Interrogating the ‘African troupe’: The construction of Africanness and Blackness in Chinese consumption of K-pop videos

As Korean popular music (K-pop) continues to internationalize, its multicultural elements have sparked discussions among Chinese K-pop fans. In their talks on K-pop girl group NATURE's performance video ‘Rica Rica’, they disregarded the South Asian influences in the video. Instead, they identify the performance as an example of an ‘African troupe.’ What discursive formations give rise to Chinese fans’ Africanization of this music video performed by Korean bodies with both African and South Asian cultural aesthetics? Throughout this paper, we analyze Chinese K-pop fan responses to ‘Rica Rica’ alongside other media products to highlight a broader pattern of consuming Africanness in Chinese popular media culture. We argue that the ambiguity created by K-pop as hybridized performance allows Chinese fans to appropriate the image of Africa to navigate Chinese geopolitical imaginaries, facilitate cyber consumerism, and articulate a desire for self-empowerment through (re)configuring the Black female body.