The international expansion of Korean popular music (K-pop) reflects the increasing dislocation of cultural globalization from Western centers, spurred by the rise of cultural, economic, and political institutions within different regions. This study adopts a translation theory perspective on how the meanings of such cultural products from the ''periphery'' become transculturally intelligible. In this endeavor, we analyze the role of online fan-generated paratexts in translating the global consumptionscape of K-pop. We reveal how translation practices enable cultural understanding and reinscribe transcultural identity politics, inverting and unsettling ''traditional'' center-periphery dynamics. Fan translation practices emerge as a key node in processes of cultural globalization, underscoring the role of consumer-as-translator and situating cultural globalization not only in localized spaces but also in the mediated transcultural space of the paratextual field.

A complex intersection of a charity organization, a retail space, vintage fashion and the customers were investigated to better understand the effect of the re-commodification of goods. The convivial retail space attracted customers through the promise of something special and different. Immersed in the space, customers' moral values aligned with a type of consumption that began with disposal. However, these consumers did not belong to a politically motivated collectivity but instead addressed personal moral identity projects. The organization achieved a moral layer to its identity through its interaction with the disposed of garments, but this moral intention was different from the customers. The charity retailer transformed discarded, donated goods through processes of selection and re-presentation. It was a highly professionalized commercial outlet whose intention was to raise funds and to model ethical business practices. The retail setting was pivotal and extensive observation, visual and interview data were taken at the site. The analysis revealed that the customers espoused a view of anti-consumption, which encompassed anti-corporatism. At the centre of this nexus of practices were the garments which were disposed of through donation, re-commodified by the charity organization for their specialized, immersive retail outlet and then purchased by consumers to address their individualized moral identity projects. It is concluded that all facets contributed to this nexus of disposal practices, although the garments had a significant linking and facilitating role to play, and that further investigation is required.

This paper extends the discussion on alternatives to consumerism by examining how consumers may distance themselves from the market by entering communal interdependency, aspiring to create alternative social structures and culture. We apply the lens of ideological work to analyse how an eco‐community in Turkey attempts to achieve a communally agreed ideal. A participatory ethnography allowed us to observe how this aspiring collective of individuals manage the tensions that arise between the variously derived ideals and the efforts to communally achieve the ideal. Specifically, our ethnography uncovers how aspirations for transformation from market dependence to communal interdependence are brought into existence through practical and symbolic ideological work. The paper presents the community members, their ideals and aspirations, and the community's activities. It discusses the challenges faced when the symbolism and practicalities of ideological work come together in quotidian life. The paper shows the role of ideological work in generating communally agreed alternatives to consumerism and in managing moral dilemmas.

No abstract