Journal of Asian Pacific Communication – Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Call for proposals: Twenty-Five Years Later: Rethinking the Impact of Hallryu (Korean Wave) as a Global Popular Cultural Force, Special Issue of the Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. Deadline for abstracts: 30 April 2023.

Submissions are encouraged from scholars that use different theoretical and empirical approaches to the special issue of Journal of Asian Pacific Communication on the impact of Korean Wave (Hallyu) as a global popular cultural force. As the process of globalization has eroded traditional forms of national culture and identity, the interfusion between local cultures and global culture continues to increase in various corner of the world. A prominent example of the globalization of culture can be found in the Korean Wave (pronounced Hallyu in Korean). The Korean Wave, which began about 25 years ago with the exporting of Korean TV dramas across East and Southeast Asia, now refers to the popularity of South Korean popular culture including drama, movies and popular music in other Asian countries. As the seventh-largest film market in the world, Korea is now a brisk exporter of music, TV programming, and films to the Asia region and other continents such as Africa, North and South Americas, and Europe. Now this Korean version of cultural imperialism has impact on Korean language, interracial marriage, imported labors to cultural commodities such as foods, cosmetics, fashion, education, and tourism.

The special issue will examine the past, present, and future impacts of Korean Wave as a global popular cultural force in terms of political, cultural, historical, sociological, and economical aspects with a focus on the key internal and external moments, constructs, elements, fads, factors shaping current and future developments of Korean Wave. The articles will examine communication and discourse in media, social media, political and cultural arenas, and space it occupies in a certain nation or region. They will also focus on how use of language (and translation) and non-verbal symbolic systems in any on communicative contexts, including face-to-face interactions/conversations/dialog within a KW context, and popular cultural texts such as films, music, animation, television drama, etc.

The Journal of Asian Pacific Communication invites authors to submit proposals or abstract for studies that engage both empirical and critical perspectives for Korean Wave (Hallyu) research. They are particularly interested in studies that apply existing empirical and critical methodologies towards analyzing and identifying the past, present, and future perspectives and phenomena. They encourage proposals from a variety of scholarly areas (e.g., intercultural, political, interpersonal, media, organizational, cultural and global studies, economics, performance studies, music, film studies, linguistics, journalism, ads and PR, and social media, etc.). Finally, the special issue welcomes any theoretical essays that deal with Korean Wave in the context of (post) cultural imperialism and post-colonialism.

Journal of Asian Pacific Communication (JAPC) Special Issue Call for Papers
The Roles of Communication on a Regional Conflict: Antipathy, Nationalism, and Conflicts in Territorial Disputes among China, Japan, and South Korea

Submissions are encouraged from scholars that use different theoretical and empirical approaches to the special issue of Journal of Asian Pacific Communication on the role of communication (e.g. legal, diplomatic, and public discourses) in territorial disputes among China, Japan, and South Korea. Territorial disputes between China and Japan over Diaoyu (Chinese) or Senkaku (Japanese) island and between Japan and South Korea over the Dokdo (Korea) or Takeshima (Japanese) island have escalated particularly in recent years and given rise to concerns about peace and security in the region. The special issue will examine the roles of communication and discourse on their political, cultural, historical, and economical aspects of the territorial disputes with a focus on the key internal and external factors shaping current and future relations. The articles will examine communication and discourse in institutional and political settings, i.e., in and around organizations, in the media, and on the internet. They will focus on how use of language and non-verbal symbolic systems in specific, esp. institutional, communicative contexts, including face-to-face diplomatic interactions/conversations, news release, and popular cultural texts such as films, music, animation, television drama, etc. impact the territorial disputes.

(1) News Coverage on the Disputes: Articles may examine how news media cover the disputes and the accompanying debates on international and domestic levels by conducting content (quantitative) or textural (qualitative) analysis of newspaper articles or broadcasting news contents in two territorial disputes among three nations (or comparative studies). They may also examine how media represent conflict and its potential impact on the audience.

(2) Public Opinion and Propaganda: Although territorial disputes are one of the most fraught issues among states, how public opinion and official and unofficial propaganda on territorial disputes varies within states and what explains the variation are often overlooked. Some articles may examine the dynamics of messages and see how public prioritizes and processes nationalistic, historical, and economic considerations over such disputes. They may hypothesize, for example, that younger generations are more likely to support some level of compromise while older generations would take a more a hawkish stance.

(3) Political and Diplomatic Communication: There are inevitable political aspects in disputed territories. The role of the U.S. can be an explosive force in these disputes. Although the U.S. may maintain the neutrality in the territorial disputes among three nations, the U.S. concerns that China’s muscle in the region could escalate the conflicts with neighboring Vietnam, Malaysia, and Philippine and Japan. The U.S. may support their territorial disputes in order to counter China’s regional hegemonic ambition. The papers may examine rhetorical aspects of political communication (emails, news releases, press conferences, legal action threats, languages of peace and conflicts) in these disputes.

(4) Role of Social Media and Bloggers: Angry and reasonable participants of social media have escalated various international conflicts including the territorial disputes. Papers may analyze social media, internet, and cyber warfare on the disputes among three nations and see how these disputes are mediated, produced, received, and reconstituted.

(5) Role of Popular Cultural Texts: These disputes have been constructed and deconstructed through comics, television dramas, films, dance, theaters, and music in three nations. They are also largely consumed and shared in internet. Papers may explore how these popular cultural texts can personalize and frame the disputes and make the readers to frame of references in their opinions on the topic. Or analyze the texts based on power, ideology, and discourses.

All manuscripts will be reviewed as a cohort for this special issue. Manuscripts must be submitted here. All submissions will go through a regular double-blind review process and follow the standard norms and processes. The deadline for submissions is October 15, 2016. Submissions should be emailed to Eungjun Min, emin[at]ric.edu.