Mixed-Race Politics and Neoliberal Multiculturalism in South Korean Media

This book studies how the increase of visual representation of mixed-race Koreans formulates a particular racial project in contemporary South Korean media. It explores the moments of ruptures and disjuncture that biracial bodies bring to the formation of neoliberal multiculturalism, a South Korean national racial project that re-aligns racial lines under the nation's neoliberal transformation. Specifically, Ji-Hyun Ahn examines four televised racial moments that demonstrate particular aspects of neoliberal multiculturalism by demanding distinct ways of re-imagining what it means to be Korean in the contemporary era of globalization. Taking a critical media/cultural studies approach, Ahn engages with materials from archives, the popular press, policy documents, television commercials, and television programs as an inter-textual network that actively negotiates and formulates a new racialized national identity. In doing so, the book provides a rich analysis of the ongoing struggle over racial reconfiguration in South Korean popular media, advancing an emerging scholarly discussion on race as a leading factor of social change in South Korea.

The first monograph to examine mixed-race politics in contemporary South Korean media Utilizes a critical media/cultural studies approach that engages with and connects materials from archives, the popular press, policy documents, television commercials, and television programs as an inter-textual network Analyzes cases ranging from media representation of globally recognized mixed-race figures to figures on reality television Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Ji-Hyun Ahn is Assistant Professor of Communication in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at The University of Washington Tacoma, USA. Her works have appeared in highly acclaimed journals in the field such as Media, Culture & Society, Cultural Studies, and Asian Ethnicity.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The New Face of Korea.- Chapter 3. From National Threat to National Hero.- Chapter 4. Consuming Cosmopolitan White(ness).- Chapter 5. Televising the Making of Neoliberal Multicultural Family.- Chapter 6. This is (Not) Our Multicultural Future.