1) Blog Post : On Being a Black Woman in Korea
Summary : Kimberly Taylor is Black-American who teaches English in South Korea with her husband. Living as black in Korea, she has trouble in not only because of her appearance but also in the fact that she doesn't have her child. In this blog post, you can find that how Koreans, especially Ajummas, talk to foreign stranger so directly, and treat them impolitely. Also, you can see that how Korea's conventional thinking interferes in other's life.
2) Article : Brothas & Sistas of Korea
by Henry Allen Hurst on June 8th, 2009, Korea Herald
Summary : This article introduces a group called 'Brothas&Sistas of South Korea (BSSK)', an Afro-centric expat group in Korea, by doing interviews with a few members the group. This group was made in order to share useful information among black people living in Korea and give advices for black expats to adapt well to Korean society. It holds various events such as day trips and book discussions, and it is really active on Facebook. The interviewees also express several opinions about stereotypes and racism produced by Korean people.
Link : http://media.daum.net/foreign/englishnews/view.html?cateid=1047&newsid=20090608110506865&p=koreaherald
3) Youtube Video : Black Woman in Korea : Sex and Fantasy
Summary : In This video, a woman is talking about Korean men's steereotype against black women. Speaker thinks that korean guys oversexualize black women, because they are influenced by media. Moreover she adds some of her bad experiences to support her point of view. It can be her stereotype against Korean guys which makes it interesting.
Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwKTP9zoX04
3) Youtube Video : Black Woman in Korea : Sex and Fantasy
Summary : In This video, a woman is talking about Korean men's steereotype against black women. Speaker thinks that korean guys oversexualize black women, because they are influenced by media. Moreover she adds some of her bad experiences to support her point of view. It can be her stereotype against Korean guys which makes it interesting.
Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwKTP9zoX04
For blog post #1 and #3, about a half of articles and materials are about female black people. It was new experience for me knowing the point of view of black women in Korea. Especially in the first material on blog post #3, the writer expressed her feeling about her life in Korea really bluntly. From that blog post, I knew several behaviors which can make black women unpleasant. Also, I thought that stereotypes are not only in the workplace but also in a daily life.
답글삭제-Hyunjun
삭제The video about 'sex and fantasy' was quite surprising to me. Maybe becasue I'm not a male, I don't have such fantasy toward foreign girls. However, I do know some Korean boys who act with shallow understanding about foreigners. And after I put my self in those females' shoes, I realized how would it be frustrating and enraging. Now, it really shows the power of media, and how dangerous it could be.
답글삭제I felt so mad while reading the first article which is about the black women with no baby. Although this is another bias, I came to reinforce my prejudice toward 'Ajummas', the female women of 40-50. Ajummas' prejudice and carelessness in words and privacy made me so mad. What I came to think was that every people, especially Korean, should be told and educated not to talk of others' privacy that easily. The culture in South Korean that people talk of others' privacy in the name of 'advice' is so disgusting to me, and felt it again while reading the first article.
답글삭제I felt sorry to the women of the first blog since she was suffering more than two types of stereotypes. Of course, many people feel they are stereotyped in more than 2 ways. However, in this case, she was suffering in more than 2 simultaneously, being black and having no babies. In this reason, I think the first article is valuable in that it enlightens people who are biased in more than 2 ways simultaneously.
Elena Kim:
답글삭제I understand the frustration that the youtuber shows in her video due to her uncomfortable experience. However, as someone who is talking about how she wrongly she was treated because of overgeneralization, I do not think that the way she tried to deliver the message was done in an appropriate way. She, too, made an overgeneralization about Korean men and I can already imagine people outside from Korea who watch her videos having stereotypes of Korean men as a whole. I was hoping for her to at least add some additional comments at the end justifying that her sayings are solely from her own few experiences but she failed to do so.
Minseok Lee
답글삭제I have learnt a lot about black people living in Korea through your posts.
Firstly, I had nooooo idea that black people's hair was such a big deal in Korea. It seems like the people who were on your sources and research all talked about their hairs and it's amazing how hair takes so much importance in their lives in Korea. I had never thought about hair that way and it was definately an interesting topic to read about.
Secondly, I learnt a lot about how black women in Korea feels as they live in Korea. Even just blacks in general are very rare to see in Korea, and imagine how rare it would be to see a black women on the streets. Women themselves have a stereotype and discrimination of being seen as a sexual material, mainly due to influence from media. I'm guessing that black women are seen as some sort of "rare meat" for ignorant Korean males, which I feel disgusted even just by thinking about it.
I enjoyed your posts and blog, but one thing that struck me as room for improvement is the fact that your blog hardly delt with a perspective from black male living in Korea.
Sunghun Cho
답글삭제i learned from this video 'sex and fantasy' that we south koreans still have a long way to go. It is just shameful to see some koreans being really inconsiderate and mean to somebody they don't even know. I think much of this phenomenon comes from the fact that many south koreans haven't received any education about subcultures and the groundless stereotypes posed on the members of the subculture. As i am taking this class, i can feel that my perspective toward subcultures is changing in a way that deliberately address and think about stereotypes or the assumptions related to them. It seems to me that those people being inconsiderate to blacks or whoever else do not know that their thoughtless actions could harm others feelings and damage others. For me, it is the role of education to make people accept diversities and differences that is much needed to many people in korea.
I've never heard that Korean men sexualize black women, so I was very surprised when the youtuber said that. I think some Korean men think foreigners are more opened in their sex lives, but I don't think that Korean men generally thinks black women as meat or people just for sex. Maybe the men mentioned in the youtuber's video were influenced by U.S. culture, which involves music videos saying "Damn girl look at that ~~"pointing at a black women, but I think the youtuber is just overgeneralizing. There are people who are interested in foreign women and try to hook women up with their own stereotypes anywhere in the world.
답글삭제In case of article 1, the difficulties writer had was mainly owing to her different appearances. As she mentions ajummas, the older generation are not tolerant in different appearances like dreadlocks or obese body as they rarely see people with distinctly different appearances, and I think this is the main reason of difficulties of the black in Korea. The baby thing was similar, as the older generation rarely saw married person without babies.
For Korean woman, people have stereotypes that when a married woman does not have a baby, something is wrong. They assume she is selfish, not femine, chilly, cold woman. This standard also apply to who are not Koreans. Black woman not having baby in Korea are criticized by same reason. If she is white, I expect the reaction would be different. People could admire. White woman who does not have babies are free, independent, cool, and we korean women should consider not having baby like White women
답글삭제[JIEUN]
답글삭제First of all, the video about black woman in Korea: Sex and fantasy surprises me. I never thought about that. Rather, i had a sterotype about black male like that. Next, i am interested in the first blog - on being a black women in Korea. Some Korean tend to intrude upon other's privacy… especially ajummas. But it is because of their concern... I think. but sometimes it makes people upset and annoyed.