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Papers by Shuling Huang

Chinese Journal of Communication Research, 2017

This study explores the construction of “tourist gaze” by examining Taiwan’s tourism policies fro... more This study explores the construction of “tourist gaze” by examining
Taiwan’s tourism policies from the 1950s to the present day. It identifies
four distinctive stages through which discourses of tourism policy has
shifted from the paradigm of nation building to that of nation branding.
The constructed gazing has also changed from “Chineseness” to
“Taiwanness.” This study showed that tourism is an ideological state
apparatus that materializes banal nationalism. The trend towards nation
branding seems to undermine the rhetoric of nation building, as the logic
of economic competitiveness replaces the importance of nationalism.
However, the attempt to construct Taiwan as an object of tourist gaze in
light of globalization, paradoxically, helps construct Taiwan as a new
nation and realize its cultural subjectivity. Tourism thus also participates
in Taiwan’s cultural Taiwanization.

Mobilities, 2021

Adopting Salazar’s ‘imaginaries of mobility,’ this paper investigates how transnational mobility ... more Adopting Salazar’s ‘imaginaries of mobility,’ this paper investigates how transnational mobility becomes imaginable, desirable or even experientially imperative for mobile Taiwanese young adults in the context of globalisation. It analyses the ways by which they interpret their mobilities as a pursuit of self-identity while negotiating the tensions between collectivism and individualism of Taiwanese society. Based on personal profiles and self-narratives of mobility appearing on a Taiwanese media website devoted to the topic of transnational mobility, I demonstrate how writers present a ‘mobile self’ characterised by being geographically mobile, socially transgressive and culturally cosmopolitan. This self is depicted in sharp contrast with the immobile at home and narrated as an integral part of achieving identity through three kinds of self-transformation: becoming true to oneself, becoming independent, and becoming a dreamer. While these narratives resonate Western discourses of mobility, they are interpreted from the lens of individualism-collectivism opposition in East Asia and of generational conflicts in Taiwan. Specifically, transnational mobility, regardless forms, is framed as a generational revolt against a collectivist society that represses individuality. The results show how imaginaries of mobility are recontextualised, producing meaning and practice based on local
references.

Book Reviews by Shuling Huang

Media, Culture & Society, 2017

The proliferation of studies on Korean television dramas, film and popular music (K-pop) in recen... more The proliferation of studies on Korean television dramas, film and popular music (K-pop) in recent years has generated a robust Korean Wave(Hallyu) scholarship. As research started to exhaust its subject matter, the Wave has transformed from a regional presence to a global phenomenon that manifests remarkable media contra-flows from the peripheries (Thussu, 2007). This geographical expansion of Korean popular culture has reignited interest in the phenomenon which can no longer be explained by concepts such as cultural proximity (Straubhaar, 1991). Scholarly research now focuses on the production, circulation, reception and consumption of Hallyu on a global scale. In particular, the
role of social media in the Wave’s transnationalizing process is intriguing. This transformation constitutes the main theme of two new books: Dal Yong Jin’s New Korean wave: Transnational cultural power in the age of the social media (2016, hereafter New Korean Wave) and Sangjoon Lee and Abé Mark Nornes’ edited anthology Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the age of the social media (2015, hereafter Hallyu 2.0). As evidenced
by their titles, both books discuss the Korean Wave in relation to social media.

Books by Shuling Huang

Asian Cultural Flows: Cultural Policies, Creative Industries, and Media Consumers, 2018

Japanese and Korean popular culture has brought the consumer culture of the two countries to neig... more Japanese and Korean popular culture has brought the consumer culture of the two countries to neighboring nations and greatly boosted inbound tourism. Nevertheless, the degree to which popular culture is effective as a soft power strategy remains a point of debate. This chapter empirically explores whether the Japanmania and the Korean Wave that swept Taiwan in the 1990s and 2000s respectively have changed Taiwanese perceptions of Japan and South Korea. Focusing on the media as the dominant representation of culture, I examine Taiwanese media discourses on Japan and South Korea from 1951 to 2015 in order to look at discursive continuities and changes. The findings show that, first, Japan and South Korea have been represented with very different themes. Japan has been portrayed either as the main political adversary or as a frontrunner of modernization. These two narratives are greatly influenced by Taiwan's domestic politics, which has been polarized by two opposing nationalisms. In contrast, South Korea has been framed as Taiwan's major economic competitor on the road to modernization. Therefore, media discourses on Japan and South Korea actually reflect Taiwan's struggle over identity. Second, with the onset of inflows of Japanese and Korean popular culture, extreme discourses in Taiwan regarding the two countries have also increased. In addition to positive portrayals of their popular culture and consumer culture, politically polarized discourses on Japan and discussion of economic competition against South Korea have also become dramatized. This indicates that transnational cultural flows enhance mutual understanding in some ways, but can also spur resistance. The forms of resistance may vary, depending on the local context.

Chinese Journal of Communication Research, 2017

This study explores the construction of “tourist gaze” by examining Taiwan’s tourism policies fro... more This study explores the construction of “tourist gaze” by examining
Taiwan’s tourism policies from the 1950s to the present day. It identifies
four distinctive stages through which discourses of tourism policy has
shifted from the paradigm of nation building to that of nation branding.
The constructed gazing has also changed from “Chineseness” to
“Taiwanness.” This study showed that tourism is an ideological state
apparatus that materializes banal nationalism. The trend towards nation
branding seems to undermine the rhetoric of nation building, as the logic
of economic competitiveness replaces the importance of nationalism.
However, the attempt to construct Taiwan as an object of tourist gaze in
light of globalization, paradoxically, helps construct Taiwan as a new
nation and realize its cultural subjectivity. Tourism thus also participates
in Taiwan’s cultural Taiwanization.

Mobilities, 2021

Adopting Salazar’s ‘imaginaries of mobility,’ this paper investigates how transnational mobility ... more Adopting Salazar’s ‘imaginaries of mobility,’ this paper investigates how transnational mobility becomes imaginable, desirable or even experientially imperative for mobile Taiwanese young adults in the context of globalisation. It analyses the ways by which they interpret their mobilities as a pursuit of self-identity while negotiating the tensions between collectivism and individualism of Taiwanese society. Based on personal profiles and self-narratives of mobility appearing on a Taiwanese media website devoted to the topic of transnational mobility, I demonstrate how writers present a ‘mobile self’ characterised by being geographically mobile, socially transgressive and culturally cosmopolitan. This self is depicted in sharp contrast with the immobile at home and narrated as an integral part of achieving identity through three kinds of self-transformation: becoming true to oneself, becoming independent, and becoming a dreamer. While these narratives resonate Western discourses of mobility, they are interpreted from the lens of individualism-collectivism opposition in East Asia and of generational conflicts in Taiwan. Specifically, transnational mobility, regardless forms, is framed as a generational revolt against a collectivist society that represses individuality. The results show how imaginaries of mobility are recontextualised, producing meaning and practice based on local
references.

Media, Culture & Society, 2017

The proliferation of studies on Korean television dramas, film and popular music (K-pop) in recen... more The proliferation of studies on Korean television dramas, film and popular music (K-pop) in recent years has generated a robust Korean Wave(Hallyu) scholarship. As research started to exhaust its subject matter, the Wave has transformed from a regional presence to a global phenomenon that manifests remarkable media contra-flows from the peripheries (Thussu, 2007). This geographical expansion of Korean popular culture has reignited interest in the phenomenon which can no longer be explained by concepts such as cultural proximity (Straubhaar, 1991). Scholarly research now focuses on the production, circulation, reception and consumption of Hallyu on a global scale. In particular, the
role of social media in the Wave’s transnationalizing process is intriguing. This transformation constitutes the main theme of two new books: Dal Yong Jin’s New Korean wave: Transnational cultural power in the age of the social media (2016, hereafter New Korean Wave) and Sangjoon Lee and Abé Mark Nornes’ edited anthology Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the age of the social media (2015, hereafter Hallyu 2.0). As evidenced
by their titles, both books discuss the Korean Wave in relation to social media.

Asian Cultural Flows: Cultural Policies, Creative Industries, and Media Consumers, 2018

Japanese and Korean popular culture has brought the consumer culture of the two countries to neig... more Japanese and Korean popular culture has brought the consumer culture of the two countries to neighboring nations and greatly boosted inbound tourism. Nevertheless, the degree to which popular culture is effective as a soft power strategy remains a point of debate. This chapter empirically explores whether the Japanmania and the Korean Wave that swept Taiwan in the 1990s and 2000s respectively have changed Taiwanese perceptions of Japan and South Korea. Focusing on the media as the dominant representation of culture, I examine Taiwanese media discourses on Japan and South Korea from 1951 to 2015 in order to look at discursive continuities and changes. The findings show that, first, Japan and South Korea have been represented with very different themes. Japan has been portrayed either as the main political adversary or as a frontrunner of modernization. These two narratives are greatly influenced by Taiwan's domestic politics, which has been polarized by two opposing nationalisms. In contrast, South Korea has been framed as Taiwan's major economic competitor on the road to modernization. Therefore, media discourses on Japan and South Korea actually reflect Taiwan's struggle over identity. Second, with the onset of inflows of Japanese and Korean popular culture, extreme discourses in Taiwan regarding the two countries have also increased. In addition to positive portrayals of their popular culture and consumer culture, politically polarized discourses on Japan and discussion of economic competition against South Korea have also become dramatized. This indicates that transnational cultural flows enhance mutual understanding in some ways, but can also spur resistance. The forms of resistance may vary, depending on the local context.