AUTHOR Buket Yildiz - 1200208 SUPERVISOR K-Wave experience in Turkey Dr. L.O. Black Handling subjugation in a patriarchal DATE society 7th July 2017 MAIR THESIS Abstract Informed by ethnographic research the purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes of Turkish women who consume Korean popular culture with regards to their identity formation and how it relates to the possible transformation of Turkish patriarchal society. The argument made in this study is that people in the K-Wave community have a skewed interpretation of South Korea, because of their admiration of the country through the K-Wave they are exposed to, but that this misconception has an impact on their resistance against patriarchy in their own country. This study argues that it is a two-edged sword: on the one hand K-Wave reinforces patriarchy through the messages it conveys, on the other hand it creates an imaginary space to which women can escape from their daily lives and encourages them to resist the socially defined masculine domination. 2 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 4 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON THE KOREAN WAVE ................................................................................................. 6 2.2 WOMEN IN PATRIARCHAL SOCIETIES: TURKEY AND SOUTH KOREA ................................................. 8 2.2.1 Female representations in Turkey .................................................................................................................. 8 2.2.2 Female representations compared ................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 3. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................... 11 3.1 POST-STRUCTURALISM ........................................................................................................................................ 11 3.2 FEMINIST IR ............................................................................................................................................................. 12 3.3 ETHNOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 3.4 DATA SAMPLING ................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.5 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 16 3.6 LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 4. CASE STUDY: ANALYSIS ON THE K-WAVE IN TURKEY ................................................... 17 4.1 GENDERED REPRESENTATIONS ........................................................................................................................ 17 4.2 HANDLING SUBJUGATION ................................................................................................................................. 19 4.2.1 Medium of self-discovery ................................................................................................................................ 20 4.2.2 Medium of expression ...................................................................................................................................... 21 4.3 BETWEEN PRESERVATION AND CHANGE ..................................................................................................... 22 5. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 24 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................... 26 3 1. Introduction Popular culture is not only establishing popularity for goods and practices, but it also popularizes the incorporated worldviews and ways of thinking (Şahin, 2005). One of these worldviews contains the representation and the role of women and the question whether popular culture is reinforcing or challenging female subordination to men (Kirca, 1999). Some argue that popular culture is ingrained with patriarchal values and therefore makes female empowerment difficult, while at the same time allowing for some space created by women to free themselves from their subordinate positions (Modiri, 2012). Others argue that popular culture is part of the neoliberal order that through the notion of freedom of choice nudges women to follow the normative power that is embedded with sexist beliefs (Chen, 2013). It is the first strand of argument that this thesis is building upon by analysing the Korean Wave (K-Wave) experience among Turkish females. Hallyu or the Korean Wave is the term gifted by China for the massive popularity of South Korea’s contemporary cultural products, such as its TV series (K-drama) and music (K-pop) that have served as a pull-factor for South Korea in many cases. The attractiveness of these products has resulted in a spillover effect for a general admiration of the whole country, and everything related to South Korea (Shim, 2008). The hype of the Korean Wave might subside according to Nye & Kim (2013), but Geun (2009) argues that it may not be a short-lived phenomenon given South Korea’s economic outlook that is considered as a good indicator for its cultural potential. One of the countries in which the K-Wave has reached immense popularity is Turkey. While there has been research conducted on the K-Wave in Turkey (Oh & Chae, 2013), it does not specifically look at how the K-Wave portrays and is interpreted in terms of patriarchy and the experiences of female audiences. This thesis aims to fill this gap, as similar to the other countries where the K-Wave has become part of the popular culture; the Turkish K-Wave community also consists mainly of (young) women (Oh & Chae, 2013). A previous study conducted by Yang (2008) has found that Korean dramas result in resistance to gender inequality and ensuing class formations among Taiwanese females. This study looks at how Korean dramas create meanings for females outside the East Asian region. Furthermore, given the similar nature of Turkey and South Korea as patriarchal countries with 4 Western influences, it forms an interesting case to explore what ramifications the K- Wave experience of Turkish females has for the Turkish patriarchal society. This thesis therefore, aims to explore how the K-Wave is understood among the female consumers attracted to this phenomenon and the ramifications of this understanding on the society at large in Turkey. The argument follows from the observation that Turkish females attracted to the K-Wave admire South Korea. This admiration has ramifications on their acceptance of the patriarchal society they are part of, which might instigate a transformation of the patriarchal society or at least initiate a resistance to it. Hence, the main question that this thesis aims to answer is: How is the K-Wave experienced among Turkish (young) women and what ramifications does it have on the Turkish patriarchal society? In the remainder of the thesis in section two, previous studies on the findings on the reception of the Korean Wave and the position of women in Turkey and in South Korea will be reviewed. In section three the methodological framework consisting of poststructuralist, feminist approaches and ethnographic research will be outlined. Section four is a case study on the Korean Wave community in Turkey with an analysis of the popular K-drama Boys over Flowers and the experiences of Turkish K- drama fans, followed by the conclusion in section five. 5 2. Literature Review 2.1 Previous studies on the Korean Wave Research conducted on Western popular culture contends that it is embedded in patriarchal values, reinforces gender inequality, and hinders female empowerment. This is related to the fact that popular culture is reflecting the issues pertaining society at large (Modiri, 2012). Moreover, the neoliberal order in which popular culture is produced, engraves the issue through the process of self-objectification of female audiences. This is, as Chen (2013) argues, related to women buying into the freedom of choice concept that is propagated on TV programs targeting female audiences seemingly in line with feminist ideals, but that in fact is enforcing the already existent gender hierarchies. This also relates to the Korean Wave with its subtle depiction of Asian traditional values mixed with Western modernity (Ryoo, 2009). The emphasis on Confucian norms in Korean dramas that reflect patriarchy and which is shared by the neighbouring East Asian countries has lead to these countries welcoming Korean cultural products compared to other non-Asian nations’ cultural products, such as the United States’ that are considered to be of different nature (Jang & Paik, 2012). In the case of Taiwan, the local