아프리카 문화콘텐츠 산업의 발전과 한국에 주는 함의 (Creative Industry in Africa from the Perspective of Korea)

Cultural and creative products are not just containers of historical and cultural identities but commercial goods tradable across borders. Simultaneously, culture is one of the primary sources of so-called “soft power,” along with political values and legitimate national foreign policy. Hence, the Korean government has been taking a leading role in building up the cultural and creative industry since the 1990s. The “Hallyu,” or craze for Korean creative products outside Korea, has been expanding across the world, from the epicenter of Asia and North America to the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. While such expansion led to interest in the mediascape of varied regions around the world, Africa has remained in the margin of academic and policy research of the creative industry. This report aims to provide information and analysis of the less studied mediascape in Africa. Given the growing cultural engagement between Korea and the countries in Africa, this report examines the creative industry in Africa from three distinctive perspectives of development cooperation in creative industry, cultural public diplomacy and trade in cultural and creative goods. Drawing on field research and secondary research on production, retailing and consumer environment in the creative industry, this report provides lessons for further inter-continental culturalengagement