"¿QUÉ LES VEN A LOS CHINOS ESOS?": REPRESENTACIONES Y PRÁCTICAS EN TORNO A LOS IDOLS COREANOS EN SAN SALVADOR DE JUJUY

From the 1990s to the present day, fan communities built around all kinds of imported items have grown
rapidly in Argentina. In this work I will focus on one of these fandoms, which has become very popular
in recent years: that of k-pop. I will specifically center on a local expression of said community: the
fans of San Salvador de Jujuy (Argentina). I am interested in framing fanism for this musical genre
within the phenomenon called Hallyu (Korean wave) and in investigating fans’ representations and
practices around the Idols. In turn, I will attend to the peculiarities that this fanism acquires in Jujuy
given the sociocultural characteristics of the local context. I propose that the collective practices of
these fans around the Idols can be understood as practices of sacralization, and that fanisms acquire
their own characteristics in relation to the contexts in which they develop. My research methodology
was mainly based on classical and digital ethnographic work. Thus, I conducted field observations and a
series of semi-structured interviews with fan club leaders in the city of San Salvador, as well as with the
organizers of K-pop Jujuy, the entity that brings together official local fan clubs.