Interview #1



On July 2nd 2015, we met our first interviewee from Germany. He was born in an Ethiopian family, but was born and have lived in Germany. He came to Korea for studying anthropology, which required him to study abroad. Our conversation during the interview consisted of three parts; the interviewee's brief background, stereotypes, and introducing the subculture itself.



<Background>

 As mentioned above, our interviewee is German, but his parents were Ethiopian. He became interested in Korea and decided to study here because of the similarities that the country had compared to Germany.

 He was in the department of anthropology, but had most of his classes in GSIS (graduate school of international studies) because of the language. His environment here in Korea, made him a definite minority in the perspective of race.



<Stereotypes>

 Our interviewee only had few experiences of anything related to racism or discrimination against his skin color. They were mostly related to people staring in public places such as the subway. He had an open, unpleasant experience one time, when a Korean man forced him to a short dialect about the interviewee's nationality and originality.

 Though interviewee himself was confused, about the reason for the incident, whether it was because he was black or just because he was a foreigner, he stated that it was the most disturbing experience he had in Korea.

 Still, he emphasized that his life in Korea so far, has been much positive. He gave us some reasons to that. First, he thought he hasn't stayed for a long time in Korea yet, and second he thinks the fact that he spends most his time in the university prevents him from unpleasant experiences.

 What was shocking to the Korean people around him, was the fact that he was black and German. He said just about everyone is surprised when he tells them he's from Germany. And comparing the stereotypes against black people in Korea and Germany, he says Germany is much more multicultural and open to different races, and people with different nationality.



<Black Subculture>

 As a black individual living in Korea, the interviewee didn't have much contact or gatherings with people of his own race. He meets few in the school, but not because they have the same skin-color, but because they are international students, along with other students in the GSIS or SNU Buddy. The only black people he knows were people studying in SNU that's from Ethiopia, and people in the SNU Buddy. He hasn't made effort and says he didn't feel the need to be on any specific cultural act of his race or because of it.

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  3. By reading this interview summary, I noticed that I have a certain stereotype that most of black people are live in Africa. However, the interviewee said that I had born and raised in Germany.
    Also, I totally understand his experience. He said that his felt confuse about the reason for the incident, whether it was because he was black or just because he was a foreigner. I think that the origin of stereotypes is mixed with multiple grounds.

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  4. It is really interesting to realize that i had a stereotype about black people's nationality, too. I always thought that black people should be from america or africa either, and the hidden assumption behind the stereotype was that germany must be a country composed of only white people. It is fortunate to know that germany is a multi-cultural society.
    Also, i think koreans have some kind of groundless confidence in subways or buses that they can talk to people from other races without giving any consideration about what they're saying. These kinds of incidents are being continously mentioned from previous blog posts or interviews. As far as i'm concerned, we should treat blacks or people in other subcultures in the same way that we treat other south koreans. I mean, we don't approach other south koreans in subway and make them use dialects or something. Then, why should it be possible for just foreigners? The fact that someone is black doesn't justify their inconsiderate remarks and behaviors, so i wish we could be a little bit more careful so that our remark to blacks(even if it is from intimacy) does not harm them in any way.

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