Korean Women, K-Pop, and Fandom a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE K- Popping: Korean Women, K-Pop, and Fandom A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music by Jungwon Kim December 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Deborah Wong, Chairperson Dr. Kelly Y. Jeong Dr. René T.A. Lysloff Dr. Jonathan Ritter Copyright by Jungwon Kim 2017 The Dissertation of Jungwon Kim is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements Without wonderful people who supported me throughout the course of my research, I would have been unable to finish this dissertation. I am deeply grateful to each of them. First, I want to express my most heartfelt gratitude to my advisor, Deborah Wong, who has been an amazing scholarly mentor as well as a model for living a humane life. Thanks to her encouragement in 2012, after I encountered her and gave her my portfolio at the SEM in New Orleans, I decided to pursue my doctorate at UCR in 2013. Thank you for continuously encouraging me to carry through my research project and earnestly giving me your critical advice and feedback on this dissertation. I would like to extend my warmest thanks to my dissertation committee members, Kelly Jeong, René Lysloff, and Jonathan Ritter. Through taking seminars and individual studies with these great faculty members at UCR, I gained my expertise in Korean studies, popular music studies, and ethnomusicology. Thank you for your essential and insightful suggestions on my work. My special acknowledgement goes to the Korean female K-pop fans who were willing to participate in my research. Without these fabulous women and girls, this project would have been unachievable. Identifying myself with these female fans, I had memorable and invaluable times together with them performing fandom during my fieldwork. Thank each of you for telling me about your precious experiences as “ppasuni” in Korea, as well as listening to my story. We all brought this project to fruition together. I am also indebted to Seung-Ah Lee at UCLA for my field research in iv Korea. As both a research mentor and a fellow fan of JYJ, she accompanied me on many sessions of my fieldwork, including the first and final days of the field research. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences as both a fandom researcher and a member of fandom. Additionally, I am greatly appreciative to Shirley Woo (2017 UCR alumna) for telling me about her experiences in K-pop fandom as a dancer specializing in K-pop dance covers. I would like especially to express my sincere gratefulness to Hillary Jenks in the UCR Graduate Writing Center. She gave me tremendous help with the dissertation writing process throughout over fifty consultation sessions both online and in person. Thank you for editing and proofreading this dissertation as well as listening to me. I also owe parts of my dissertation draft to Janine Carlock at the University of Pittsburgh Writing Center. Throughout my four and half years at UCR, I have been much obliged to supportive faculty. To Edward Chang, thank you for supporting me by giving me opportunities to work as your teaching assistant in Ethnic Studies and an intern at the YOK Center. To Kelli King, thank you for cheering me up always. Dancing in your ballet class, I was able to refresh my brain with the learning process of body movement. I am truly thankful to have brilliant and friendly graduate cohorts in the department of music at UCR who intellectually inspired me, emotionally supported me, and willingly encouraged me in my dissertation writing and defense: Christine Miyong Lee, Gelareh Naseri, Eileen Regullano, Liz Wood, Rachel Howerton, Daniel Castro, Jaclyn Howerton, Matt Neil, Tori Dalzell, Erica Jones, Nana Kaneko, Paula Propst, Toni Rasmussen, Neal v Matherne, Supeena Insee Adler, Erica Siegel, Claudine Avalos, Hannah Balcomb, Corey Blake Lascano, Benjamin Blocksom, Andrea Decker, Jesse Freedman, Owain Graham, Jessica Gutierrez Masini, Dhiren Panikker, Yuki Proulx, Kevin Sliwoski, Elizabeth Stela, Leilani Dade, Roxy DePue, Mark Inchoco, and Eric Jones. Also, I would like to say thank you to Jessie Vallejo and the UCR Mayupatapi members for giving me a chance to play Andean music on the violin and participate in your ensemble. During my years in Korea and the States, as well as my conference travels to many countries, I am devoutly thankful to have good friends around the world who show their beautiful friendship with, encouragement to, and support for me. To Jonghee Kang in Seoul, thank you for befriending me in Pittsburgh, taking care of me, and being there for me anytime and anywhere. To Sujin Kim in Busan, thank you for always being on my side, listening to me, praying for me, and counseling me on dissertation writing in practice. To Sang-Yeon Sung in Vienna, thank you for your attention to my research and sending lots of positive vibes my way. To Haekyung Um in Liverpool, thank you for your suggestions on re/defining K-pop. To Hyun Kyong Chang in New Haven, thank you for having many conversations with me about academic life across Korea and the U.S. To Hye Eun Choi in Madison, thank you for giving me good words and useful comments on my research and papers. To Sooyoung Hong in Seattle, thank you for being concerned about me and helping me make happy memories in Seattle. I extend my profound thanks to my relatives in the U.S. for backing me up during my studies in the States. To my aunt Youngja Lee, thank you for remembering me and my family in your prayers, sending much love to me, allowing me to stay at your places vi in New York and Florida, and making me comfortable all the time. To my uncle Seungkyu Lee, thank you for welcoming me anytime and telling me about stories of your own experiences as a theater director. I must also show my appreciation to the Trans in Moreno Valley: Linda, Vu, Chloe, and Evelyn Tran with whom I live. Although I am not kin to them, they treat me as a family member in addition to their friend – I am now a Korean auntie of two Vietnamese American girls! Thank you to all for cheering me up, making me at home during my dissertation writing, sharing home-made pho and other good dishes with me, and taking me to nice local restaurants and markets. Last but not least, I am eternally grateful to my family in Korea for their infinite love and support for me. Indescribable gratitude goes to my parents. To my father, thank you for everything you do for me. I love you, my superhero. To my mother, thank you for praying for me by candlelight every day and night. Without your undying devotion to me, I wouldn’t have been able to make it. Thank you to my dearest brother Kiju Kim, who stands by me whatever happens and roots for me. Also, thank you to my sister-in-law Sujin Lee for encouraging me and wishing me the best of luck all the time. And to my loveliest nephews, Kyusung and Yesung Kim, thank you for making my day. vii Dedication To my father, Sung Young Kim, who has made me everything I am. And to my mother, Soonja Kim, who is both my superstar and my everlasting fan. viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION K-Popping: Korean Women, K-Pop, and Fandom by Jungwon Kim Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Music University of California, Riverside, December 2017 Dr. Deborah Wong, Chairperson Korean popular music (hereafter K-pop) can be understood as an inclusive cultural phenomenon. K-pop fandom constitutes a sizeable portion of this phenomenon and is characteristic, to a large degree, of K-pop culture. However, female fans, especially in Korea, are frequently disdained in mainstream Korean culture, and their fandom has been undervalued and derided. Challenging this negative view of female fans, I autoethnographically examine Korean female K-pop fandom, based on my field research in Korea from August 2015 to September 2016, and from the end of December 2016 to early January 2017. I first introduce and explain various Korean slang expressions describing fandom, including “ppasuni,” a disparaging expression to describe Korean female fans. Drawing upon the concept of musicking (music as an activity people do, functioning as a verb), I chart multiple forms of musicking, which Korean female K-pop fans do before, during, and after concerts. Focusing on musicking during concerts, I ix analyze fan chanting and singing during musicians’ live performances, also known as “ttechang.” I also illuminate how female fans construct a K-pop soundscape through their different voices around the concert venue. In addition to these music-related fan practices, I explore a wide array of cultures and subcultures that Korean female K-pop fans build. Further, I investigate how Korean female fans perform feminist fandom, as well as how these fans participate in political activities through fandom. Thus, I contextualize K-pop fandom in a range of social and political phenomena. I then propose two concepts to reach a new understanding of K-pop and its female fandom – “K- popping” and “fanscape.” Building on the concept of musicking, I suggest K-pop as an action, and re-conceptualize K-pop as a verb, that is, “K-popping” or “to K-pop.” Also, to avoid confining Korean female K-pop fans and their activities to fan-“dom,” which differentiates and even marginalizes the fans, I expand the terminology for K-pop fan practices to fan-“scape.” This term, “fanscape” can be defined as not only a place or event where fans are present to perform their fandom, but also as a collage of different sounds, images, texts, and activities, which Korean female K-pop fans create.