De-/Re-Whitening Russianness: A Liminal Space of White Privileges Represented in Non-Summit

Abstract

This study investigates the representations of white ethnic identities in Non-Summit, a Korean television show, to disaggregate the generalized perception of homogenous whiteness and argue for a dialectical construction of white power and domination in Korea. Specifically, it focuses on representations of Russianness in Non-Summit in relation to the US Americanness, contextualized within post-Cold War and globalized cultural politics prevalent in Korea. Employing critical textual analysis, this study analyzes verbal and visual discourses constructing Russianness and US Americanness in Non-Summit. The findings suggest, in Non-Summit, Russianness is represented as ideologically and culturally deprived, and it appears as a dispossessed white identity that does not earn hegemony like US Americanness. At times, the marginal representations of Russianness seem to weaken the power of whiteness operating in and through the show. However, an encompassing global white supremacy remains intact when Russianness is fit into the category of whiteness through a re-whitening process.