Transnational fandom in the making: K-pop fans in Vancouver

This study examines how young people become, and feel about being, K-pop fans in a Western context, which is geographically and culturally distant from K-pop's place of origin. Drawing on qualitative interviews with K-pop fans in Vancouver, Canada, the study explores (1) how young fans encounter K-pop and negotiate its cultural distance, (2) how K-pop and its fandom are stereotyped by non-fans, (3) how the stereotypes are negotiated by the fans, and (4) how the fans engage in a particular sense of belonging through K-pop.