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The Politics of the Dancing Body: Racialized and Gendered Femininity in Korean Pop

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Abstract

Korean pop (hereinafter K-pop) singers have become viral in East Asia recently as part of the “Korean Wave” or Hallyu. The term “Korean Wave” was coined in China to refer to the popularity of Korean drama in the 1990s and now refers to the regional popularity of Korean products such as drama, film, music, and fashion within Asia and visible in Western countries, including France, Canada, and United States. Currently, K-pop idols lead the global circulation of Korean pop culture, called “Second Wave,” which is often characterized as group performances driven by dance music and groomed by conglomerate music agents like S.M. Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment.1

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© 2014 Yasue Kuwahara

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Oh, C. (2014). The Politics of the Dancing Body: Racialized and Gendered Femininity in Korean Pop. In: Kuwahara, Y. (eds) The Korean Wave. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137350282_4

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