Contemporary Asian Popular Culture : Cultural Dynamics and Global Impact

This second of two volumes explores broader cultural, economic, and socio-political dynamics exchanged between Asian popular media and the world. The authors analyze how the said media navigate complex global markets and technological advancements. They discuss how dissemination and consumption of Asian popular culture, such as early Chinese-language movie theaters, Netflix, subtitling of Asian content, impact the popularity of cultural contents. They also examine the portrayal of ajummas (middle-aged women) in Korean TV and film, along with the varying representations of utopia and dystopia embedded in Asian science fiction. This volume illustrates the soft power of media in transnational exchanges.

Yeojin Kim, Ph.D. is an associate professor in Communication at Central Connecticut State University. She is also affiliated with the East Asian Studies and Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies. Her primary research area is digital media and strategic communication, focusing on how organizations and the public communicate in a digital media environment, employing various messages and channels to achieve specific strategic goals.

Dharshani Lakmali Jayasinghe, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Anglophone and World Literatures in the Department of English at Central Connecticut State University, USA. With a background in comparative literature, Jayasinghe’s interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research and teaching interests include themes in immigration, visa law and policy, LGBTQIA+ identity, Global South epistemologies, and translation studies in anglophone and world literatures and film.

Hiba Aleem, Ph.D. is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English, Writing, and Communication at Emmanuel College in Boston, where she teaches Literary Methods and has taught Global Literature and Film and Academic Writing. She is also a Fulbright program scholar from Washington College, Chestertown, holds a Ph. D in English from JNU, New Delhi, and has more than six years of experience teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in English literature, language, and writing.

Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Ph.D. is a professor in Communication and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Central Connecticut State University. In 2021 she co-edited Mediated Terrorism in the 21. Century (Palgrave) with Elena Caoduro and Karen Randell. New Perspectives on the War Film was published by Palgrave in 2019, co-edited with Clémentine Tholas and Janis L. Goldie. Ritzenhoff has published three additional anthologies with Palgrave.