Exploring the changes in discourse of the naturalized professional basketball athlete in South Korea

Purpose It is not uncommon to see athletes naturalize in different countries to compete in international sports events, such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. While much literature has dealt with the discourse of this population, most of their subjects had no relationships with the countries of naturalization. The purpose of this study is to extend previous naturalized athlete literature by comparing the discourse surrounding a naturalized basketball athlete, Ra, who had been playing in South Korea for five years before he naturalized in South Korea, before and after his naturalization to South Korea. Design/methodology/approach This study used Fairclough's critical discourse analysis and latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling technique to explore the changes in discourses surrounding Ra. Findings This study found that supportive discourse toward Ra continued before and after his naturalization, with the formation of new discourses on Ra's racist experiences after his naturalization. Originality/value This study added to naturalization and discourse literature by providing another case of the media's role in creating supportive discourse to tackle social wrongs.