Lexington Books
Pages: 214
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-7936-2516-8 • Hardback • December 2020 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-7936-2517-5 • eBook • December 2020 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Hojeong Lee teaches media studies in the Department of Media Studies and Production at Temple University.
Korean Digital Diaspora: Transnational Social Movement and Digital Identity critically examines how Korean immigrants in the areas of New York City and Philadelphia have created a transnational diasporic community using digital media technology. Based on participant observations, field work and personal interviews, it examines how their community based on digital technology not only has facilitated their social communications and interactions, but also orchestrated their transnational movements regarding social and political issues in Korea and reshaped their diasporic identities. This book greatly contributes to both digital studies and immigrant transnationalism studies. I recommend it as an ideal textbook for an immigrant transnationalism course.
— Pyong Gap Min, Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
Hojeong Lee’s book is an insightful exploration of the roles of media in processes of agency, memory, and resistance in Korean diaspora communities. Using extensive ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, Lee examines the ways Korean communities use media and digital platforms to form diasporic communication networks, maintain connections to their homeland, and create and strengthen social movements. Lee’s book is a successful example of the media studies ideal: exploring, in Nick Couldry’s words, “how media are embedded in the interlocking fabric of social and cultural life.”
— Clemencia Rodríguez, Temple University