Abstract
Recent research has highlighted shifting positive media representation of ethnic minority groups. In a sporting context, certain individuals are upheld as “exemplary” national citizens, their success symbolic of the nation’s achieved multiculturalism. Considering this, I explore the narrativisation of Korean-born Kiwi ‘Kowi’ golfer Lydia Ko within New Zealand print media. Using a cultural studies-informed approach to narrative analysis, I explore narrations within New Zealand news media articles across eleven years of Ko’s emerging career: from 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2022. Articles were sourced from the Factiva database, from New Zealand newspapers with local and national readerships, and online news providers. A total of 159 articles were catalogued and included in analysis. Ko’s embrace by New Zealand media both evokes longstanding archetypes and involves n ew themes. In particular, a “model minority” narrative emerges as she is taken as an exemplary embodiment of a multicultural, tolerant New Zealand. I also explore her gendering across her career, which, reflecting a postfeminist sensibility, oscillates between vulnerability and strength. Comparison to men’s golf also emerges as a prominent theme, as her unprecedented success is negotiated by a male-dominated sporting media.