RESEARCH/ WORKING AREA D
REGIONAL AND TRANSREGIONAL CIRCULATION(S)
The projects that make up working area D focus on regional and transregional circulations and are interested in practices of diffusion and reception. Scholars from different disciplines examine cultural flows specifically from Korea and Nigeria as prominent sites of cultural production and the extent and complexities of their radiation.
Our various sub-projects focus on the circulation and reception of media flows and cultural productions from Nigeria to DR Congo, from Korea to Sub-Saharan Africa, and from Korea to Taiwan as important sites of cultural production. We are particularly interested in the circulation of film, music, and cartoon productions and their reception across regional and transregional movements. Contexts studied include historical trends in cultural production in each geographic area, networks and connections between cultural producers and consumers – and their dynamics, and changing and evolving social, cultural, and linguistic practices in the context of transregional circulation(s). Overall, we approach these contexts by examining analog forms of dissemination and newer digital channels via social media platforms. Projects grouped in this research area demonstrate the global diversification of diffusion practices within cultural industries in Africa and Asia and the increasing role of digital media in dissemination and reception.
Individual case studies focus on (among other topics) gender and sexuality in mechanisms of cultural production in Asia and Africa, South Korean cultural exports and their reception in African contexts, they explore gender perspectives of cultural products and nation branding in South Korean cinema, West and Central African women and their socio-cultural entrepreneurial activities, language use and language change in media industries between Francophone and Anglophone Africa, and possible shifts in the direction of circulation in East Asia, to name a few.
Within this research area, we are interested in how artifacts of trans/regionally radiating cultural industries spread and what dynamics transregional cultural and exchange spaces develop in the process. Furthermore, we investigate how the diffusion/reception of the products of the cultural industries of Korea and Nigeria are studied in their respective regions and are interested in the role of increasing digitalization in these dynamic and partly counter-hegemonic processes.
Our various sub-projects focus on the circulation and reception of media flows and cultural productions from Nigeria to DR Congo, from Korea to Sub-Saharan Africa, and from Korea to Taiwan as important sites of cultural production. We are particularly interested in the circulation of film, music, and cartoon productions and their reception across regional and transregional movements. Contexts studied include historical trends in cultural production in each geographic area, networks and connections between cultural producers and consumers – and their dynamics, and changing and evolving social, cultural, and linguistic practices in the context of transregional circulation(s). Overall, we approach these contexts by examining analog forms of dissemination and newer digital channels via social media platforms. Projects grouped in this research area demonstrate the global diversification of diffusion practices within cultural industries in Africa and Asia and the increasing role of digital media in dissemination and reception.
Individual case studies focus on (among other topics) gender and sexuality in mechanisms of cultural production in Asia and Africa, South Korean cultural exports and their reception in African contexts, they explore gender perspectives of cultural products and nation branding in South Korean cinema, West and Central African women and their socio-cultural entrepreneurial activities, language use and language change in media industries between Francophone and Anglophone Africa, and possible shifts in the direction of circulation in East Asia, to name a few.
Within this research area, we are interested in how artifacts of trans/regionally radiating cultural industries spread and what dynamics transregional cultural and exchange spaces develop in the process. Furthermore, we investigate how the diffusion/reception of the products of the cultural industries of Korea and Nigeria are studied in their respective regions and are interested in the role of increasing digitalization in these dynamic and partly counter-hegemonic processes.
APPROACH/ METHODS
The projects combine various qualitative methods relevant to the humanities and social sciences and bridge the disciplines involved and their methods. These range from text analysis to qualitative interviews with actors in the media industry, methods of content analysis, film analysis, and archival work. (Digital) ethnographic methods play an important role in several projects of our research area.
PROJECTS
NEWS
