Hallyu 2.0 and Social Media in Manipur: Examining Cultural Formations Through User Generated Content

This chapter examines Hallyu, a transnational, trans-geographical, and transcultural phenomenon, in the context of Manipur while locating the larger cultural and sociopolitical background of its emergence and popularization in the region. It will look at this subculture within Manipur by delineating certain materialities of its diffusion (K-Drama, K-Cinema, K-Pop, etc.). The main focus will be on the role played by social media (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TwitterFacebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube); a key player that has enabled newer emergent materialities of popular culture reproductions, a stage also known as Hallyu 2.0 (Hong 2013; Jin, Dal Yong. New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media, University of Illinois Press, 2016.; Lie 2012). It will situate this cultural phenomenon within the larger social media networks that enable the formation of user-generated content (UGC) through an interactive economy and fandom-generated transcultural production. Relevant case studies drawn from existing fan bases in Manipur that are actively engaged in the transcultural production of Hallyu 2.0 will demonstrate this continuing formation of subculture. This will locate the rise of digital popular cultures in Manipur through the transnational flows of cultural and popular content via social media.