In late December, the special issue of East Asian Journal of Popular Culture that I co-edited together with Dr Kristine Michelle Santos of Ateneo de Manila University finally saw publication after an anxious 2-years of reviews and re-writes. Titled “Queering the Korean Wave,” the special issue brings together five presentations from the previous conference hosted at Macquarie University in late 2022 that sought to understand why and how K-pop had developed into such a powerful force among LGBTQ+ consumers around the world.

The Table of Contents for the Special Issue is below:

1. Towards a queer theory of the Korean Wave: Potentiality and paradox – Thomas Baudinette and Kristine Michelle L. Santos
2. Queer counterpublic and queer fan activism in South Korean K-Pop fandom: A case study of ‘Rainbow MooMoo’ – Olivia George
3. Exploring Philippine queer possibilities through transformative K-pop imaginations online – Kristine Michelle L. Santos
4. ‘Banning sissy idols to clean up the entertainment industry’: Queer practices of shipping BTS in Mainland China – Zishan Lai and Michelle H. S. Ho
5. ‘Your sexual orientation based on your bias’: Queerness as a new default in online K-pop fan communities – Julia Trzcińska
6. Almost-kisses, grabbing crotches: OnlyOneOf, queerbaiting and the politics of dislike – Asna Kadambot Mohamed Rasheed and Devanshi Sarin

The issue also contains two general papers which focus on BL fandom across the Anglophone world and LGBTQ+ media in Japan that regular readers of my work may also find interesting, as well as an interview with the director of a Queer Asian film festival in the UK. There are also a handful of book reviews.

I have a strong commitment to open scholarship and have decided, with the permissions of our contributors, to make the full special issue available for download to interested general readers.

You can download the special issue via this link.