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Consuming Cosmopolitan White(ness)

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Mixed-Race Politics and Neoliberal Multiculturalism in South Korean Media

Part of the book series: East Asian Popular Culture ((EAPC))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses white Amerasian actor and celebrity Daniel Henney, an interesting counterpoint to Ward’s case. Media discourse around Henney is disconnected from Korea’s racist past and is instead articulated with discourses of transnational mobility, cosmopolitan whiteness, and beauty. The Henney moment is considered as a neoliberal project that reorients racial lines by transforming beauty norms and masculinity in contemporary Korean popular culture. Through a thorough analysis of his visual representation in fashion magazines, TV commercials, and TV dramas, the chapter demonstrates that his whiteness is not a mere marker of his race but also an index of other intersecting categories, including (trans)nationality, beauty, gender, and class.

I’m definitely a Korean actor until the day I die

—Daniel Henney23

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA

    Ji-Hyun Ahn

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Ahn, JH. (2018). Consuming Cosmopolitan White(ness). In: Mixed-Race Politics and Neoliberal Multiculturalism in South Korean Media. East Asian Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65774-5_4

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