Exploring cultural hybridity, questioning cultural appropriation: Peruvian fans’ responses to Latin tropes in K-pop

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative interviews with K-pop fans in Lima, Peru, this study explores how Latin fans think about and negotiate K-pop industries’ citations of Latin pop music tropes. It addresses the ways in which K-pop's practices of citing other cultures are perceived by the audience whose culture is cited. The Peruvian fans in this study suggest that the citations of other cultures observed in K-pop offer versatile entry points for them to easily engage in the cultural genre. For them, K-pop is a novel cultural genre that has become an alternative yet intimate cultural resource, especially compared to hegemonic American pop music. By providing an analysis of Latin K-pop fans’ lived experiences through the lens of cultural hybridity and appropriation, this audience study contributes to the field of transcultural media research.