THE RISE OF THE KOREAN WAVE IN THE UNITED STATES: GLOBAL IMAGINATION AND THE PRODUCTION OF LOCALITY AMONG KOREAN AMERICANS IN PHILADELPHIA A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by HaeLim Suh August 2018 Examining Committee Members: Thomas Jacobson, Advisory Co-Chair, Department of Media Studies and Production Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Advisory Co-Chair, Department of Journalism Patrick Murphy, Department of Media Studies and Production DongSook Park, External Member, Ewha Womans University © Copyright 2018 by HaeLim Suh All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT This dissertation illustrates the cultural dimension of globalization by examining how the ascendance of South Korean popular culture, i.e., the Korean Wave, reshapes the global imagination and transforms the locality of Korean Americans in Philadelphia. As an ethnographic global media study, I conducted in-depth interviews and participated in Korean cultural events/meetings, as well as visited the sites of living for Korean Americans in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. My research finds that advances in the digitalized media environment made my informants consume copious transnational Korean media every day and individualized their media consumption. Accordingly, their perceptions of Korea/Asia/U.S.’s places in the world are complicated and their ethnic identity has become significant. Their global imaginations also intersect with negotiating gender roles, perceiving attractiveness, and planning future paths. This shift contributes to construction of the in- between identities of Korean Americans by denaturalizing ideas and cultural elements in both Korea and the U.S. Most distinctively, the rise of the Korean Wave stimulates global imagination among young second generation Korean Americans to aspire to and operate their agency in a transnational context that their parents’ generation barely anticipated. Finally, the upsurge of the Korean Wave drives Korean Americans to participate in transforming localities rooted in thickened connectivities and activities centering on Korean popular culture across intra/inter-ethnic groups locally and globally. This conversely facilitates intense engagement and belonging in the local spaces of community among Korean Americans. My study shows how transnational media flow under conditions of globalization positively influences immigrants to embrace their own iii ethnic identities and local spaces. On the other hand, it implies that there should be further examination of different boundaries of global imagination rooted in gender/class differences as well as race/ethnicity. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I especially thank my twenty-nine informants who willingly participated in the interviews, invited me to their spaces of living, and updated me about their new experiences related to Korean culture. Having good people as informants, my fieldwork was a refreshing break and I always looked forward to it. I hope my work contributes a better understanding and imagination of the lives of immigrants in the globalized world. I would like to express my appreciation to my committee members for their efforts to make my dissertation emerge into the real world. Each of them shared their insights bringing life back to my rudimentary ideas. I especially thank Dr. Thomas Jacobson and Dr. Fabienne Darling-Wolf, my co-advisors. Dr. Jacobson’s steadfast confidence and patience enabled me to continue and clinch this project, and finally, aspire to the next step. Dr. Darling-Wolf widened and challenged my intelligence in a pleasant way and is my role model of a feminist who always looks for more beautiful perspectives from which to view the world. Dr. Patrick Murphy guided me with sharp comments and an empathetic mind during this long journey. Lastly, I was honored to have Dr. Dong Sook Park as an external member who led me to be intrigued about life as a teacher and scholar early in my academic career and gave eye-opening insights to progress this project. I am more than grateful to have Dr. John Lent as a mentor who showed me how to live as a fearless, independent, liberal, and still humanistic minded scholar. Dr. Janice Staab walked with me each step and believed in me (sometimes more than I did) as a teacher, a counselor, and a friend. Dr. Eunsook Rhee stood by me like an older sister and showed the excellence of a genuine teacher. v I would like to extend my gratitude to friends and colleagues who have supported me. I could not have survived without the hours that we shared in happiness and hardships: Sonya Aus, Cheonae Kim, Chunhyo Kim, Sunyong Kim, Bok Sun Kang, Sookkyung Shin, Hochung Kim, Minjung Shim, Kyongsu Pak, YuhKyoung Rhie, Kyungsoo Kim, Hojeong Lee, and Jaehyeon Jung. Finally, I would like to give my deepest thanks to my family, my parents, sisters, and brothers. I dedicate this work to my parents, SunHwa Suh and JaeSook Kim, who have a faith in education and wish their children to work for a better world. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. xi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1 Outline of the Research ................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................10 The Process of Cultural Globalization ...............................................................10 Appadurai’s Theories of Globalization ..............................................................12 Global Imagination and the Role of the Media ............................................. 15 Global Culture and the Production of Locality ............................................. 20 Grassroots Globalization and Exploring Globalized Cultural Sovereignty .. 24 Contextualizing the Korean Wave in Cultural Globalization ............................27 South Korea’s Relation to Other Parts of the World .................................... 28 The Korean Wave as a Mediascape from East Asia ..................................... 32 The Korean Americans in the U.S. and Their Use of Korean Media ........... 38 Research Questions ............................................................................................45 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................49 Ethnographic Research of Global Media Culture ..............................................49 Contextualization of Korean Immigrants’ Lives in Metropolitan Philadelphia 55 Diversification of Korean Americans in Philadelphia .................................. 55 vii Korean American Neighborhoods in Philadelphia ....................................... 59 Sampling ....................................................................................................... 62 Data collection .............................................................................................. 67 Reflexivity of the Research Process ..................................................................69 Chapter Breakdown ...................................................................................... 77 CHAPTER 4: DIGITALIZED KOREAN MEDIA, ETHNIC IDENTITIES, AND GLOBAL IMAGINATION ...................................................................................79 Digital Media Made Differences .......................................................................81 Transnational Korean Media and Negotiating Ethnic Identity ..........................88 The Burden and Excitement of my Korean Side .......................................... 89 K-pop is for the Asian Youth, not my Favorite .......................................... 100 Korean Wave is not Mainstream Culture.................................................... 104 Imagining Korea Every Day in the U.S. ..........................................................108 Young Second Generation Korean Americans’ Imagined Worlds ............. 109 International Students/Young Professional Immigrants’ Imagined Worlds 119 Senior First Generation Korean Americans’ Imagined Worlds .................. 129 Conclusion .......................................................................................................135 CHAPTER 5: NEGOTIATING GENDER ROLES, ATTRACTIVENESS, AND LIFE PLANS .......................................................................................................137 Young Second Generation Korean Americans ................................................145 All of Their Personalities are Really Cool .................................................. 145 viii My Friends Say I’m Korean Style .............................................................. 152 Culture is Better, Chance is Higher ............................................................ 183 International Students/Young Professional Immigrants ..................................192 Coping with Gender Roles in Immigrant Communities ............................. 193 Not Fobby, but Global Fashionista! ...........................................................