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Irina Lyan Research Projects

 

Current research projects
 

In the name of innovation: Legitimacy, espionage, and nation branding in the Apple v. Samsung “smartphone patent wars”  

This research project (ISF no. 1067/21) sheds light on mechanisms of national image resistance,
shift, and change, examining the so-called “second miracle on the Han river”—South Korea’s
becoming a nation of innovation. For this purpose, I will focus on the Apple v. Samsung “patent
wars” (2011–2018), which began with a lawsuit filed by Apple Inc. against its main component
supplier, Samsung Electronics Co., and evolved into a massive legal dispute lasting more than 7
years, affecting 10 different countries in 4 different continents, and generating more than 250
lawsuits and counterclaims. These legal battles were prompted by the infringement of intellectual
property rights (IPR—mainly, patents), which lie at the heart of any debates regarding
innovation. To gain legitimacy, both sides have raised claims that echo a larger discourse taking
place inside and outside the legal arena on IPR while (re)positioning themselves as leading
technologic innovators and fighters in the name of innovation.

ImagiNation: South Korea in the post-miracle era South Korea, home to and hero of one of the largest, swiftest, and dramatic transformations of the 20 th century, has fueled developmental fantasies and desires of the world’s peripheries eager to learn from its success. Famous for its economic miracle, known as the “Miracle on Han River,” and cultural miracle, known as “the Korean Wave” or Hallyu, Korea has transformed its image from one of the poorest and most marginalized nations in the world to the nouveau riche
status it commands in the realms of technological innovation and cultural creativity. This book
project aims to revisit Korea’s miracles as an outstanding case study for swift image-shifting
events focusing on the mechanisms of imagining the nation. It examines the work of imagination
by asking how national images are born, reproduced, projected, and resisted, addressing the
wider themes of social change and continuity in imagined communities.

Recent Research Project

Korean Wave in the Middle East

The recent success of Korean popular culture beyond national and regional borders, known as
the Korean Wave or Hallyu, has allowed us to explore alternative non-Western globalization,
Asian soft power and cultural diplomacy, emergence of fans’ communities, creative industries
and more. Since 2012, together with colleagues from the Faculty of Humanities and Social
Sciences we organized three international conferences at the Hebrew University and published 8
papers and book chapters on the fandom of Korean popular culture in Israel and the Middle East.
For instance, our study with Nissim Otmazgin (Hebrew University) on Israeli and Palestinian K-
pop fans found that they often seemed to escape or take refuge from political events or personal
problems through fandom activities while active promotion of Korean popular culture in Israel
empowered them. Another study with Sulafa Zidani (MIT) and Limor Shifman (Hebrew
University) on Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video remakes in Israel and the wider Middle East has
dealt with humor, meme, and politics in local reinterpretations of “made-in-Korea” cultural
products. Our next research project together with Elad Segev (Tel Aviv University), Menachem
Blondheim (Hebrew University), and Nissim Otmazgin (Hebrew University) will deal with
Korea’s global position with a focus on entertainment, as reflected in worlds news based on 3
million items captured between 2009 and 2022.

Irina Lyan: Research Publications

Major recent publications (2020-2022)

• Lyan, Irina (2022). Shock and Surprise: Theorization of the Korean Wave through mediatized emotions. International Journal of Communication. (forthcoming).
• Lyan, Irina (2022). Ex-periphery: South Korea in the development discourse. In Korea and the Global Society: Engagement and Reciprocity. Edited by Yonson Ahn. Routledge. (forthcoming).
• Lyan, Irina (2022) “Start-up Nation” vs. “The Republic of Samsung:” Power and politics in the partner choice discourse in Israeli-Korean business collaboration. Critical Perspectives in International Business, 18(2), 243–260.
• Lyan, Irina and Frenkel, Michal (2022). Industrial espionage revisited: Host country- foreign MNC legal disputes and the postcolonial imagery. Organization, 29(1), 30–50.
• Lyan, Irina (2021). Between two homelands: Diasporic nationalism and academic pilgrimage of the Korean Christian Community in Jerusalem. S/N Korean Humanities, 7(1), 37–70
• Lyan, Irina (2021). “Koreans are the Israelis of the East”: A postcolonial reading of cultural similarities in cross-cultural management. Culture and Organization, 27(6), 507–525.