“É além de papel, sabe?”: consumo de coleções de K-pop e as identidades do fandom do grupo Stray Kids

• Ano de defesa: 2026
• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Gabriela Glória de
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; Brasil; UFSM; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação; Centro de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
• Palavras-chave em Português: Consumo; Identidade; Colecionismo; Cultura de fãs; K-pop; Consumption; Identity; Collecting; Fan culture; CNPQ::CIENCIAS SOCIAIS APLICADAS::COMUNICACAO
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/38183

K-pop, short for Korean pop music, is a musical genre that has been gaining prominence and recognition around the world. Within this context, one of the main forms of K-pop merchandising is the groups’ physical albums, objects of desire for a large portion of fans, which come with the CD and other inclusions, such as photobooks, photocards, postcards, and posters that express the groups’ concepts beyond the music. Thus, in addition to the symbolic value of the songs, material consumption becomes a very relevant part of fan culture; after all, more than just an expression of identity, it also brings artists closer to their community. Therefore, this research seeks to understand and examine how (and if) K-pop collectibles contribute to the expression of identities among Stray Kids fans and what meanings are attributed to these objects in the context of both personal and shared fandom practices. Regarding methodology, this is a qualitative and exploratory study aimed at deepening the proposed discussion. The research is divided into two phases: a literature review and field research. For the field research, three stages were developed, consisting of: an ethnographically inspired immersion; an online questionnaire; and in-depth interviews. Among the results, we highlight the collection of K-pop items as a booster of self-esteem: for some of these fans, being a K-pop collector is the aspect of themselves they value most, and a facet of their identity that has made them like themselves more. Recognizing that Stray Kids possesses distinct concepts, messages, and visuals that resonate with fans, consumption becomes intertwined with identity, emerging as a significant sphere in identity formation.