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When and Where: March 2nd 2023 - June 20nd 2023
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Korean Wave and Popular Culture
Korean Wave and Popular Culture
So I honestly had no idea what to expect from this class. I have heard about K Pop but I don't listen to it and I wasn't really sure what K Wave is. While I still don't listen to K Pop, this class has been an excellent modern history lesson about Korea. I was so surprised to learn about the influence America has had on Korea--despite it being across the Pacific Ocean--and the tumultuous history of the 1900s where Korean culture was almost forgotten. For this section, I'll focus on three topics I found most interesting during the semester.
Pansori
This singing style was popular during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and is done with a singer and a drummer. The songs are typically types of sung stories and are sort of like a conversation between the singer and the drummer. I find this style of music really beautiful. One video (link here) shows how pansori singers practice with nature such as waterfalls to achieve certain tones in their voice.During my tour of Busan, BK and I were talking about this style of singing and how we both tear up when listening to it. I think it's so interesting how although I can't understand what the singer is saying, the emotion she carries in her voice is very impactful. I've included an example above--click on the picture to follow the link.
Sexism
In one of our classes, the teacher discussed how women are treated compared to men in South Korea--and I was shocked. One example she gave was of a K-Pop star that read the book above. Apparently after reading it, many of her male fans posted pictures of burning or ripping apart photos of her and bullying her online. This was so shocking to me. I could never imagine that sort of reaction to simply reading a book with feminist themes, let alone a book in general.I was really curious about this book and bought it here in South Korea. I was actually feeling really weird about reading this in public and found myself automatically trying to hide the cover from people when I was reading it on the train and bus. But after reading the book, I have no idea why there is such a strong hate against it. The book gives great insight into a lot of gender-based problems in South Korea--problems I had no idea about. It didn't portray men as lesser-than nor did it describe any radical (?) beliefs. I'm so confused by the reaction of the people who took to social media but I have a feeling they never read it or may have never been open enough to have a difficult conversation about this topic with a Korean woman.
I highly recommend reading this book, I'll try to submit a form to get it in the McBride library.
Cultural Appropriation vs Appreciation
In Melanie's class, one topic we focused on--and I had to present on--was cultural appropriation vs appreciation in fashion. This is a really difficult topic to both talk about and think about. Obviously, cultural appropriation is wrong. Blackface and wearing Native American headdresses are never ok. However, this line becomes thinner and blurred when you explore less obvious topics such as music. I appreciated a video we were shown in class that was mind-opening. Basically, a woman made her Master's Thesis centered around an American K-Pop group and seeing what identifies K-Pop. I would further explain it here but the video does a great job by itself. I highly recommend watching it and it can be found at this link here.Additionally, I have been pretty shocked by the cultural appropriation of black American culture here in Korea. In this class, we learned about the rise in appreciation for west coast hip-hop in Korea and--to my surprise--there is a large hip-hop scene in Korea. In liking the type of music, Koreans have also liked Hip Hop fashion styles such as baggy clothes and headwraps. One day when I was walking around, I caught a street Hip Hop performance and, honestly, I was shocked. A good chunk of the performers--who were fully Korean--wore dreadlocks with waxed down baby hairs, used guns as props to songs sung by 2-Pac, and even had fake long acrylic nails. I've included a picture I took during this at the top of this section. From my perspective, no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with it. This was a really weird experience but not uncommon. In class, we're also shown how in recently made TV shows, movies, and performances, Koreans outwardly poke fun at or appropriate black culture.
Korean Art History
Korean Art History
I feel like we have learned about so many different pieces of art and history in this class. Because of this, I am just going to upload the papers I wrote for class and I'll discuss the history/background of two of my favorite pieces we've learned about.
Built in the second half of the 8th century (Unified Silla, after the Three Kingdoms' Period) in Gyeongju, this temple is built entirely out of granite following a rather scientific blueprint. This temple was commissioned by King ___ for two reasons: 1. For familiar respect paid to his deceased parents and 2. To (symbolically) protect Korea from Japanese pirate invaders. This temple was inspired by the Indian cave-style temple--Swogguram temples--which are temples carved into the side of a mountain. Seokgguram Grotto, however, was built as an artificial Swogguram where separate slabs of granite were carved and placed together to emulate the feeling of a cave. Additionally, a wooden hanok-style house is built around the enclosure. The focus point of the temple is the seated Buddha in the center of the temple. His hands are in two positions--two mudhras--that convey different actions. His right hand resting palm down on his knee is the "earth-touching mudhra" and his left hand facing palm up is the "meditation mudhra." Another important detail is the direction the Buddha is facing: Japan. Because of his position and mudhras, this Buddha is a protective figure for Koreans.
This temple was discovered as a pile of separated pieces in the 1900s. To figure out how it originally looked, it was built and taken down a number of times until the right configuration was found. This video was shown in class and is a great way to see the temple's structure; there was a lot of attention to detail placed in the planning of this temple as well.
Closed to the public, the inside of this temple can be viewed only one day of the year: May 27th, Buddha's Birthday. As Mina and I love the art and history behind this temple, we booked train tickets to hopefully view the inside. I will update this afterward!
Update (5.29.23): This temple was *SO* cool!! We weren't able to take photos inside but it was incredibly impressive. We walked around inside and the details and level of craftmanship were incredible.
This temple was discovered as a pile of separated pieces in the 1900s. To figure out how it originally looked, it was built and taken down a number of times until the right configuration was found. This video was shown in class and is a great way to see the temple's structure; there was a lot of attention to detail placed in the planning of this temple as well.
Closed to the public, the inside of this temple can be viewed only one day of the year: May 27th, Buddha's Birthday. As Mina and I love the art and history behind this temple, we booked train tickets to hopefully view the inside. I will update this afterward!
Update (5.29.23): This temple was *SO* cool!! We weren't able to take photos inside but it was incredibly impressive. We walked around inside and the details and level of craftmanship were incredible.
Pensive Bodhisattva vs Wooden Pensive Bodhisattva
I know that I've chosen only Buddhist-style work to talk about, but these are definitely my favorite pieces. I like the above pieces because of their interesting history. First, here are some general facts about the two pieces:Pensive Bodhisattva (left):Silla or Baekje, early 7th CEThis is a sitting Avalokiteshvara made in gilt bronze. This piece is one of the national treasures of Korea because of the expert bronze craftsmanship of the time and even during the present day. Unfortunately, this level of bronze craftsmanship was lost and this piece is a significant relic showing expert craftsmanship.
Wooden Pensive Bodhisattva (right):Resides in Japan, 7th CEThis is also a sitting Avalokiteshvara made from a red pine tree and is Japan's number 1 national treasure. It is made out of a single piece of wood and bears a close resemblance to the other sculpture previously discussed.
While Japan claims that the right sculpture is Japanese-made, lots of scholars actually argue for the sculpture being Korean made. During that time, red pine trees were indigenous to Korea, and Japanese-made wooden sculptures were made from Cyprus trees. Additionally, Japanese wooden sculptures were made from multiple pieces whereas Korean wooden sculptures were made from a single piece. So Japan's most treasured piece of art may actually be Korean-made.
Taek-Kyun
Taek-Kyun
The teacher explained that taek-kyun is the only nationally recognized Korean martial art in Korea. Whereas Tai Chi in China is more fluid and soft and Taekwondo in Japan is more rigid and fierce, the practice of Taek-kyun in Korea follows one principle that all other Korean arts adhere to, naturalism. Taek-kyun is the balance between fluidity and rigidity, it is natural. Before starting, you create a ying and yang type shape with your hands. Women cover their right hand over their left and vice versa for men. Starting a fight with a bow shows your respect for your opponent. In competition fighting, it's more like practice fighting. My teacher says that it's dedicated practice so that if you actually fight someone (who is threatening you) you kill them (crazy but I'd believe it seeing his demonstrations
The number 3 has a lot of significance in Korea. Korean folk songs--such as Airirang--follow 3 beat intervals and Taek-kyun is no different. The fighting stance in Taek-kyun is pumbalbki, the movement of your feet in an imaginary triangle. Imagining this, your feet would originally stand at the two base points of the triangle. Then, one foot would step on the top point of the triangle and your weight follows that foot. Your weight then shifts back to your other foot, you retract the forward foot, and repeat. This can be seen visually here (the rest of the video is also interesting to watch).
What I've appreciated in this class is the attention to balance, power, and breathing. I do a lot of hot yoga back home and appreciate the benefits of training your body to be balanced through thoughtful attention and breathing. Taek-kyun shares many of these same qualities. When making an attack motion, you breathe in, then when you strike you shout "ieeckhh" forcefully, and then returning to your original position you follow out the "ckhhh" sound. This is a way to add to the power in your movement while also controlling your breath and heart rate. This is challenging and while it looks so natural when watching a professional do this; it feels awkward when I do it. Additionally, stretching and physical health is emphasized in this practice--which are other aspects I appreciate.
I definitely think doing Taekwondo when I was younger helped me in my kicking, but Taek-kyun made me realize how I unconsciously moved/kicked.
2023-04-14_12-31-06_000.mp4Video of a series of steps we have to know
Korean 101 Language
Korean 101 Language
As I am writing this, I am about 3/4ths of the way through the semester. I decided to take a Korean language learning class here because I felt like it would be stupid not to. I learned French in school for 5 years--and remember how I struggled learning it--and so I was nervous taking Korean here. It has been challenging, but also extremely rewarding. I tried beginning to learn the Korean alphabet before leaving to Korea and used Duolingo and YouTube videos to help me. I would follow along with the lectures/actvities but I was still fairly lost--learning a new alphabet is really weird. But it feels even weirder now when I can look at Korean and sound out what it says and recognize some of what it says.
It took me 10 days to learn 40 words for the first quiz we had. I was studying every day and it felt like an impossible task. I think learning French words was easier because it shares the same alphabet as English. But with Korean, it's much more challenging to memorize (I think) because the new alphabet is another challenge. Because this class doesn't contribute to my major requirements at all, I figured I could experiment with studying techniques and just see what I could learn--and it worked! After doing well on the first quiz, I realized it was possible to learn this challenging language. So even as the vocab terms increased and became more challenging, I felt ok working hard to learn it. What has been rewarding is that I know some basic phrases and words to either get around or hear when people are talking. Obviously, I am *nowhere* near fluent, but I definitely know a lot more than I knew before.
In terms of history, Koreans used to read Chinese but the local spoken language was Korean. Because of this, the Korean spoken language was written using Chinese characters. However, in the Chosŏn dynasty, King Sejong established a Korean alphabet. The characters used then are not identical to the ones used now, but many characters remain the same. Another interesting thing that I didn't realize before coming here is that there are two counting systems in Korea: one is in Korean and the other is in Chinese but written using Korean characters. Korean numbers are typically used for counting smaller numbers of items (1-10) and Chinese numbers are used for counting larger numbers (>10). Additionally, there are a surprising amount of K-English words, Korean words that sound like/similar to the English word. Some examples are cellphone = 핸드폰 (haen-de-pone), drama = 드라마 (de-ra-ma), tower = 타워 (ta-wao), etc.
Photo I took from the Seoul Festa near Gyeongbokgung Palace. This statue shows the writing style from the Joseon period where there are dots instead of horizontal lines.
"A book explaining the background principles of the invention of the Korean writing system Hangeul" ~taken at the National Hangeul Museum
As Chinese was used for Korean writing, this book includes both Hangeul and Chinese characters. Hanguel, I learned, is actually the only written language with a known date of creation and creator.
As Chinese was used for Korean writing, this book includes both Hangeul and Chinese characters. Hanguel, I learned, is actually the only written language with a known date of creation and creator.
Here is an introduction I wrote (without translation/help) using what I learned. (Sorry for the bad handwriting) Here is the translation:
Hi/ how are you doing? My name is Emma. I am an American and I go to Yonsei University. I eat samgyeopsal (a type of pork cut in KBBQ). Samgyeopsal and green tea latte is delicious. And I like Korea. Korean is difficult, but fun! Thank you! ~Emma
Hi/ how are you doing? My name is Emma. I am an American and I go to Yonsei University. I eat samgyeopsal (a type of pork cut in KBBQ). Samgyeopsal and green tea latte is delicious. And I like Korea. Korean is difficult, but fun! Thank you! ~Emma
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