The growing prominence of South Korean pop cultures is often described with the ‘K-’ as evidenced in the expressions and genres like K-pop, K-drama, K-food, and K-culture (Elfving-Hwang, 2013; Lee, 2021b). The flow of ‘K-’ is transnational, moving across regional and cultural boundaries, being modified and reproduced into variations, such as the emerging C-pop culture in China inspired by K-pop (Gong, 2022) and the introduction of the minimalist ‘Korean aesthetic’ genre in Asia (Abidin, 2019). 

This phenomenon is easily sighted in social media pop cultures, in which internet and media personalities and channels associate themselves with the discourses and images of Korean culture (‘K-’) as a new kind of digital capital (Lee & Abidin, 2022). Regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, or region, these figures and channels promote, reappropriate, challenge, and disrupt various discourses and images around South Korea; for example Korean queer YouTubers branding themselves with K-pop BL culture (Lee, 2021a); foreign expat Influencers living in South Korea serving as nodes of intercultural communication between their cultures and Korean culture through their content on Korean food (Lee & Abidin, 2022); Asian American YouTubers closely working with the idea of K-beauty for their business (Kim, 2021). This phenomenon is in tandem with the rise of non-Silicon Valley platforms (e.g. TikTok and Bigo) and the increase of cultural hybridities mixed with global media trends and vernaculars in regions (e.g. virtual idols in East Asia).

While there is emerging scholarship on the ‘K-Influencer’ ecology, focusing on specific Influencer genres (e.g. Lee & Abidin, 2022) or related contexts like the South Korean platform industry (e.g. Jin, 2021), the scholarship should extend further to trace the transnational flow of the ‘K-’ capital in the broader Influencer ecology, identify how social media pop cultures evolve accordingly from a bird-eye view. To do so, two things are important: (1) to ethnographically engage with the study subjects, case studies, and situational contexts by attending to complicated dynamics between different actors in a field, including people’s experiences with cultures, their media practices, relationships with technocultural ‘things’, and their social worlds across the online and offline (Pink et al., 2015); (2) to build knowledges and scholarship that address both global socio-cultural trends and local specificities in different parts of the world and investigate intersecting complexities beyond the Anglophone-centered lens and framework (Iwabuchi, 2016).

This PhD project further expands the growing body of scholarship on ‘K-’ as a new capital in digital culture, by looking at Influencer ecologies in the Asia Pacific region. It interrogates how this new capital is reconfigured by various stakeholders in the K-Influencer ecology for a wide range of different values, including money, fame, information, intercultural awareness, and so on within the context of social media pop cultures. The PhD project will develop a bird’s eye viewpoint on the broader social media pop cultures where various stakeholders, including Influencers, industries, governments, and technological bodies interact with each other, create tensions and bonds, and build symbiotic relationships with each other through their engagement with digital capital and values.

This project’s focus on the K-Influencer ecology can be refined in a number of directions, including (but not limited to): Digital production and economies; Platform and national governance; Race, gender, and sexuality; Internet celebrity and media intimacies; Globalization and transnationalism; Subaltern and subculture; and a variety of socio-cultural examinations and issues.

In order to theorize ways to bring together academic and industry knowledge domains, this PhD project aims to explore the evolving ecology of K-Influencers and beyond in the digital era. It is anticipated that findings from the study will inform how social media users can have better understandings on how their cultural consumption is shaped and Influences the evolving media landscape via K-culture and how related stakeholders can improve their communication skills and outreach by partnering with K-Influencers to encourage the digital good in our society. 

This PhD project has five objectives: 
(1) To map out emerging issues and key factors in the K-Influencer ecology in relation to topics like internet celebrity culture, Influencer industry, creator culture and economy, social media pop cultures, globalisation
(2) To develop innovative and ethical methodological tools that are designed to ethnographically interrogate specific research questions within particular contexts of the local, regional, vernacular, and the global
(3) To identify missing gaps in existing scholarship on relevant topics and build theoretical frameworks that can address the missing gaps from an intersectional, de-westernized, interdisciplinary lens, based on critical thinking skills
(4) To establish new knowledges on the broader Influencer industry, creator culture social media pop cultures
(5) To apply new findings into the real-world situation and embark on disseminating public knowledges on related issues 

This PhD project will contribute to the scholarship of communication studies, internet studies, media studies, anthropology, and sociology, and regional studies like Korean studies and Asian studies. The Asia-Pacific-based research will develop a new approach to engage with the non-Western contexts, which will help de-westernize Silicon-Valley-centered knowledges on the creator culture and economy and decenter Anglophone-centered focus in academia. 

There is an internship opportunity in this project.

• Future Students

• Faculty of Humanities

• Higher Degree by Research

• Australian Citizen
• Australian Permanent Resident
• New Zealand Citizen
• Permanent Humanitarian Visa
• International Student

• Merit Based

The annual scholarship package (stipend and tuition fees) is approx. $60,000 - $70,000 p.a.

Successful HDR applicants for admission will receive a 100% fee offset for up to 4 years, stipend scholarships at the 2023 RTP rate valued at $32,250 p.a. for up to a maximum of 3 years, with a possible 6 month completion scholarship. Applicants are determined via a competitive selection process and will be notified of the scholarship outcome in November 2023. 

For detailed information, visit: Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarships | Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

1

All applicable HDR courses

* Essential: English language IELTS level of 6.5 and above 
* Essential: Successful completion of an Honours or Masters programme with a research component (or equivalent) 
* Essential: Demonstration of competence in qualitative and ethnographic research methods/skills 
* Essential: Interest in internet celebrity and Influencer cultures, Knowledge of social media and digital platforms in the South Korean context, including K-pop culture, Interest in internet cultures in the Asia Pacific context broadly 
* Preferred: Bilingual competence in written and spoken English and Asian language 

If this project excites you, and your research skills and experience are a good fit for this specific project, you should contact the Project Lead (listed below in the enquires section) via the Expression of Interest (EOI) form. ahead of the closing date. Please note you should apply as soon as possible, as once a suitable candidate has been identified this opportunity will no longer be available to receive an EOI.

Eligible to enrol in a Higher Degree by Research Course at Curtin University by March 2024.

Recipients must complete their milestone 1 within 6 month of enrolment and remain enrolled on a full-time basis for the duration of the scholarship.

To enquire about this project opportunity that includes a scholarship application, contact the Project lead, Crystal Abidin via the EOI form above.