find ways of connecting dance to what she was studying because dance was her passion. She traveled to third world countries such as Haiti, Martinique, Africa, Cuba, and she toured many other places as well with her dance company. Her purpose was to look further into the meaning behind dances, the purpose, the technique, and the cultural significance. What she did was she created something new rather than trying to perfect something long-standing, turning away from traditional...
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...Popular American Culture Eleonora Gars SOC105/WH11ELC01 January 18, 2010 Byron Williams Popular American Culture Culture is the essential character of a society that distinguishes if from other societal groups. The underlying elements of every culture are the values, language, myths, customs, rituals, and laws that shape the behavior of the people, as well as the material artifacts, or products, of that behavior as they are transmitted from one generation to the next. Cultural values and influences are the ocean in which individuals swim, and yet most are completely unaware that it is where. What people eat, how they dress, what they think and feel, and what language they speak, are all dimensions of culture. For some cultural critics working with in the mass culture paradigm, mass culture is not just an imposed and impoverished culture, it is clear identifiable sense an imported American culture. “If popular culture in its modern from invented in any one place, it was….. in the great cities of the United States, and above all in New York. (Maltby, 1989)” This claim that popular culture is American culture has a long history within the theoretical mapping of popular cultures. It operates under the term Americanization. In its most basic form cultural imperialism comprises the assumption that one nation deliberately attempts to impose its culture, ideology, goods, and way of life on another country. In the United States, critics of cultural imperialism...
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...Baptiste MWF 2-3p Native American Music: A Root of Contemporary Music Yet Explored What is Native American Music? As our class brainstormed ideas for research, I already knew what topic I wanted to explore. Having been a musician, closely involved with music my entire life, I directed my focus toward Native American music. Before I began to develop any sort of directed, narrowed research questions, I asked myself first, “What is Native American music?” Regarding various definitions of the so-called “genre,” I discovered that Native American music shouldn’t be typified into any genre or defined style of music. It was the perspective toward music that was unique to Native peoples, and this perspective is key in understanding the Native American influence on later creations of music. Definition and Philosophy Native peoples tend to view their music in a distinctly different way from Euro-Americans. To Natives, music is thought; music appeared to be particularly inclusive into Native Americans’ way of life, and is unique in its origin, meaning, and efficacy. To ask “what is Native American music?” would be a question foreign to Native Americans, especially during the time that Native American music was first discovered. One aspect of music specific to indigenous peoples is its place in daily life. In fact, “its place in human affairs are much more significant to Indians than its mode of construction or technical character.” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 12) Unlike the Euro-American...
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...BLACK POPULAR CULTURE AS A MEANS OF ACHIEVING INEGRATION "We as a society successfully eliminated the need for achieving integration through political agitation for civil rights and opted instead for knowing each other through cultural text. In what way(s) has BPC contributed or contradicted this statement?" Since the early 1900s, many legislative steps have been taken to achieve equal civil rights for all American citizens regardless of race, gender, age, or ethnicity. Throughout this time of integration, however, there was much political agitation to achieve this equality. It can be said that, “we as a society successfully eliminated the need for achieving integration through political agitation for civil rights and opted instead for knowing each other through cultural text.” That is to say, nowadays we do not pursue integration through political agitation but rather through discourse and education on various cultures, including black popular culture. There are several ways in which black popular culture has both contributed and contradicted this statement. In regards to its contribution, literature from famous black authors has served to better achieve integration through education of its audience on the black reality. Secondly, high school and university courses such as African Studies classes also illustrate how nowadays integration is achieved through cultural text as opposed to political agitation. Additionally, scholarly writings such as the article “The...
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...American Roots Music 1 American Roots Music 2 The expression "American roots music" may not be well-known to all, and involves some enlightenment. At the start of the 20th Century, the phrase "folk music" was used by scholars to explain music made by the whites of the European ancestry. As the century grew, the meaning of folk music expanded to include the song styles, particularly the blues of Southern blacks. Folk music was viewed as a window into the cultural life of these two groups. Folk songs communicated with people’s hopes, dreams, and sadness of their everyday lives. More and more music was made by other groups of Americans such as Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and Cajuns (Louisiana)." The songs were sung on front porches where families would gather, in churches, in the fields and while rocking children to sleep. The melodies and words were passed down from parent to child. The songs and meanings were often changed to reflect change in times. Knowledge of folk songs and musicians grew, and popular musicians began to draw on folk music as an imaginative source as never before in the 1960s. "Folk music" became a form of popular music by singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, who helped pioneer the acoustic performing style that echoed the society based on folk musicians. Music writers, intellectuals...
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...Copland was a great American composer during the 20th century, the compositions often incorporated different aspects of popular American music. For example, he often utilized forms such as Jazz and folk music into the works that he created. Copland aimed to create and develope something that could be distinctively called American music so that American music and culture could free itself from European influence (pbs). Later on in his career he became known as a Dean of American Music , which is a testament to his dedication of his goal. Some of his most famous works are the Appalachian spring which won the 1945 pulitzer prize for music and Fanfare for the Common man. Copland’s parents were both Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and he was born November 14, 1990 in Brooklyn. Copland’s parents had five children and Copland was the youngest. For much of his early childhood, Copland and his siblings would work in his...
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...Artists took bits and pieces from multiple styles of music from Germanys past. The name Krautrock originated as a joke against the music and Germany’s culture because people were not approving of it. The term went through phases of approval and dislike. At one point artists were ashamed to be labeled a Krautrock group. The styles that characterize the Krautrock movement are very eclectic; it is described as rock, and electronic, and psychedelic, the list goes on. The history of the movement is just as colorful as the music itself. The lyrics of the songs became so influenced by current happening in Europe and around the world, from the nuclear crisis to protests across the continent. Krautrock is a staple of German music history and will remain that for near foreseeable future. Germany is regarded as a nation with an extremely diverse music culture that spans centuries and all music types and styles. There are countless forms of German-Language music. This includes Neue Deutsche Welle, german for New German Wave, Hamburger Schule, or Hamburg School, Volksmusic, Classical, German Hip Hop, Neue Deutsche Harte, a form of German metal, and possibly one of the most influential, Krautrock. (“German…) Krautrock is the name for the very avant-garde wave of music that exploded through Germany in the late 1960’s. It gained popularity throughout the 70’s especially after it spread to Great Britain. The spread of this neuvo music style was credited to a disc jockey from the British...
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...Edited by Earl Lewis, George Lipsitz, Peggy Pascoe, George Sánchez, and Dana Takagi 1. Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies, by José David Saldívar 2. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture, by Neil Foley 3. Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound, by Alexandra Harmon 4. Aztlán and Viet Nam: Chicano and Chicana Experiences of the War, edited by George Mariscal 5. Immigration and the Political Economy of Home: West Indian Brooklyn and American Indian Minneapolis, by Rachel Buff 6. Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East,1945–2000, by Melani McAlister 7. Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco’s Chinatown, by Nayan Shah 8. Japanese American Celebration and Conflict: A History of Ethnic Identity and Festival, 1934–1990, by Lon Kurashige 9. American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture, by Shelley Streeby 10. Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past, by David R. Roediger 11. Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico, by Laura Briggs 12. meXicana Encounters: The Making of Social Identities on the Borderlands, by Rosa Linda Fregoso 13. Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight, by Eric Avila 14. Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom, by Tiya Miles 15. Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of Representation, by Herman S. Gray Cultural...
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...Popular Music —Lots of definitions —Mainstream music: “the majority of music that appears in national charts and appeals to a broad cross-section of the public” (Fonarow 2006:63) —“Commercial music”: “Any music that is created or produced with commercial purposes (i.e. financial gain) in mind” (Pruett 2011:1) —These definitions exclude many forms of music that might be considered ‘popular’ to the people that listen to them or refuse to listen to them —Tied to mediated listening and technology —Music could be popular for the masses when recorded music allowed masses of people to access the same music —Tied to commercialism – embedded within the commercial music industry —Certain styles of music appeal widely —These styles are industrialized, part of the music industry, large scale —Popular music is constantly changing – reflection of cultural attitudes about popular culture, culture as a national/international project —In ethnomusicology fieldwork focuses include: —Fan-based communities —Technoculture —Local or indie music scenes (Ex: Berger 1999; Fox 2004; Samuels 2004; Fonarow 2006) —Actual artists in popular music often remain elusive —Inaccessible to an ethnomusicologist —Little motivation to participate —Something to consider before picking a topic of study —As a result, very few studies of popular music focus on popular artists today —Different genres (country, rock, heavy metal, pop, rap) have different modes of access between fans and artists —Can...
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...icon, the King of Rock and Roll, the Eternal Great. There are many reasons why this is true and I will lay these out in this paper. Elvis Presley is in fact, the ultimate cultural icon. He will never be replaced by anyone for many reasons. Thus, in this paper, I will argue that Elvis Presley is the ultimate cultural icon. For example, Elvis Presley and The Beatles represent the two poles of pop music superstardom. “On one side is the patriotic American truck driver with a voice that conquered the world over a two-decade career, and on the other hand, there are the four sharp-tongued Liverpudlians who came and went with the 60’s” (Webb). Former Beatle, John Lennon, once said, “Before Elvis, there was nothing” (Elvis Presley Quotes). “The question is, why Elvis? Why is Elvis—more so than Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and J.F.K.—consistently held up as an ‘icon of the twentieth century’” (Doss 2)? The reason Elvis is an icon is because he made an everlasting impression during his time. He was revolutionary. He influenced the teenage culture of the fifties and his music has shaped the styles of many recent artists. Musician Rod Stewart said, “Elvis was the king. No doubt about it. People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps” (Elvis Presley Quotes). Presley still has admirers of all ages: children, elderly, rock stars, and celebrities. He even touched the hearts of average people worldwide. He had a little something for...
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...Before the Beatles Before 1955, popular music was a narrow expression of simple, pre-conformed melodies that had existed and created a calm, generally upbeat and sheltered youth. The Beatles came onto the scene in 1964 and slapped the world in the face with a new cult establishing an art form we would later call rock. The Beatles gave their contemporary generation of kids with misspent youths a hold onto something new - the sound was previously unheard and it enraptured the listener and made them really hear the music. The impressionable teenyboppers of the 60’s were addicted to the most outrageous and controversial thing to hit the shelves, a British, long-haired revolution that would “love to turn us on”. The real stronghold beginning of the Beatles started in Liverpool on October 9, 1940 at 7:00 a.m. while the city was under heavy bombing by the Nazis and a tiny John Winston Lennon was born in a hospital on Oxford Street. Julia and Alfred Lennon gave birth to the soon-to-be prodigy only to divorce before he turned three, leaving him in the care of his Aunt Mimi. He first attended Dovedale Primary School where signs of his creative genius showed early on. After graduating from there, John started at Quarry Bank Grammar School, but soon switched to art school, but soon quit. There he met his first wife, Cynthia and Stuart Sutcliff. Although Sutcliff had very little good musical ability he bought a bass guitar and joined The Quarrymen (a pre-Beatle, Lennon creation). Next came...
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...Introduction The Irish culture is rich in customs, beliefs, and practices with substantial significance in the current times. It also constitutes traditions, literature, music, art, language, legends, sport and cuisine associated with Irish people living in the United States. These aspects of the Irish heritage are not homogeneous among natives of Ireland because of cultural divides that exist between rural Irish and urban Irish, Protestants and Catholics, settled population and travellers, native population and immigrants as well as disparities in language among Irish people. As such, Irish heritage is diverse with different elements that vary depending on the specific area of origin or consideration. The vast flow of people from Ireland to America from 1740 to 1922 is attributable to the modern Irish history in the United States. During this time, about seven million people of Irish origin immigrated to North America. In the attempts to adjust to the demands or requirement of modern industrializing world, some adjustments were made on Irish culture and identity, both personal as well as national. The native Irish culture was linked with the American culture to form the Irish-American culture, a blend of both cultures. However, considerable aspects of the Irish culture are depicted in the practices, festivals, religion, and culture of the contemporary Irish communities living in the United States. Furthermore, several elements of this culture are incorporated in different...
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