K-Pop Reader: Gender and Technology in K-pop
Edited Volume

We invite proposals for chapters in a forthcoming edited volume, Electric Bodies, Digital Souls: Gender and Technology in K-pop. This collection examines K-pop as a key site for negotiating gender and identity in the digital age, where artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic mediation, and posthuman aesthetics are reshaping what it means to be a gendered subject.

Moving beyond descriptive accounts of K-pop’s global spread, the volume centers the technological infrastructures (AI-driven production, algorithmic circulation, and digitally mediated intimacy) that increasingly define both the idols and their audiences. We ask: How is K-pop reconfiguring authenticity, embodiment, and intimacy in a world where the human and the artificial are increasingly entangled?

Possible Themes and Topics

We welcome proposals from scholars in cultural studies, media studies, gender studies, Asian studies, fan studies, STS (science and technology studies), AI ethics, and related fields. Priority topics include (but are not limited to):

1. AI in K-pop Production and Performance

• Composition, choreography, and vocal synthesis.
• Corporate strategies (HYBE, SM, YG) and their gendered implications.

• What kinds of data train AI idols, voices, and choreographies.
• How algorithmic systems reproduce gendered, racialized, or heteronormative logics.
• Ownership, transparency, and corporate power.

• Technologies that make idols appear multilingual (translation software, voice synthesis, subtitling).
• Implications for cross-cultural fandoms and authenticity in “global” K-pop.

• The rise of deepfake porn targeting K-pop idols.
• Face-swapping, vocal cloning, and the gendered ethics of digital violation.
• Fan responses and strategies of resistance.

• Virtual idol concerts, holograms, and AI avatars.
• Intimacy and labor in virtual fan engagements.
• Posthuman performance and gendered embodiment.

• How gendered and technological dynamics circulate in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and beyond.
• Regional interpretations of AI idols, digital intimacy, and queer performativity.

• Teaching K-pop and AI through the lens of gender and media literacy.
• Critical frameworks for using digital platforms and fandom practices in the classroom.

For technical/algorithmic analyses, we particularly welcome submissions from scholars who can provide insider knowledge or access to industry practices while maintaining critical scholarly distance.

Submission Guidelines

• Abstract length: 200–300 words, with title and keywords.
• Bio: 100–150 words, including current affiliation.
• Deadline: September 30, 2025
• Notification of acceptance: October 2025
• Full chapter due: January 2026

Chapter formats may include:

• Traditional academic articles (6,000-8,000 words)
• Technology deep-dives with critical analysis (5,000-7,000 words)
• Case study analyses (4,000-6,000 words)
• Shorter interventions or position pieces (3,000-4,000 words)

Please send abstracts and bios to: kpopreaderscholarly@gmail.com with the subject line K-pop Reader Proposal.

Contact

For questions, please contact:
Min Ji Kang, PhD (Editor)
Visiting Assistant Professor, Denison University

kangm@denison.edu