Before I begin it should be mentioned that these are, of course, merely observations and anecdotes from my time here. No surprise there, as this is what my blog is, anecdotes from my Korean experience - hopefully articulate and researched - but anecdotes nonetheless. This is a touchy subject of course, so with that disclaimer, read on.
As a caucasian in Korea, I am strongly in the minority. One of my texts on Korea rates the country as the most homogenous nation on earth, with over 99% being ethnically Korean. As a caucasian in a Provincial city, outside of Seoul, the minority reaches ubsurd proportions. Quite a shocker to go from the most ethnically diverse nation on earth to the least. When I went home for Christmas, the cornucopia of colours in the Vancouver airport was mindboggling.
The total number of foreigners I have seen in my neighbourhood in Korea, in SIX MONTHS, is wait for it, 2! And one was yesterday, so that barely counts.
I am definitely a stop and stare phenomena, which sometimes is cute if I'm in a good mood and it's cute kids, and sometimes is really annoying - like if it's seedy old men who want to hold my hand.
Even in Seoul there are plenty of stares to go round. One day I was like the Pied Piper walking to school, one of my students saw me, and all the school kids starting following me and I had like a crowd of 20 by the end.
As for the rascism part, as a natural offshoot of being so, um...undiverse, you are bound to run into trouble in this regard. If you are, by nature, so mono-cultural and focused on conformity (and Korea is ever so conformist), diversity and awareness of other cultures is not going to be a high value is it?
Anyone coming here from Canada would be in for a shock, (Though come to think of it, I was shocked by how non-diverse Southern Manitoba was as well). Anyway, here are some random anecdotes:
- I've heard stories from native speaking English teachers who are either Asian/black, I guess basically anything other than white, who have trouble getting a job because they don't look the part.
-One student of mine said a black guy in a book looked like a monkey....so I told him that was bad, and looked up rascism in the Korean/English dictionary. The translated version just got a collective "who cares""that's bad?" from the class....apparently rascist is not a bad thing in Korea.
- (not that I'm sad about this but.....) Rumour has it that foreigners aren't allowed in the Red light district of Wonju. Why? If the girls have been with a foreigner, the Korean men will have nothing to do with them.
- Rumour also has it that there are some dining establishments we are not welcome in in Wonju. This, I have not experienced personally, and it has purely to do with the behaviour of the visitors from the adjacent American Army Base and not that much to do with race. But still, you can't picture that going down in Canada can you? I can't.
- Intermarriage is really frowned upon. This is not a rumour. This is something I have talked to many Koreans about. Shame cause half white/half asian kids are always cute. Haha.
Seriously though, the consensus seems to be, almost all Korean grandparents would dissaprove of an interracial marriage. A lot of parents would dissaprove as well. This is changing and some of my friends say their parents would be happy if they were happy. But conformity (as mentioned) and bloodlines are so important here, it's why no-one in Korea adopts. This is a rabbit trail, but a worthwhile one, as it has become a national disgrace. Despite being the worlds 11th largest economy, and a prosperous nation, Korean orphans are adopted overseas by the thousands. Caring for someone who's not "blood" is just not a part of the mindset. Currently a national issue. Rabbit trail finished.
Foreign friends and dating foreigners seems to score a higher parental approval rating, presumably to give their kid a leg up in the world (i.e. learn English...). And young people are generally much more accepting and openminded when it comes to race. Still though, they all say having a foreign significant other puts one in a different category from the normal Koreans....my adult class couldn't agree on whether it was a good category or a bad one, so it appears to be a little of both...a mix of rich/special/powerful/cool and snobby/different/strange/unpatriotic
(and do keep in mind that different is not a good thing)
As a Canadian it is easy to find it all quite perplexing...I suppose race never really comes up at home...fully half of my high school grad class was non-caucasion and it never really was something that crossed ones mind. But if I stretch my mind, and I have to stretch it quite far mind you, I suppose it isn't hard to imagine that Canada was like that a generation or two ago. I suppose.
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