Blog Post #4: Interview Synopsis #3 - Jaewan Oh

Interview Summary #3 with "A", "B", and "C" by Jaewan Oh
- Multicultural Family in Korea

The interview was held near Oryun Church in Gangdong-gu, where they have their family support center. My friend goes to this church, so I could get this link with A, B, and C, who are members of multicultural family in Korea. They were friendly, but didn't allow me to record the interview or take a photo. They didn't want their privacy and personal information to be shown to people who they don't know. A and B weren't that good in English, so many times they needed translation from C and some Korean to say what they want.

Introduction

A, B were from China, and C was from Peru. All of them were housewives in their 30s. A, B have come to Korea since 7 years ago and C for 15 years. They all live in Gangdong-gu, Seoul.

Daily Life & Family Life

A identified herself as an ordinary housewife. However, she made distinctions between her and genuine Koreans or the 'non-multiculturals'. She said the life is much difficult being multicultural in Korea. B told me that she married Korean which is an international marriage, but the way people look at the marriage isn't always true. Some people think that this kind of wedding cannot ensure the sincerity of love, but B said it is just case-by-case. She said there are some difficulties, but her family are quite stable.
About Koreans marrying foreigners, B wanted people to be honest as possible. She said the problems people hear in media is oriented from lying each other. There should be strict regulations about fraud in marriage.

Life in the Society

C said that people's eyes looking at the multicultural family is not always that welcoming. She is worried sometimes people think of the foreign immigrants as a potential criminals. Negative discriminations have decreased thanks to many campaigns and laws. Still, some news about immigrant crimes can scare the natives.

Institutional Support (Welfare System)

Interviewees said that the most difficult part living in Korea is the language. They lived here for a pretty long time, still the language isn't that easy. When they have to send some documents and fill out the forms, the instruction is insufficient. A said that her child goes to elementary school, and she gets trouble teaching her Korean languages.
In Korea, there are some people who think multiculturalism can harm the society, especially financially. A knew about some people criticizing the multiculturalism policy and budget. She could understand the reaction, but she also wanted the Koreans to understand the phenomenon and accept them. She said the increasing budget made them feel much easier than before, and it is quite grateful. Nevertheless, she couldn't understand the fact that budget for multiculturalism is increasing dramatically, since the assistance they feel haven't improved that much.

Community for those

C said A, B, and C usually go to church like here, where they can get help in their language. Also, they go to community relief center and family support center to learn Korean language, how to cook, etc. There are other friends to do these together.
Overall, the 3 people I met thought the language barrier is blocking the cultural exchanges between them and Koreans. The government should make some assistance for this.

Blog post #4 : Interview Synopsis Interview #2 with ‘Lim’ – Indonesin-Korean

Blog post #4 : Interview Synopsis by Bang, Shinhyo

Interview #2 with ‘Lim’ – Indonesin-Korean

We met Lim, through an our classmate, Sumin, and made an appointment to interview at April 24^th. She was outside the country, so we met online.

About the interviewee

She grew up in Indonesia. Her dad is Korean and mom is Indonesian of Chinese descent. Her first language is Indonesian and she usually uses English at school and home.

Daily Life& Family Life

She thinks being a multicultural child gives her advantages of experiencing diverse thoughts. She went to an international school all her life and didn't experience any discrimination. In the mid-west art of the US(where her college is located), she has seen discrimination but has not been a victim.

Her father moved from Korea to Indonesia for business and her mom helped him out with settling in Jakarta and his business. So they met through work. Her parents value her education very highly so they're willing to pay for a tutor if she needs. But they don't push me as hard as other Korean or Chinese parents. They both work so they don't watch over her studying or anything but they do expect her to try her best to get the best grades. She loves her family life and very grateful for it. I feel extremely lucky to have her parents and siblings and to have grown up the way she did.

To the question saying, if the regulation for international marriage is well-prepared, she thinks regulations are not necessary because people are free to marry whoever they want.

Life in Society

She hasn’t been through any discrimination against her. And she doesn’t care about the society’s attention towards her because introducing herself and getting to know others is always a pleasure. Q. What would be the reason for this(excessive attention)?

Institutional Support(welfare system)

She hasn’t suffered from inconvenience in a public institution/public places but when she went to school at KU, she felt her diversity was lessened because she went from cultural diversity to a very strong Korean culture that everyone adored.

Multicultural Community

She doesn’t have any contact with multicultural family.

Blog post #4 : Interview Synopsis

Interview #1 – Multicultural people in Korea by Dongwon Yi

   We interviewed a multicultural family’s son (who is 23 years old) who I met from the SNU Buddy. His name is Jimmy Crawford born from a British father and a Korean mother. Jimmy came from England and started to live here in Korea from September 2014. He is an exchange student in SNU and majoring business and has a hobby that is sports. Also he is interested in K-POP like any other foreigners. Just a normal man he is. He was really willing to take the interview and also opened for the picture. Here we started.

Daily life and family life in Korea

     As many biracial people are who could experience and learn about 2 cultures we thought they will have a confusion about their identity. As we thought when we questioned it, Jimmy said he had been questioned a lot about that question. He added that this kind of topic is the main thing he talks with other biracial people. We said he had some confusion and went back and forth. It was usually the environment that made him feel that and now as an adult he now feels a neutral person who is an English and Korean. Through this we could see that the surroundings could impact an adolescent and we should keep in mind that environment is a factor.

    The most interesting and curious from him was the life in Korea. But we noticed when we prepared these questions I also had a stereotype. We thought that biracial people would have harsh experiences and rude treatment from others. Jimmy didn’t actually experience discrimination. We did have a hard time to think if he had that kind of experiences. Rather than discrimination he just experienced some high attention from people. As he looks like a white person people just see him as a foreigner just like any foreigners who came to Korea for a visit. He felt uncomfortable and wanted to get rid of the attention from those people but his attitude was positive. What made him feel like was from the education and from his mother and other Korean acquaintances. He thought that it was totally contributed to the Korean’s way of thinking and a normal attitude to a foreigner. He understood with large tolerance.

    Jimmy’s family is a harmonious family. A father who is let’s him free and a mother who is a traditional Korean always think that he should study a lot. Jimmy still feels like a little boy took care by her. They two met at England when his mother came to study about arts and met a workingman who is his father. As a stereotype many people think that international marriage is not exactly 100% genuine love and think there should be other factors that are related. According to a report one third of foreign wives answered they want to return home and this made a problem between the relationships. Some was right and some was wrong. Jimmy’s mother was very lonely and sad because she could not visit her home often and that made a fight between his parents. We could know when someone is in a foreign country they want to go back their home and this was the exact case. But this does not make the love between his parents weak or altered. They are known to be lovebirds making a harmonious family.

Welfare system and the community in Korea

   Next we were interested with the welfare system here in Korea and wanted to the reaction about what Koreans were thinking, which could be called as stereotype. Jimmy however answered experiencing no hard time in public institutes and was very comfortable living here. Also he didn’t know any of the national welfare system that means there is not enough support yet spread. So we asked him what Koreans thought about the increase in financial support with the welfare system. As a stereotype people think this is over-spending and actually those people gets a lot of support. About this Jimmy thinks this is not responsible for this but actually the people traditional thoughts are responsible. As more foreigners come in and globalization increases the new generation experiences various kinds of things and could get a wider view. But, what Jimmy says, the old generation are not ready to accept the foreigners and feel they are intruders. This might be related to the traditional thinking, ‘a single-race nation’.

Ending the interview

    As the interview was going to the final, we wanted to know what Jimmy wanted to say to the public and how he thinks about international marriage. To the older generation we should just leave them because it would be hard to change what they think about international people. However to the younger generation we should teach and make them understand the world’s changing and should follow the trend. Teach students to not look down on those people or shocked by those people but embrace them and think that they are just a normal person as they are. As a biracial person, Jimmy encourages international marriage because someone could experience more cultures and could get more opportunities. And through that someone could open his/her mind much wider and receptive.  

Blog Post #3 Multiple Stories Research

Article 1.

http://theculturemuncher.com/2013/07/13/a-multicultural-korea-inevitable-or-impossible/

 The normal things that happen to the multicultural people are written in this article seriously. We could notice that our country, Korea, is not yet prepared for the increase of immigration from the foreign countries. The article shows some cases the multicultural children face when they are in adolescence age and points out the problem of that. The generation changed and we should change our view and thoughts that the people are not same as us. The new thing we knew was there are a lot of people who are in the high office job. For example, a woman who is a Filipina-born Korean politician and lawmaker has become a spokesperson for migrant wives. Furthermore the government provided some policies for the multicultural people but the facilities and websites are not still helpful for them and the article points the problems related to it. At last the article hopes a future where we don’t have to discuss about multiculturalism and those are nice words to say.

Article 2.

Governmental Supports for Foreign and Multicultural Families, Kim, Taejong, Yeonhap News, December 11^th, 2012

The article is about the announcement of “2^nd Multicultural Family Policy.”

The policy is mainly focused on fostering multicultural families’ economic and social states.

Job Aids

-       working supporting system

-       benefits for the companies which hire foreigners/biracial

Education Aids

-       preliminary schools for foreign/multicultural children(adaptation purpose)

-       special education for the gifted foreign/multicultural children

Marriage Managements

-       compulsory interview before marriage

-       formalization of international wedding enterprises

Koreans are outraged that the government is spending too much tax for the foreigners/biracial.

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0005983422

News Clip

For foreigners in Korea, quality of life hasn't kept pace with population growth

This news-clip shows life of multicultural people in Korea by showing the community in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do province. The reporter had interviews with people in Ansan to demonstrate the situation of multiculturalism in Korea. "So many people and merchants crowd the streets on the weekends that it takes ten times longer to get anywhere. The city made the streets pretty, but there is nothing being done to take care of them." We can figure out that the welfare system government services aren’t that trustworthy. To people in Korea multiculturalism policy would be a overspending of taxes, and to those who came to Korea, it would be stressful that they cannot get treated well.

http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nSeq=165141

Blog Post #2 Interview Questionnaire

Interview Questionnaire for 

the Multi-Cultural People

Interview Goals

1. To test the normal stereotypes.
2. To know how interviewees feels about those stereotypes.
3. To clarify misunderstandings.
4. To analyze how stereotypes affect their daily life.
5. To know what they want the general public to do with their subcultures.

Interview Questionnaire

O. Introduction

Q. Thank you for responding to our interview. Before starting, could you identify yourself? For example your age, nationality of your parents, and what you do for living.

Q. When did you come here in Korea and where do you live now?

A. Daily Life & Family Life

Q. How do you identify yourself? *Korean, maybe, ~ for instance.

Q. Does ‘being a multicultural child’ gives you advantages like kind consideration or disadvantages like discrimination? If so, could you give us some examples?

Q. How is your family life?

Q. How did your parents meet? (How did you meet your wife/husband?)

Q. Some people think that international marriage is not a 100% genuine love. According to a report, one third of foreign wives answered they want to return home. What do you think about this?

Q. Do you think proper regulations about international marriage are prepared?

B. Life in the Society

Q. Have you ever suffered from other people’s attention in your daily life? If so, how did it feel?

Q. What would you say was the cause of this?

C. Institutional Support (Welfare system)

Q. Have you ever suffered from inconvenience in public institution or public places?

Q. Do you think the national welfare system is responsible for this? Or do you think the system is well-equipped?

Q. According to news, there has been an increase in financial support for the welfare system. Some Koreans think that this is over-spending. How do you think, and what do you want to say about this?

Q. Do you think this [welfare system] problem is serious? Can you feel it in your life?

D. Community for those

Q. Do you have contact with other people like community for the multicultural families? If possible, can you tell me what kind of association is it?

Q. Are they helpful to your daily life? What kind of benefit did you get?

Q. What topics do you usually talk about with them?

Q. Are there common problems in the daily life that you or other multicultural family experience?

Q. According to your fellow’s opinion and your opinion what do you think Korean society need to solve and improve? Also what do you want to tell the people?