Ethnography Project: K-Pop Culture

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Final Report- K-pop Culture/Ethnography Project
Introduction
For this exercise, we chose the K-pop culture, our field site being Koryo bookstore, 35 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10001. Koryo Books generally stock K-pop albums and merchandise, Korean dramas and webtoons, Korean books, and learning materials. We were interested in the K-pop culture because it is randomly growing and extends far beyond South Korea. Additionally, as K-pop fans, we were thrilled to start a journey of exploring the different attributes of the K-pop community, including how they behave, their beliefs, and their attitudes. Further, we were interested in being diverse by interacting with K-pop fans from other different cultural and ethnic grounds. Finally, we were thirsty for a real-time interaction that would expose us to an in-depth comprehension of the K-pop culture, far from what we have seen in social media and other online platforms.
Initial Guiding Questions and Techniques Used in Research
After our first field exercise, we focused on observing K-pop fans walking in and out of the bookstore. We met fans from different regions and had the chance to exchange experiences and worthwhile ideas about K-pop culture. However, we later found that studying K-pop fans was one-sided and decided to focus on observing and learning more about the K-pop culture from Koreans. We intended to achieve a different perspective from the Koreans.
The initial guiding questions for our first observation included aspects such as when non-Korean K-pop fans became interested in K-pop music. Secondly, we were to explore their thoughts on what makes K-pop unique compared to other music genres. Thirdly, we were to enquire whether the participants consumed K-pop content, such as buying albums and attending K-pop concerts. Additionally, we were to ask them about the specific thing that attracted them to the K-pop store. Finally, we were to enquire whether any aspects of Korean culture interested them.
In our second observation, the first initial guiding question aimed at exploring the participants' thoughts on how K-pop and Korean culture are perceived in the United States (US), especially in distinct areas such as K-town in New York, where there are several Koreans. Our second guiding question targeted having a glimpse from the participants on how K-pop has influenced the Korean culture in Korea and around the world. The third question was to highlight how K-pop culture has influenced American culture. The fourth question was to gain insight into how the popularity of K-pop culture has affected the merchandise industry, especially the Koryo books. The final question reflected how Korean y...