Park, S. (2025). Playing with Blackness: Critical race humour and the shifting dynamics of Black identity in South Korean media. Celebrity Studies, 16(3), pp.346-362. DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2025.2521218
I was motivated to conduct this research after observing Jonathan, a Congolese YouTuber and television personality active in South Korea. His distinctive humor and content stimulate reflections on race that have often been overlooked or treated as taboo within Korean society. I explore these issues through the concept of discursive racialization.
This article is based on a presentation I delivered at The 2nd International Asian Stardom and Celebrity Conference, held in Bali in 2023. Based on this conference, a special issue titled “Governing Asian Celebrity” was published, and my article was included in it. You can find the full article here.
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p.354
As discussed earlier, Korea’s discourse on race and ethnicity has been subsumed under narratives of national identity, while its approach to multiculturalism has been characterised by superficial representations that seek to obscure societal tensions in a multicultural context rather than directly addressing them. Consequently, colour-blindness in Korea does not signify the diminishing importance of race but rather reflects a lack of awareness and discourse surrounding racial issues. This environment has normalised jokes about skin colour and the use of ethnic slurs.
p.356
Jonathan’s navigation of these real and imagined identities – alternating between emphasising his identity as Black, adopting a foreign persona, and asserting his Korean cultural identity – reveals his ability to articulate multiple layers of his identity. The juxtaposition of these overlapping identities serves as both a source of humour and a moment of reflection for Korean audiences. This interplay evokes the concept of polyculturalism, which Prashad(2001) defines as the dynamic coexistence of diverse elements within an individual’s or society’s identity, rather than a singular, cohesive construct. Through his polycultural comedy, Jonathan challenges simplistic categorisations of his identity, making it difficult for audiences to place him within a single framework.
p.357
In contrast, Jonathan actively engages in discursive racialisation. This involves consistently addressing race-related issues in everyday life and framing unexpected situations within a racial context. By doing so, he increases the visibility of racial discourse and breaks down barriers to such discussions. Through the active racialisation of his identity and the situations he encounters, Jonathan externalises internalised racism in Korean society, thereby challenging and dismantling existing prejudices and norms. This proactive approach to racialisation may paradoxically serve as a strategy for navigating and controlling the discourse surrounding his identity, making race a more approachable and visible topic.
SOJEONG PARK 