Identity construction and negotiation of a hijab-wearing Malay-Muslim Korean Pop Fan by Nursyaheedah Muhammad Isa and Sophie Reissner-Roubicek
ABSTRACT
The rise of Western and non-Western entertainment in Malaysia has faced resistance from Islamic conservatives who view foreign pop culture as a negative influence. Malay-Muslim fans of Korean pop, particularly women who wear hijabs, have been subject to extreme criticism, labelled as “cheap" or "obsessed," and shamed as idol-worshippers. While previous studies have explored the influences of K-pop, there is a gap in research concerning the experience of K-pop’s predominantly female fanbase, especially regarding their religious identity. Notably, there is a need to understand how young Malay-Muslim women who wear hijabs balance their religious beliefs with their love for Korean pop culture. In this paper, I share the preliminary findings from my pilot study, which seeks to address the research gap by exploring how these fans reconcile the conflict between their religious and fan identities. It includes examples from an in-depth interview I conducted with a fan, to demonstrate how two of the identity principles proposed by Bucholtz and Hall (2005) were employed in the analysis. These principles are in line with a social constructionist perspective on identity, which sees identities as co-constructed in interaction or to simply put as ‘talked into being’. The insights gained from this discourse analysis reflect the complex interplay of identity construction and negotiation involving self and other-positionings that include the rejection or validation of certain fan behaviours, as well as active engagement in balancing the fan identity and the religious identity. Additionally, the application of Bucholtz and Hall (2005) identity principles to the analysis of religious and fan discourses demonstrate the applicability and relevance of the principles in diverse contexts further enriching the broader scholarly discourse on identity and culture.
Keywords: Identity construction, religious identity, fan identity, K-pop, Malay-Muslim women