Colozination in Korea

Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan’s 35 imperialist expansions (22 August 1910 to 15 august 1945). It ended 1945 upon the Japanese defeat war II in 1945.But, currently there is no influence from other countries but in past days they had influence from Europe and Japan. The colonization had more negative effects it didn’t benefit the Koreans at all, the Japanese main aim was to take away of their goods. According to the my partner he thinks the colonization had brought so many negative effects, the Japanese removed the king family because of that they don’t have any kings during the colonization the kings wife was bitten up by Japanese gang to death and they burned her . Until this day they didn’t admit what happened.My partner thinks this was one of the sad things. They also killed all the dogs in Korea they bought their new bread and they sent the remaining bread was sent to the island. They forced the Koreans to change their last names e.g some people were forced to change their last name, to own property like cars and house. They were forced to worship ghosts. People don’t like all this. Most Koreans still hold grudges on Japanese but my partner doesn’t feel the same way so does his family. When it comes to food much didn’t chance because, both are Asian countries they share the same culture. Currently globalization is taking over from fashion trends are coming from Japan and Europe that is one of the huge influences. Conclusion is the Japan had so much influence on korea

Religion in Korea

Religion in Korea

Different types of religions are practiced in different part of Korea Buddhism, Confucianism, Korean shamanism; Taoism and Christianity are some of the religions. My partner doesn’t practice any religion, he used to be Christian and he stopped practicing it for his personal reason, now he is an atheist. Religion is big part of the society.  Most part of the population is Christian. My partner doesn’t pray at all, but his family friend pray for him these shows how religion is the most important thing.

At every scenic spot, there is a Buddhist monastery, and most of the nation’s tangible cultural assets are Buddhist.  Yet when entering any Korean city, one is immediately impressed by the number of Protestant churches. Only few Koreans have embraced the Islamic beliefs. However, a large mosque near It’aewon in Seoul is frequented by many foreigners in Korea. Since my partner doesn’t have religion there isn’t much to discuss about his religion, he has his personal reason for not having a religion he doesn’t want to share. But his parents are Christians

 

 

 

 

Race in Korea

In Korea race difference is based on skin color, accordingly my partner is Koran by race. In Korea there are very foreigners from different countries most are from America the reason for them is for traveling or working mostly to teach English, my partner had foreign teachers from USA, New Zealand, Austral, Canada and a many more countries. He thinks Korea is not as mixed as USA countries, if you go to Korea you will mostly find only Koreans; you have to go to certain areas to find international people. So it is hard to find different races in Korea.

He doesn’t think there is racism in Korea at any level; he thinks the reason is because the country doesn’t have a mixed race its only Koreans so there is no difference.  My partner has never experienced serious racism and from watching TV shows and all he thinks some girls apart from Asians do not like Korean guys, he thinks the reason is because there are not a lot of Koreans in America. Even when it comes to dating he doesn’t mind dating and going with anyone having two black American and a white roommate taught him a lot. Where is he is from back people are considered dangerous but after coming here he as different ways of looking at people

 

Class in Korea

In Korea classes consisting of civil servants, salaried white-collar workers in large private companies, and professionals with specialized training, such as engineers, health care professionals, university professors, architects, and journalists. Accordingly they are divided as first class, middle class and upper class. My partner comes from a middle class family, where his father is a banker and his mother a house wife. As a middle class his father daily works from 7-8 hours which a good paying job for the family and stay in that class. My partner thinks by working harder he will probably be high class so, according to him from a middle class does not affect his future. My partner does not think different classes have different powers. In fact, people’s political attitudes are determined not by one’s position in the class structure but by non class factors, such as one’s age, education level, and native region.

            According to my partner class difference should exist for so many reason, one is there should be working class so because someone has to produce, and he also thinks that there should be class difference to encourage people to work harder. The poor’s will stay poor and not to improve their status. 

 

Political organization in Korea

         The political system of Korea is based on republic from government with the president as chief of the state and prime minster as the head of government. Powers of the government is shared between the executive, legislature and judiciary political. According to my partner Compared to the American political system Korean political system the president has  5 year period of time on power, and the president can be elected only once not more than that . There is equality when it come to in religion government is not involved at all. People are allowed to practice any type of religion as far as it doesn’t touch others people’s rights. The government tries to practice gender equality in political systems, but still there are very few female politicians involved than male politicians. The government is trying its best to balance the difference.  When it come to some parties have more chairs than the others, so there is no equality the parties with more chair  obviously get more votes ,and chance to win . Government has so much involvement in the law and education and so  as my partners’ explanation the government is involved in education so much that it controls all the colleges in the country, colleges are not allowed to follow their way of education system, my partner seemed a little disappointed when he talked about it. He said it is still the same education system.

                My partner doesn’t have a lot of information about the governmental system but, most people do not like the government, they believe that they use the tax money for their personal use. it is not clean specially executive part is more corrupt …he thinks it is getting better and better because in the past times it was more corrupt .like 30 years ago it was very corrupt. Two ex presidents were put to jail because of corruption in the past. My partner thinks the president is not perfect, but   he has his good sides during the two years he has been doing things. My partner thinks he should be given a chance .There are some who don’t like him because they think he is a decteator.

Sex & Gender in Korea

            In Korean culture,  the husband is the one expected to support the family, on the other hand the women are expected to stay at home and be housewives.  According to my partners explanation woman ratio to men is less it is because in past days people used to have sex preference abortion, which now resulted imbalance between male and female. According to my partners explanation during the holidays women are expected to do house jobs and cook for men, and men are not expected to do any work. He believes this is done because; culturally considered everymen has to go out and earn money; so women are expected to stay home and work. Even though they work at home my partner believes women live a better life than men. For those families where both parents work just like the western culture the children are sent to day care. According to my partners’ explanation these days the women are given more privilege, the women participation is increasing from time to time. When comparing education status more male are educated then female, so female are more encouraged. For example:-  when my partner was in Korea he was studying engineering  ,  there was only one girl in his department , most girls were studying business so most of the professors used to encourage the girls. He said most girls still take easy courses so they are encouraged to be involved in harder courses too.

           My partner told me more about his family, his mother is an artists, she is not professional so she paints as a hobby. She raised him and his brother at home without getting a job outside. His father just like the other Koreans supported the family. My partner wants to get married to a wife just like his mother. He doesn’t expect her to go out and get a job, he wants her to stay at home and raise the children until they get older, after that she can do her own things. He says he wants to support his family financially on his own without the help from his wife. So this shows most of the time the men are the ones taking care of the family, when it comes to working and making money. One last thing is most of the time will is given to the male children for example: – his grandmother from his mother side didn’t get any will from her parents; it was all given to her brothers. The reason behind this according to my partner  is because; men are the ones taking care of the family financially so they get to have the will.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AS A FEILD WORKER

Field work in anthropology is a way of learning, and communicating what we have learned without any biases. As a field worker  my job is to learn about new culture, from a partner assigned , and share it to my readers. I am eager to learn new cultures, and I think it is goanna be a good experience. Because, we all come from different background and share different cultures so taking the time to know about one culture is very interesting, what makes it more fascinating is the fact that I will be sharing it to my readers. During my field work I will be  expect some challenges , like my partner not understanding my questions , short answers and language problems . On the other hand I might be asking questions that might offend my partners of , things he / she doesn’t want to talk about . I hope my field work will be successful.

Economy

            Koreans economy mainly depends on import and export. In Korean society, exchange of goods and services is the part of culture. Generalized reciprocity (no over account is kept in giving) is practiced between parents and children. Koreans celebrate parents’ day, they don’t have fathers and mothers day separately. On that day children give red (carnations) in specific to their parents to honor mothers and fathers and thank them for their many years of patience and selflessness. Korean children unlike the American culture stay with their family until any age they want, in America once a child reaches the age of 18 they are considered as an adult, so some leave the house. This is the main reason behind giving the flower, the children give the flowers to their parents in the morning before the parents get up and leave for work. For the fathers they put it in the pocket, but for the mother they attach it with a pin on the right or left side. And they give them hugs. This starts from young age , when they are children they make flower pictures if they can get the flowers , but once they grow up they  buy and give them the real flower. The reason why they give them red flower is because; it is believed that the flower is a symbol of love for parents’. Because of the above reason the the type of flower used matters a lot. This type of gift giving does not require no obligation return it is just one sided. On the other hand they have Childers’ days where parents give gifts to their children, but this only continues until the children reach middle school.  it stops ones they reach certain age.

     The other type of giving is practiced among friend s which is balanced reciprocity (entails obligation to return) this type of giving is practiced between people who are friend s. For example in America if you go out to eat you have to take care of your bill unless you have some kind of agreement. But in Korea whenever friends or people who know each other go out one will pay the others bill with just understanding one another that the other party will pay next time. But some special cases like if a friend is visiting over the guest cannot pay for anything the friend must accommodate everything, this is part of the main culture. Birthday and weeding gifts are given with balance reciprocity.  The other thing about gift giving is gifts are given considering the other parties needs

Marriage in Korea

Koreans have similar marriages arrangements  to that of their Western counterparts, but has unique features of its own. For example, Korean brides do not adopt their groom’s surname as in many Western marriages The definition of marriage for Koreans is bond of a male and female, same-sex marriage is not legally-recognised in South Korea.  Homosexuality is strongly criticized in mainstream Korean society, and many Koreans consider homosexuality to be a Western phenomenon. The government does not approve the marriage. According to my partner he was shocked to hear about gay people. In the past it was generally considered a taboo for a man and a woman to marry if they both have the same last name from the same ancestor. From this cultural influence, Korean Civil code regulated marriages within a clan in the past , considering it as a type of, but now the rule has changed and people with the same last name can marry each other.  Like incent  taboos who are prohibited to mate between people classified as relatives, they are also prohibited to marry immediate families .

According to my partner he thinks skinny girls are considered beautiful, girls with small eyes are also considered beautiful. He wants to marry someone who is like his mother, who stays at home and work for the family , he told me his partner should be Korean .people are not divided in clans and tribes so endogamy and exogamy are not considered at all. People are allowed to marry anyone. Polygamy (a man having so many wives ) is not practiced at all , monogamy is the common. Polyandry (woman having more than one husband) is not practiced at all. when it comes to choosing a mate the people who are getting married are responsible, they had arranged marriages where bride and groom does know each other before the wedding, but now almost all single people meet their matched partner prior to the marriage and have more say about the match than was previously allowed…when it comes to dowry Various exchanges that are so crucial to the Korean wedding. Those of household goods (Honsu); gifts of clothing and jewelry between the bride and groom (Yedan, Chedan and Paemul); gifts given to the significant kin of the groom (‘Yedan); gifts of cash from the groom’s kin to the bride (Cholgap), and from the bride’s family to the groom’s friends (Hamgap); and exchanges of food and wine between the two families (Sangsu) though not all practices are still common. Nuclear family is the only thing considered as family people .traditionally if a girl is married to a guy she has to work for guys family. As my partners explanation in past days the wife and mother in law never get along, but these days it is getting better .

MAKING A LIVING

Koreans are knows for leading a sedentary way of life. Forging is not commonly practiced Korea, this is due to the life style of the people, and the geographical area. In the past days hunting was used to get food but now  a days it is not practiced anymore , because it is illegal to hunt in most of the places . Pastoralism is not practiced at all in all aspects; people lead  a sedentary way of life. Koreans are known for growing rice (which is a staple food) in one place and they keep growing it year over year so pastoralist is not practiced at all. In most parts people use mechanized way of agriculture but still some areas are covered with human labor. Some have subsistence way of living while some produce at large for the market and profit. When it comes to production it is half and half  things are imported and, on the other side some are exported. So it is more balanced. For example- ships and cell phones are among the popular things exported to the outside world while oil is the commonly imported good. Some part of Korea is known for fishing, which is the east coast, some do fishing for business. Horticulture (burning the land and letting it rest for few years) is practiced in few areas but it is not common anymore. Irrigation is also common in few areas in accordance with the location. Korean food production doesn’t use much of chemicals for production. They are known for eating vegetable .

communication in korea

Korean language is different from Japanese and Chinese language. But, it shows some similarity to Hungarian language, besides that it doesn’t show any similarity with any other language. It has a different structure in formation of a sentence.  The sentence forming starts with an object then subject and a verb at the end of the sentence.  The words change their form while forming different sentences; one word can have different types of meanings. Language being the verbal expression of culture, Korean language expresses the culture very well. For example:- words used for communication between older and younger people are different ,they have specific words for older people to show resect. This shows that culture is expressed in the language. Most of the time they use indirect ways of expressing ones needs since they don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings so they use Indirect ways of expressing feelings this is due to the culture they have some non verbal communications are used which are not that different from other culture, example:-A person with a tattoo is considered as gangster, so normally most people don’t tattoo. Communication is done with talking most of the time, shaking hands is a common way of communication ,and it is okay  to stand close to people while communicating. It is usually common for girls to hold hands as friends, but  it is not common to hold hands between guys but it is considered normal to hug each other.  If you want to know more please feel free to ask questions.

south Korea

 My blog will be done on south Korea. The person who is gong to be working with me on this class assignment is jun young who is an exchange student from  south Korea, currently studying at WC. some fa

-  South Korea is located in East Asia neighboured by China, Japan and North Korea. it is the second metroploititian country in the world.

-The total area is 100,032   the sq Km with the population of over 48 million.

- korean history began with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BCE by dangun.

-koreans aim is to become a business hub of north East Asia

-Koreans had a bloody war , where they gained their independence.

- Korea is now a presidential republic consists of 16 administrative divisions.

-The geography of Korea is peninsula jutting out of the worlds largest continent has contributed to the development of uniquely korean characteristics.

- Korea has most world classic players golf ,soccer, baseball, tennis,archery short track and tekwando.

- traces of korean history dates back over a million years ago.

- presidential elections are held by equal,direct and secret ballots in popular election.

South Korea maintains its alliance with  U.S to ensure sustained peace,security and economic development.

- in the past few years Korea has transformed itself from agrarian economy to industrialized nation.

- currently south Korea is one of  the developed countries with high living standard.

These are some of the searched i did and, my partner liked my searches . he gave me more details about the history and the war.what i have learned more is currently Korea is one of technological advanced counties. most of the recent technologies come from Korea.

 hope you like my blog ..feel free to ask any questions.

hello!

       This blog is made for a class assignment of cultural anthropology 115, for fall 2009 semester at WC. the purpose of the blog is to learn about unfamiliar culture and make a blog about what i have learned and share it with a reader. i will be doing what anthropologists do and try to learned about a new culture of an international country. i will be making different interviews and try to learn . Finally i will share what i have learned on the blog. by the end of the class i hope the readers and i will learn something about the new culture

Enjoy reading!