The accelerated mobility of capital, people, and commodities in the last two decades has
enhanced media and cultural globalization in non-Western regions. The growth of digital com-
munication technologies, transnational markets and industries, and cultural production capacity
has animated many trajectories of popular culture circulation. The power of Western media
content and infrastructures can still be felt globally. But outside of the United States, East Asia
is already a productive network of media capitals (Curtin 2003) and communities, actively gen-
erating and consuming regionally produced shows, goods, and images. Iconic examples such as
Hong Kong film, Japanese animation, Mandarin pop music, and Korean TV dramas have found
unprecedented approval in the region. They invite material and social connections among peo-
ple and businesses. These developments are the context that has made East Asian popular culture
into a major site of research in the study of media and cultural globalization.
While its emergence fed off capitalistic, cultural, social, and political developments in East
Asia, East Asian popular culture as a research and teaching subject also grew out of two decades
of interactions between institutions and scholarly communities. Dialogues in workshops and
conferences have resulted in numerous published documentations, analyses, and reflections on
East Asian popular culture. Besides offering new perspectives on the issue of de-Westernization
(Curran and Park 2000; Erni and Chua 2005; Chua 2004), many researchers have looked into
the consequences of regional cultural flows (Shim, Heryanto, and Siriyuvasak 2010; Chua 2012;
Berry, Mackintosh, and Liscutin 2009; Kim 2008; Otmazgin and Ben-Ari 2013; Fung 2013).
Scholars have tracked national popular cultures as they made regional and global contacts, such
as Japanese popular cultures (Iwabuchi 2002, 2004; Condry 2006; Allen and Sakamoto 2008),
the Korean Waves (Chua and Iwabuchi 2008; Shim 2006; Cho 2005; Jung 2011; Kim 2013;
Choi and Maliangkay 2014), and the rise of Chinese media cultures and markets (Curtin 2007;
Fung 2008; Zhao 2008). Also found among this fast growing literature are specific interest areas
including film and television media (Keane and Moran 2003; Morris, Li, and Chan 2006; Fung
and Moran 2007; Davis and Yeh 2008; Choi and Wada-Marciano 2009; Yoshimoto, Tsai, and
Choi 2010; Tezuka 2011), gender and sexuality (Berry, Martin, and Yue 2003; Martin, Jackson,
McLelland, and Yue 2008; Kim 2012), and social media and digital culture (Hjorth and Chan
2009). These works have challenged West-centered media and cultural studies in the English
language. They are the much needed coursework material for universities around the world
interested in meeting disciplinary, multicultural, as well as neoliberalist agendas.
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
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