Top-line Report: “Beyond the Korean Wave: Cultural Translation in Vietnam”
Rethinking “Cultural Appropriation” Through Vietnamese Spatial Practices
Enhanced Top-line Report
Korean Advanced Research & Studies Institute
2025
Note on Format: This report intentionally provides more detail than standard top-line research briefs to fully document key theoretical insights and methodological approaches developed during the field research. While longer than typical executive summaries, this expanded format allows for a comprehensive presentation of findings with broader implications for understanding cultural translation processes.
The Nậu Café & Cassette Workshop — which a local coffee shop owner and others told us was the most "Korean café" in Hanoi. Look closer at the walls: American jazz records, classic rock, 1990s hip-hop albums. The vintage audio equipment? Pure Americana. When we asked the staff about the Korean influence, they looked puzzled. "This place isn't Korean," they told us directly. So why did everyone call it Korean? It turns out Vietnamese consumers aren't confused about cultural origins—they're demonstrating something much more sophisticated. They understand that "Korean coolness" has become a delivery system for global aesthetics, and they're actively curating those global elements according to their own cultural logic, which is accepting the “Korea”-shaped packagethat is itself a curated delivery vehicle of its own. The space maintains traditional Vietnamese social patterns (notice the low seating and community-friendly layout) while adopting what locals interpret as “Korean” (modern) style. This café reveals how culture actually travels: not as pure transmission from one A to B, but as creative local translation of global flows.
Executive Summary
This research examines how Vietnamese urban actors operate as sophisticated navigators of global cultural networks while maintaining distinctive local spatial practices. Through ethnographic fieldwork and theoretical analysis, this study reveals how Korean cultural influence in Vietnam operates through complex processes of local adaptation and creative synthesis rather than simple cultural transmission or appropriation.
Key Findings:
Vietnamese spaces function as active cultural “translation sites” where global influences encounter local spatial logic
Korean aesthetic elements undergo systematic recontextualization through Vietnamese cultural frameworks
Local spatial practices maintain agency while selectively incorporating global cultural resources
The "Standing Wave Model" of cultural transmission explains stable pattern formation across different cultural contexts
These findings challenge conventional narratives about cultural appropriation and globalization, suggesting more nuanced models for understanding how cultural flows operate in practice.
Theoretical Framework: The Standing Wave Model of Cultural Transmission
Our analysis employs the Standing Wave Model of Hallyu, which conceptualizes Korean cultural influence as operating through "memetic resonance" rather than linear transmission. This model helps explain how Korean cultural elements achieve global circulation while maintaining coherent identity across diverse local contexts.
Core Theoretical Concepts
Standing Wave Formation: When two cultural "waves" of similar frequency interact—Korean cultural exports encountering local cultural patterns—they create stable points of "cultural resonance" (Kim, 2015) where specific combinations of elements persist across different contexts.
Appropriation-Rebranding Feedback Loop: A five-step process through which:
Seoul appropriates global cultural elements (American hip-hop, vintage aesthetics, etc.)
Integrates them into "Korean" aesthetic packages
Exports these hybrid aesthetics globally under "Korean" cultural branding
Global audiences interpret appropriated elements as "authentically Korean"
Seoul reinforces this interpretation, establishing Korean identity as a master brand for internationally sourced aesthetics (Saeji, 2018)
Cultural Translation vs. Cultural Adoption: Vietnamese actors don't simply adopt Korean cultural forms but actively translate them through local cultural logic, creating new hybrid forms that reflect both international trends and embedded cultural patterns.
Methodology: Advanced Ethnographic Analysis
This research employed embodied ethnographic methodology, combining:
Visual Ethnographic Documentation through systematic photo-sartorial elicitation
Spatial Analysis examining how Vietnamese spatial practices reshape Korean aesthetic elements
Cultural Flow Mapping tracking how Korean influences get incorporated, modified, and reinterpreted
AI-Assisted Theoretical Synthesis integrating field observations with global scholarly frameworks
The research was conducted across multiple Hanoi locations over a two-week intensive period, with particular focus on spaces where Korean cultural influence was most visible: cafes, commercial districts, and youth-oriented cultural spaces.
Research Findings: Three Major Observations
Observation 1: Vietnamese Cultural Actors Operate as Active Curators, Not Passive Recipients
What We Discovered: Vietnamese engagement with Korean cultural elements reveals sophisticated curatorial practices rather than passive consumption. Local actors systematically select, modify, and recombine Korean aesthetic elements according to Vietnamese cultural logic.
Evidence from the Field:
Café Spaces: Korean-inspired café aesthetics get adapted through Vietnamese spatial practices—maintaining traditional low seating arrangements, integrating abundant plants, and preserving multi-use community functions
Commercial Signage: Korean typography and design elements appear alongside Vietnamese text and local visual motifs, creating hybrid aesthetic systems, with the Korean signifiers standong out as markers of Korean cool
Fashion and Style: Korean fashion influences get reinterpreted through Vietnamese climate needs, social contexts, and cultural norms
Theoretical Significance: This challenges simplistic models of cultural influence that position global flows as overwhelming local practices. Instead, Vietnamese actors maintain cultural agency while participating in transnational cultural networks.
Observation 2: "Korean" Often Functions as a Floating Aesthetic Signifier Rather Than Specific Korean Content
What We Realized: The label "Korean" in Vietnamese contexts often represents aspirational coolness and modern sophistication that transcends actual Korean cultural origins. Vietnamese actors actively define what constitutes "Korean" according to their own cultural logic.
Key Mechanisms:
Aesthetic Flexibility: Elements labeled as "Korean" may draw from Japanese minimalism, Scandinavian design, or American commercial aesthetics
Cultural Packaging: Korean cultural branding becomes a delivery system for global aesthetic vocabularies (Lie, 2015)
Local Definition: Vietnamese consumers and businesses determine which combinations feel "Korean" based on their cultural framework
The Appropriation-Rebranding Effect: Korean cultural exports often function as aesthetic packages containing elements from multiple cultural sources, which then get interpreted by Vietnamese actors as representing authentic Korean culture. This creates a feedback loop where Korean cultural identity becomes associated with aesthetics that actually originate elsewhere.
Research Example: Multiple Hanoi cafes described as having "Korean style" featured design elements more closely associated with Scandinavian minimalism or American industrial aesthetics. However, these elements had been filtered through Korean cultural packaging and were genuinely perceived as Korean by Vietnamese consumers.
Observation 3: Vietnamese Urban Spaces Function as Sites of Active Cultural Translation
Spatial Analysis Findings:
Traditional Vietnamese Spatial Characteristics:
Fluid boundaries between public and private space
Multi-use spaces that change function throughout the day
Street-level commercial integration with residential areas
Community-oriented spatial usage patterns
Small-scale furniture designed for flexible social interaction (Choi, Foth & Hearn, 2009)
Korean/Modern Spatial Elements:
Standard-height modern furniture and minimalist design
Clean lines and reduced material complexity
Designed spaces for specific, planned activities
Individual rather than communal spatial orientation Choi, Foth & Hearn, 2009)
Vietnamese Translation Process: Rather than wholesale adoption of Korean spatial models, Vietnamese spaces demonstrate selective incorporation where global aesthetic elements get recombined with local spatial practices:
Material Culture Integration: Korean café concepts maintain Vietnamese material arrangements (low chairs, small tables, abundant plants)
Functional Adaptation: Spaces maintain community connectivity and flexible usage despite adopting global commercial aesthetics
Spiritual Continuity: Spirit altars and traditional spatial acknowledgments persist even in Korean-influenced commercial spaces
Theoretical Implications: Vietnamese urban spaces reveal how local spatial practices can maintain cultural agency while engaging global cultural resources. The transitional socialist context creates unique conditions for this cultural translation, where socialist spatial legacies (community orientation, public space usage, collective resource management) continue to influence how global cultural forms get adapted.
Broader Implications: Understanding Contemporary Cultural Globalization
Shooting Fast and Furious: Hanoi Drift
“Drifting” through Hanoi’s Old Quarter, with local model @_a._.dora.ble_ in her Korean-style “casual, comfortable,” baggy pants look, before stopping in a few places and shooting.
Our drift brought us into a "Korean “Life in Four Cuts” selfie studio, replete with Squid Game guard and all. Even more Korean than even back in Korea!
THE RESULT: Model and artist @_a._.dora.ble_ poses at a Hanoi selfie studio where Vietnamese flags hang next to Squid Game cutouts, showing how these Instagram-ready spaces let people mix cultural elements rather than just copy them. These studios represent Korea's post-COVID photo booth boom that expanded to Vietnam — Life4cuts now operates 20+ locations from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, according to Vietnamese cultural site Saigoneer. Her layered look reflects what she loves about Korean fashion: "basic but not out of date," offering "comfortable" yet "high fashion" style that works across generations. Standing beneath Vietnamese flags alongside Korean pop culture icons, she demonstrates the project's core finding: Korean aesthetics help Vietnamese youth create expressions that feel both modern and familiar, using Korean-influenced spaces that have become part of everyday Vietnamese social life.
A bit further down the way, we stopped (and the model stooped) in front of a local mart. The retro mood seemed to fit her fit.
THE RESULT: Model and artist @_a._.dora.ble_demonstrates Korean-inspired layering at a local Vietnamese street mart in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, surrounded by Pepsi ads and neighborhood signage. Her styling embodies what she calls Korean fashion's "basic but not out of date" versatility—letting her express contemporary style while shopping at traditional corner stores. This scene captures the Hanoi project's key discovery: Korean aesthetics work as cultural coordinates, helping Vietnamese youth navigate multiple influences (American brands, local retail culture, Asian fashion networks) all happening in one space. Rather than becoming a means of rejecting local culture, Korean style defines a mode and space of cultural convergence.
Methodological Insights
The Power of Unplanned Discovery: The most significant cultural insights emerged from unexpected convergences between different research approaches rather than rigid adherence to predetermined analytical frameworks. This approach draws from Guy Debord's concept of the dérive (drift), where researchers allow urban environments and chance encounters to guide investigation rather than following predetermined analytical routes (Debord, 1958). Our methodology embraced this psychogeographic principle: letting the city reveal its own cultural logic through unstructured wandering and openness to serendipitous discovery. When our separate research streams—fashion photography and café ethnography—began converging around the same unexpected patterns, we recognized this as evidence of deeper cultural mechanisms at work. This suggests the importance of methodological flexibility and psychogeographic sensitivity in cultural research.
Visual Ethnography as Cultural Analysis: Systematic visual documentation revealed cultural mechanisms that would have been missed through interview-based or survey research alone. Photo-sartorial elicitation proved particularly effective for understanding how cultural translation operates at the level of everyday spatial practice.
Shooting Fast and Furious: Hanoi Drift
Theoretical Contributions
Beyond Binary Models: This research demonstrates that cultural globalization operates through complex multi-directional networks rather than simple bilateral transmission. (Kim, 2015) Korean cultural influence in Vietnam reveals patterns of:
Creative Local Curation rather than passive reception
Active Cultural Translation rather than adoption or resistance
Hybrid Form Production rather than cultural homogenization
The Standing Wave Model in Practice: Vietnamese spaces provide concrete evidence for the Standing Wave Model of cultural transmission, showing how:
Stable aesthetic patterns emerge from the interaction of Korean cultural exports with Vietnamese spatial practices
Resonance points develop where specific combinations of elements persist across different contexts
Cultural coherence can be maintained even as specific elements undergo local transformation
Practical Applications
For Cultural Industry Analysis: Understanding how Vietnamese actors navigate Korean cultural flows provides insights relevant to:
Brand Localization Strategies: How global cultural brands can engage local cultural logic rather than imposing foreign frameworks
Market Research Methodologies: The importance of understanding local curatorial practices rather than assuming passive consumption
Cultural Policy Development: Supporting local cultural agency while participating in global cultural networks
For Urban Studies: This research contributes to understanding how local spatial practices shape global cultural adaptation in post-socialist urban contexts, with implications for urban planning and cultural preservation efforts.
For Korean Studies: This analysis demonstrates the value of studying Korean cultural influence comparatively across multiple contexts rather than focusing exclusively on Korean cultural production sites.
Conclusion: Toward a New Understanding of Cultural Translation
This research reveals that understanding contemporary cultural processes requires attention to how local cultural actors creatively navigate global cultural networks rather than simply tracking the international circulation of national cultural products.
Vietnamese urban spaces demonstrate that cultural globalization produces creative synthesis rather than cultural homogenization, with local spatial practices actively shaping how global influences get incorporated. This suggests a more nuanced model of cultural exchange where:
Local actors maintain cultural agency while participating in transnational networks
Spatial practices function as sites of cultural translation rather than simply venues for cultural consumption
Global cultural flows require active local interpretation to achieve meaningful cultural resonance
Future Research Directions
This Vietnam analysis opens several promising avenues for continued research:
Comparative Cultural Translation Studies:
How do other Southeast Asian contexts translate Korean cultural influences?
What role does political and historical context play in shaping cultural translation processes?
How do different Asian countries' spatial practices influence Korean cultural adaptation?
Digital Culture and Physical Space:
How do social media platforms influence the translation of Korean cultural aesthetics in Vietnamese contexts?
What is the relationship between digital Korean cultural consumption and physical spatial transformation?
Longitudinal Cultural Change Analysis:
How have Vietnamese interpretations of Korean culture evolved over time?
What generational differences exist in cultural translation practices?
How do major cultural events (like the 2024 Korean presidential visit to Vietnam) influence cultural translation processes?
Research Team and Methodology Notes
Faculty Leadership
This research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Michael Hurt, applying urban studies and visual ethnographic methodology developed through his extensive Seoul-based research program. This Vietnam study represents part of an ongoing research project tracking Korean aesthetic influence across Asia that began in 2020 in Hanoi and continued into Indonesia in 2024.
Research Team
Dr. Michael Hurt, a Visual Sociologist and Fahion Photographer, employed photo-sartorial elicitation techniques to explore Vietnamese physical and social space, mapping out how Korean aesthetics manifest in Vietnam.
Odette PARK served as research assistant and contributed as an impromptu model for the Soyoung component of the photo-sartorial elicitation exercises, helping demonstrate key methodological approaches in Vietnamese urban contexts.
Advanced Research Integration
This project integrates AI-assisted data collation and report synthesis, where human ethnographic insight is enhanced through AI-mediated organization and writing assistance. Claude AI was employed to help collate field observations, organize research findings, and assist in drafting this comprehensive report, enabling more systematic presentation of complex ethnographic data.
This represents a new model for cultural research where human ethnographic insight combines with AI-assisted data organization and report writing to produce comprehensive cultural analysis that challenges both crude appropriation narratives and simplistic authenticity frameworks.
Genealogy of ideas
Choi, Jaz Hee-jeong, Marcus Foth, and Greg Hearn. "Site-specific mobility and connection in Korea: bangs (rooms) between public and private spaces." Technology in Society 31, no. 2 (2009): 133-138.
Debord, Guy. "Theory of the Dérive." Situationist International 2 (1958). Translated by Ken Knabb, Bureau of Public Secrets.
Kim, Gooyong. "The Aesthetic, the Ordinary and the Political: The Korean Wave and Cultural Policy in East Asia." Journal of Asian Studies 74, no. 3 (2015): 561-581.
Lie, John. K-pop: Popular Music, Cultural Amnesia, and Economic Innovation in South Korea. University of California Press, 2015.
Saeji, CedarBough T. "Gangnam Style, Authentic Koreanness, and the Discourse of Cultural Appropriation." Popular Music and Society 41, no. 3 (2018): 284-305.
Publication and Industry Applications
Elements of this research have potential for publication in academic venues focused on Korean studies, urban studies, and cultural geography. The practical insights regarding cultural translation processes are also relevant for consulting applications with companies seeking to understand Korean market penetration strategies in Southeast Asia.
About the Research: This study was conducted as part of a winter field research expedition examining Korean cultural flows across Southeast Asia, supported by funding from Sigma Education. The research employed multiple methodological approaches including visual ethnographic documentation, spatial analysis, and AI-assisted data organization.
Contact: For more information about this research or to discuss collaboration opportunities, contact the Korean Advanced Research & Studies Institute.