Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
Vol. 29:2 (2019) ► pp.149–167

White cyber-protest in a Facebook group

Articulating colorblind racialization in response to perceived South Korean televised “xenophobia”

| Ramapo College of New Jersey

This study builds upon a nascent body of scholarship that examines the transnational movement of White Westerners. The purpose is to complicate the literature on multiculturalism and globalization by examining the “reverse” migration from, rather than to, the West. Specifically, it examines White migrants’ mobilization of online social protest through a Facebook group that came together in response to a report broadcast on South Korea’s Munhwa Broadcasting Company (MBC) that was interpreted as racist and xenophobic. In response, White residents in Korea organized dissent and engaged in symbolic protest that served a collective ego function, creating community around a perceived sense of shared oppression as racialized minorities. To do so, they drew on global hierarchies, White supremacy, and heteronormativity to challenge their lack of control over their own representations in the local culture.

Keywords: White expat, Facebook group, cyber-protest, South Korea, colorblind racialization
Article outline
  • Methodological decisions
  • Blogging, social networking sites, & race
  • Igniting protest
    • Colorblind racialization and self
    • Symbolic resistance
      • Direct address
      • Sarcasm
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00028.oh
References
Abrahamian, A.
(2012) Relationships with foreigners are shocking? Korea Times. Retrieved from [URL]
Ahn, J.-H.
(2015) Desiring biracial whites: Cultural consumption of white mixed-race celebrities in South Korean popular media. Media, Culture & Society, 37(6), 937–947. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barker, C., & Galasinski, D.
(2001) Cultural studies and discourse analysis: A dialogue on language and identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Choe, H.
(2007) South Korean society and multicultural citizenship. Korea Journal, 47(4), 123–146. Retrieved from [URL]
Cisneros, J. D., & Nakayama, T. K.
(2015) New media, old racisms: Twitter, Miss America, and cultural logics of race. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 8(2), 108–127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Croucher, S.
(2009) Migrants of privilege: The political transnationalism of Americans in Mexico. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 16(4), 463–491. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Drzewiecka, J. A., & Steyn, M.
(2012) Racial immigrant incorporation: Material-symbolic articulation of identities. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 5(1), 1–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dubrofsky, R. E., & Wood, M. M.
(2014) Posting racism and sexism: Authenticity, agency and self-reflexivity in social media. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 11(3), 282–287. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Espiritu, Y. L.
(2004) Ideological racism and cultural resistance: Constructing our own images. In M. L. Andersen & P. Hill Collins (Eds.), Race, class, and gender: An anthology (5th ed., pp. 175–184). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Fairclough, N.
(2010) Critical discourse analysis and the critical study of language (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Longman.Google Scholar
Florini, S.
(2014) Tweets, tweeps, and signifyin’: Communication and cultural performance on “Black Twitter”. Television & New Media, 15(3), 223–237. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frankenberg, R.
(1993) White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grzanka, P. R., & Maher, J.
(2012) Different, like everyone else: Stuff White People Like and the marketplace of diversity. Symbolic Interaction, 35(3), 368–393. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gweon, Y.-L.
(2004) The changing perception of America in South Korea: Transition or transformation? Korea Journal, 44(1), 152–177. Retrieved from [URL]
Halverson, J. R., Ruston, S. W., & Trethewey, A.
(2013) Mediated martyrs of the Arab Spring: New media, civil religion, and narrative in Tunisia and Egypt. JOurnal of Communication, 63(2), 312–332. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Höhn, M., & Moon, S.
(2010) Introduction: The politics of gender, sexuality, race, and class in the U.S. military empire. In M. Höhn & S. Moon (Eds.), Over there: Living with the U.S. military empire from World War Two to the present (pp. 1–36). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holling, M. A., Moon, D. G., & Nevis, A. J.
(2014) Racist violations and racializing apologia in a post-racism era. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 7(4), 260–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jayakumar, U. M., & Adamian, A. S.
(2017) The fifth frame of colorblind ideology: Maintaining the comforts of colorblindness in the context of white fragility. Sociological Perspectives, 60(5), 912–936. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, A.
(2007) The subtleties of blatant sexism. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 4(2), 166–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. R., Rich, M., & Cargile, A. C.
(2008) “Why are you shoving this stuff down our throats?”: Preparing intercultural educators to challenge performances of White racism. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1(2), 113–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kang, L. H.-Y.
(2002) The desiring of Asian female bodies: Interracial romance and cinematic subjection. In P. X. Feng (Ed.), Screening Asian Americans (pp. 71–98). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Kerry, P.
(2012) Expats outraged by ‘racist MBC report. Korea Times. Retrieved from [URL]
KhosraviNik, M., & Zia, M.
(2014) Persian nationalism, identity and anti-Arab sentiments in Iranian Facebook discourses. Journal of Language and Politics, 13(4), 755–780. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, N. Y.
(2006a) “Patriarchy is so third world”: Korean immigrant women and “migrating” White Western masculinity. Social Problems, 53(4), 519–536. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006b) “Seoul – America” on America’s “soul”: South Koreans and Korean immigrants navigate global white racial ideology. Critical Sociology, 32(2–3), 381–402. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, Y.-S.
(2008) Communication experiences of American expatriates in South Korea: A study of cross-cultural adaptation. Human Communication, 11(4), 511–528. Retrieved from [URL]
Korean Immigration Statistics 2013
(2013) Seoul, South Korea.Google Scholar
Le, T., & Le, Q.
(2009) Introduction. In T. Le, Q. Le, & M. Short (Eds.), Critical discourse analysis: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 3–15). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Lee, C. J., & Katz, A. N.
(1998) The differential role of ridicule in sarcasm and irony. Metaphor and Symbol, 13(1), 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leong, P., Joseph, S. R. H., & Boulay, R.
(2010) Applying constant comparative and discourse analyses to virtual worlds research. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 3(1), 3–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewis, K., Kaufman, J., Gonzalez, M., Wimmer, A., & Christakis, N.
(2008) Tastes, ties, and time: A new social network dataset using Facebook.com. Social Networks, 301, 330–342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lipsitz, G.
(1998) The possessive investment in Whiteness: How White people profit from identity politics. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Mallapragada, M.
(2014) Rethinking desi: Race, class, and online activism of Southeast Asian immigrants in the United States. Television & New Media, 15(7), 664–678. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLelland, M.
(2008) ‘Race’ on the Japanese internet: Discussing Korea and Koreans on ‘2-channeru’. New Media & Society, 10(6), 811–829. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milazzo, M.
(2015) The rhetorics of racial power: Enforcing colorblindness in post-Apartheid scholarship on race. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 8(1), 7–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mitra, R.
(2010) Resisting the spectacle of pride: Queer Indian bloggers as interpretive communities. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54(1), 163–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, L.
(2007) Digitizing race: Visual cultures of the Internet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Oh, D. C.
(2016) “Payback for Pearl Harbor”: Racist ideologies online of karmic retribution for White America and postracial resistance. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 40(3), 247–266. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oh, D. C., & Oh, C.
(2017) Vlogging White privilege abroad: Eat Your Kimchi’s eating and spitting out of the Korean other on YouTube. Communication, Culture, & Critique, 10(4), 696–711. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Parker, D., & Song, M.
(2006) New ethnicities online: Reflexive racialisation and the internet. The Sociological Review, 54(3), 575–594. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Petray, T. L.
(2011) Protest 2.0: Online interactions and Aboriginal activists. Media, Culture & Society, 33(6), 923–940. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pfister, D., & Soliz, J.
(2011) (Re)conceptualizing intercultural communication in a networked society. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 4(4), 246–251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ramstad, E.
(2012) MBC Producer: What’s the fuss about? Retrieved from [URL]
Rauch, S. M., & Schanz, K.
(2013) Advancing racism with Facebook: Frequency and purpose of Facebook use and the acceptance of prejudiced and egalitarian messages. Computers in Human Behavior, 291, 610–615. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Squires, C., Watts, E. K., Vavrus, M. D., Ono, K. A., Feyh, K., Calafell, B. M., & Brouwer, D. C.
(2010) Running through the trenches: Or, an introduction to the undead culture wars and dead serious identity politics. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 34(3), 211–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J.
(1994) Grounded theory methodology: An overview. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 273–285). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Striley, K. M., & Lawson, S.
(2014) Theorizing communication orientations of privilege: How White discourses (de)construct Australian Aboriginals. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 7(2), 170–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tang, Q., & Chao, C.-C.
(2010) Foreigners’ archive: Contemporary China in the blogs of American expatriates. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3(4), 384–401. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tolton, L. M.
(2014) A groping versus ‘real violence’ in Colombia: Contrast as a minimisation strategy. Critical Discourse Studies, 11(3), 322–341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Dijk, T. A.
(1993) Analyzing racism through discourse analysis. In J. H. Stanfield & R. M. Dennis (Eds.), Race and ethnicity in research methods (pp. 92–134). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
(2002) Multidisciplinary CDA: A plea for diversity. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (pp. 95–120). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
(2005) Contextual knowledge management in discourse production: A CDA perspective. In R. Wodak & P. Chilton (Eds.), A new agenda in (critical) discourse analysis: Theory, method and interdisciplinarity (pp. 71–100). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, R.
(2002) What CDA is about – a summary of its history, important concepts and its developments. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (pp. 1–13). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar