Session 9 - Korean Cultural Center

[Scott Craig]

I took a week-long class on Korea from the KCCLA in June and learned so much. Before going on the field trip I was curious if I would learn anything new going back. I actually did learn more and saw new things I hadn't seen just a couple months ago. I was intrigued to find out about the men's hats and how they were designed to cover up the man's top knot. My daughter got really jealous seeing me with the cutouts of the BTS members.

[Nichole Morales]

It sounds like the more wealthy people are, the more pretty they become. I wonder if and how many fringe movements are popping up in rebellion of these beauty ideals.

[Nichole Morales]

I learned a lot about Busan at the Korean Cultural Center. A long time ago, I had a young student from Busan who adored her hometown, but couldn't articulate anything about it. From the docent, I learned that Busan is on the southern end of the South Korean penninsula and is known as a water city. The people speak the same Korean language as the rest of the country, but may have a few different words like "sour" and a harsher tone. Busan is a modern city with tall skyscrappers that are green on the top because green is the most water-resistant color. If you like seafood, you can visit Busan.

[Jonathan Tam]

Having not listened to too much kpop - I have to say that those songs were FUEGO. Just kidding, but they do have an incredibly high tempo / 150+ bpm appeal and the addition of some english broadens the audience that it can reach. Something that really came to mind, especially as we went from the museum area to the cultural center, is how closely aligned Korea's history is with other countries. Joyce, our guide, mentioned how she wanted to make sure that she included mandarin characters in her child's name based on the prevalance of that language in Korea. It seems as though Koreans have a very clear understanding of both internal and external affairs. But, as we moved to the culture center, the major distinction that I saw between Korea and other countries that we have discussed in modern times is how much Korea seems to be pushing for tourism where as other countries - perhaps not even by any fault of their own are either not encouraging it as much or even discouraging it. The effort to offer language classes, story time for young Koreans, rotating cultural exhibitions, and even a full center to get a taste of the culture seems to be extraordinarly bigs to boost influence, appeal, and tourism.

[Zoey McKinney]

I loved the Kpop songs too! Last year in this seminar we discussed how these pop stars are "manufactured," meaning they are chosen for their looks and talent, then heavily trained so that their singing, dancing, and language skills are perfect. There are such high expectations of them, and there are so many aspiring pop stars that it is very easy for them to be replaced if they are unable to handle the pressure. There is definitely huge emphasis on Kpop because of how many people it reaches. As you pointed out, Korea definitely seems to be focused on its soft power, especially cultural influence. It was interesting to hear how many people now are taking the Korean language classes because they started listening to Kpop and want to know more about Korea. It's almost like the Kpop videos are ads for the country (but I still think they are really fun to watch).

[Deanna Wiist]

I was my first visit to the Korean Cultural Center and I really enjoyed listening to Joyce answer questions about Korean culture. The personal stories are always so interesting. Before this week, I really had no idea that the Korean people were so interested in plastic, surgery, appearance, and beauty. And that it applies to all genders. One of the most interesting facts was announcing the clinics on the trainsubway. Certainly gives an indication of the popularity of those places. Hair, dress, jewelry, and makeup have historically been indicators of class and wealth in most places, so Korea is not unique in that. Maybe the craze for it among the middle and upper middle classes is a result of the relatively recent wealth and modernization of the country, As with any trend, there is bound to be resistance. That’s what is so fascinating about the Escape the Corset movement. Followers of that movement are being open about their resistance.Id be curious to talk to someone about struggles with image, eating disorders, and anxiety among youth in South Korea. 

I also enjoyed the K-Pop exhibit very much. My African-American female students were very into K-Pop and I sponsored a K-Poo Dance Club in my classroom once a week last year. The girls would have enjoyed the exhibit, They are intrigued by every aspect of Korean life. 

[Diana Corey]

I have not exposed myself to much information about Korea or Korean culture besides what has naturally come into my path. Though we were anxious to move downstairs to see the rest of the museum, I think the most meaningful part of this presentation was the introduction and spontaneous Q and A with our docent. I have gone into each session trying to think about what I can take back to my students to enrich their worldview and the Mandarin program, and I now feel more equipped to answer questions my students inevitably have about Korea (and Japan) as they make connections between what they are learning in Mandarin and what they have experienced in their own K-pop saturated lives. One thing that struck me was the artifacts in the glass display and how we could very well have been in a Chinese culture museum. The instruments, calligraphy tools, and many other things are incredibly similar to items used in China during similar time periods. The virtual reality tours were also inspring. How cool would it be to have a VR China tour corner in my classroom?!

[Frederic Vial]

I truly enjoyed visiting the Korean Cultural Center and plan to contact Joy about bringing my class for a field trip. I found the 3rd floor discussion and video presentation about South Korea very interesting, especially the distinctions made between North and South Korean cultures.  Although they share the same language, it was made clear they have their own respective sets of sub-cultural influences, including distinct differences in cuisine, art, pop-culture, music etc.  This is, no doubt, a result of the political ideologican differences in landscape between the two countries.  The K-Beauty aspect is a topci I was not aware of.  It's interesting the concept of beauty crosses gender lines and is not specific to women in nature.  I wonder where this influence originates specifically and if it is tied to contemporary times, specifically western cultural influences.

[Frederic Vial]

Diana,

I agree the Q&A part was the most meaningful. The elements of cultural diffusion presented by the artifacts below demonstrate a clear influence China had on South Korean culture.

[Marcos Garrido]

It was really nice to end this seminar with a field trip, and the Korean Multicultural Center is an incredible experience for K-12 students who want to learn more about modern Korean Culture. It was interesting to learn about the concept of beauty from a South Korean perspective, and to learn about the different things that people tend to relate to with wealth. I personally think that the most outstanding thing I learned is how different and similar Chinese, Japanse and South Korean cultures can be. We, as Americans, tend to make our own assumptions of these Asian cultures thinking that they are the same, when in fact they are completely unique in their own way. From this particular experience, I also learned about the K-pop movement that is taking place globally, and how important and cheap is for women to get plastic surgery. I also enjoyed taking pictures with members from the BTS band because I’m going to show them to my 7th graders. (They are huge fans of BTS).

[Xiaowei Hunt]

In my mobile phone I still have a picture of me standing in front of the "7 Traveling Themes in Korea recommended from BTOB" poster. I am glad Lin Kuang, our amazing colleague living in LA, took that picture for me(see attached). 

After coming back to my classroom, I did some research online about BTOB whom I really did not know anything about before the field trip. I now know BTOB is an acronym for Born to Beat) is a South Korean boy band formed in 2012 by Cube Entertainment. They are famous K-pop singers with "Insane"(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmuHZa6DQOc) and "Tell Me" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y1pKXf94VA) being most popular. On the poster they recommend me to take a trip to PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Wow! What an eye-opener for me! Even though I am Asian, I don’t know much about Korean language and culture. Now knowing a little about the BTOB may become the start of my Korean learning journey as I am always interested in learning languages of all countries and ethnic groups. To the students in my classroom, I can ask them to compare in the target language (Chinese) TF Boys from China, Backstreet Boys from America, BTOB from South Korea, in terms of the singers’ ages, time periods they become famous, foods they enjoy, hobbies they have, language in which they speak and sing and the song appreciation in themes and style.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Sophia Kang]

I thought the idea of commercializing KPop and culture from Professor Jennifer Kim's readings were apparent in the field trip to the Korean Cultural Center. The discussion with our guide and the KPop center seemed to be a huge disjunction from the artifacts that we saw in the downstairs gallery. A probing question that this visit left me with was, "What changed so drastically between this before and after-divided Korea? What effect did the division have on the new characterizing of a country?"

[Xiaowei Hunt]

At our visit to the Korean Cultural Center, I asked the docent a question about plastic surgery in South Korea and I was surprised she told us that subway announcers tell where the cosmetic surgery centers are. She also said that men in Korea also do cosmetic surgery. I wonder why this is so. I may ask my students questions in Chinese and they will answer or discuss them in the target language---Chinese. This would be a very interesting topic. I am forming some questions for discussion now:

1.  What makes a Korean woman beautiful?

2.   Why has South Korea become capital of plastic surgery?

3.   Where can you get information about plastic surgery in Seoul? (Internet, Magazine, Friend or subway?)

4.   Why is appearance so important in South Korea? 

I am glad I asked questions like a student because it pushed for thinking and more research. I am going to use the same method to encourage/require my students to ask questions in class. 

[Nira Sun]

This is my second time visiting the Korean Culture Center with the seminar. I sent some pictures of the center to one of my students who were very interested in Korean culture. What was interesting was that she said "Wow, I used to be really into those pop stars in Korea!" The word "used to" caught my attention. It indicated how fast the generational change was in pop culture. A lot of famous stars in Asian countries became popular almost in one night. Suddenly everyone loves him/her to the point that he/she is on the front page of everything every single day. Sometimes it was just one song or one movie. If the star really has the skill of singing, dancing, or acting, his/her success may last longer. If not, it will just be the flash in the pan. He/she will no longer be the talk of public anymore. I'm curious to know how many boy or girl bands ever existed in Korea.

I also passed on the information of them offering Korean Language class to my students as well. I didn't know about it last time I visited this place.

[Marcos Rico]

It was a wonderful experience to finish our Summer Seminar with a field trip. I had never heard of the Korean Culture Center, until I read the email about our Seminar. I loved the virtual reality tour and the toy exhibit. I wish it was closer to San Diego, so that we could take advantage of this great resource. Kimberly de Berzunza mentioned that the price is over $1,000 just for the buses, and is about 8 hours of travel time (3 hours going up to L.A. and 5 hours to return to San Diego).

Balboa Park in San Diego is currently in the process of constructing a House of Korea http://www.house-of-korea.org/pre-construction-meeting/  but unlike the Korean Culture Center that is operated by the Korean Governement. The House of Korea is an educational, cultural, nonprofit organization that is non-political. It will be a good resource once it is completed 

 https://youtu.be/rZ2J97bfsRU

[Author]

Posts