Korean American Pop Culture

Jonathan Apostol

ASA 2 Section A01

Reflection #8

Response to "Korean American Youth and Transnational Flows of Popular Culture across the Pacific" by Jung-Sun Park

In Park's article, she discusses the importance of Korean American pop culture in the transnational aspects of 1st generation Korean youth immigrant lives as well as the larger impact of Korean pop culture on the Asian American culture at large and how it compares to Asian visibility in mainstream American culture. Park engages with discourses from multiple perspectives, demonstrating how Korean immigrant youth upkeep their transnational connections through the multitude of technology available today, using their home country's culture to shape their identity in the U.S. Also, because of the rising popularity of Korean pop culture in Asian American discourses, Park establishes that Korean pop culture assists in Korean immigrant youths' assimilation into an "American" identity through cultural sharing. Park admits that Western influence to Korean culture could have been introduced during Japanese colonialization and media influence, but maintains that Korean American youth will likely continue being outlets for spreading Korean American culture.

Question: How do you feel about K-Pop and its prominence in Asian American youth culture?