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Kyungha Yoo

Mrs. Alvarez

English 101-88

12 December 2015

Assignment 5: Finalized Ethnograohy

This is my finalized ethnography. In this assignment, I will process the writing in the

following order: First, I will talk about the overview of my community. And then I will talk

about Korean-American students’ real stories using literature review. In this section, I will

quote my informants’ interviews to deliver real Korean-American life. Third, I will explain

Korean-American students’ cultural artifacts. I will introduce 3 cultural artifacts in this part.

At the end, I will tell my conclusion.

OVERVIEW

According to the article “A Synthesis of Ethnographic Research”, there are three

principles: Naturalism, Understanding and Discovery.(Genzuk 3) I want to understand about

Korean-Americans. So I decide to research KASA. KASA is an abbreviation of Korean-

American Student Association and it is composed of UofL’s Korean students. From now on, I

will tell you about my overview of KASA.

First, I will talk about the markers of identity of KASA. Language works as the main

marker of identity for KASA. I think that ‘language’ has a lot of power. By sharing the same

language, we can share each other's feelings. Therefore, if we did not share the same

language, the conversation would have been difficult and also we have trouble with sharing

same feelings. If you do not have common interests, it is difficult to be the community group.

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If we share a 'language', Culture works as the second main marker of identity for

KASA. To me, the most interesting part of this survey is "sharing culture". The member of

KASA is classified into two categories. The first group is Korean-American and they are

immigrants. These are the people who came to the United States from South Korea with his

parents when they were very young. (The people who were born in US aren’t exist yet.

Everybody is the first generation.) In other words, the country where they were born is

‘KOREA’, but where they have lived

their life is 'AMERICA'. The second

group is the ‘international students

(exchange students)’, like me. They

are mostly born in South Korea and

they have taken all education courses

in Korea. They just come to the

University of Louisville to study their

major. KOREA is their hometown and

at the same time, KOREA is also their living place. Sometimes, I can found interesting part.

We clearly share the same 'language' and also share same ‘culture’. However, strength of

feeling the 'culture' seems different.

Then how about entering KASA as insider of outsider? In my opinion, entering the

KASA does not difficult. First, like me, I had a lot of e-mails from KASA before I arrived at

the UofL. They try to gather the maximum number of Korean students and also try to

maintain a relationship with us. Because of that, they receive information from the

international center and have sent emails to the Korean students who come to the UofL every

semester. So being an insider of KASA is not hard thing. However, I think that I am a Korean

so it is easy to me. In KASA, there are also small number of Asian students as well as Korean

Figure 1. KASA’s first meeting in this semester.(1)

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students. In their case, KASA do not have personal contacts to them. They mainly path that

Asian students to be insider is that they are friends of KASA members or they contact KASA

on their own. However, after you know the existence of KASA, it is easy to be an insider.

Because KASA always welcomes everyone who wants to be KASA member.

The biggest reason I became a member of KASA is I am a Korean. And then the next

reason is that I am an international student of University of Louisville. Because I am a

Korean, and I can speak Korean so I can share Korea culture with them. In addition, I will

stay in the Louisville for one year, I can make

intersection with KASA.

KASA members address on another

like this: They are friends to each other.

Because they are same ages and attend a

Korean-American church so most of them are

friendly since they were kids. So they think

each other as friends. And it seems that they have infinite trust in each other. However, ties

with international students like me are little different. As international students, we are not

easy to make a deep relationship with them here because we have the limited time to stay

here. So local students and international students are not easy to address each other. However,

we can say like that ‘We are Koreans and share a same language and culture’.

I met Korean-Americans at first time through the KASA. So I have a lot of questions

about them. I wonder that do they think we can share same cultures. And also I want to know

their life, their dream and so on.

Many Koreans have their own fantasies about immigrating. Like people who living

in the Spanish Harlem. According to the article “Crack in Spanish Harlem: Culture and

Economy in the Inner City”, the writer said like that: street participants are frantically

Figure 2. KASA’s first meeting in this semester.(2)

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pursuing the ‘American Dream’. (Bourgois 9) Koreans who immigrated to the US are also

have ‘American Dream’ (But it is not same as the people who were living in the Spanish

Harlem.) However, I heard that racism would be happened when they came to the United

States at first time and according to some KASA member, it seems to be true. So I think that

there are many troubles when they or their parents try to settle in US and I want to know

about that through this research.

REAL STORIES OF KOREAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS WITH LITERATURE REVIEW

I interviewed with 3 people to listen to their life and thoughts. 2 of my interviewees

are undergraduate students: Peter(dongeon) Lee( major in Biology / senior), Rosa Kim

( major in Psychology / junior). And the other one is graduate student: Jinny(Hyun Jin )Jung

(major in Biology).

And also I used 3 different scholarly articles to indorse my writing. In the article “College

Entrance Exams: an inside look” written by Dae S Hong and Kyung Mi Choi, it talks about

how Korean students study mathematics. This article describes the objections and

characteristics of the mathematics portion of the Korean college entrance examination and

also analyze in detail some items from the exam (209). So through this article, I can deliver

this theory: Korean student really study hard and learn much more difficult things in math

than American student to go to the high-ranking university.

Next, through the article “Educational Expectations of Asian American Youths:

Determinants and Ethic Differences” written by Kimberly Goyette and Yu Xie, I can say that

Many Asian students’ parents have high expectation in their children’s studying. It mentions

that authors used linear and logistic multivariate regression models to examine differences in

educational expectations (22)

Last, I can figure out that there are many difficulties when Korean try to settle down

in US through the article “Problems of Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs” written by Pyong

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Gap Min. He says that this article is based on interview with 557 Korean immigrants in LA,

ethnic newspaper articles and personal observations of the Korean community (436)

I met Jinny at the beginning of this semester in the international students orientation.

Most of the Korean international students in UofL are men. There are very few female

students. Also Jinny is living in the Bettie where I am living in. So we could get close very

fast. When I met Jinny at first time, I thought that she would not care about me because she is

a graduate student but I am just exchange student who will stay only 1 year. However it was

just my delusion. She spends lots of time with exchange students and we are same age group

so we can share same bond of sympathy.

I processed the interview with Jinny in her house at late night. She is a TA and have a

lot of assignments every day. So that day, she did the interview preparing her TA classes.

Therefore, we did not have to speak loudly because her room is quiet. And her roommate

works at night so we did not have to be quiet. She has the medium black permed hair. I do not

know her tall exactly but she is shorter than me. So her tall is approximately 5.15ft (157cm)

in my thought. She said that her weight is about 103lb so I think that she is skinny. That day

she wore her pajama because we met her room at late night.

I met Rosa at the REACH center. I am taking the tutoring in the REACH center and

Rosa was working as a tutor there. (She is not working as a tutor now because she is very

busy these days.) When I met Rosa at first time, she tried to help me. That day was my first

day visiting the REACH center. I did not know how to register. (Before and after the tutoring,

I have to sign up but that day I did not know that rule.) She just came to me and helped me.

So I was really thankful her and I thought that she is a really kind person. And I was right.

She is a really good person. However she was not my tutor. I takes the philosophy tutoring.

At first day, we just met at the REACH center and she asked me whether I am a Korean or

not. After that, we had some conversation and I figured out that she taught ESL students few

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times because she was very interested in teaching English to the international students. So I

registered her as my tutor and we met once a week. Therefore we became very friendly.

I interviewed Rosa first because we could meet at the REACH center every week.

That place was a quiet good place to interview. Because there are bulkheads so we could

process our interview without any disturbances for 1 hour. Rosa has red hair but it is dyed

hair. She said that her tall is 5.25ft (160cm). However I do not think like that because I am

5.25ft (160cm) tall but when we stood by stood, she was shorter than me. So I think that she

is around 5.15ft (157cm) tall. She wears glasses. She sprinkles perfume so I can smell her

perfume when I next to her. That day she wore burgundy color knit and jeans and she always

wear backpack with a lot of stuffs. Also she brought small handbag and put her small stuffs

like cellphone in that bag.

I met Peter very late. He is a Jinny’s boyfriend but we do not have any chances to

meet. So before I met him, I heard many thing about him from Jinny but I did not have any

stereotypes to Peter. I do not know why. I just thought that he must be a good person. Jinny

introduced him to me and he likes me because I gave a lot of help before they are being

lovers.

I interviewed Peter eating lunch. So I bought the meal that day. We ate lunch at the

SAC 12o’clock. Therefore, there are so many people and noisy. Because of that we had to

speak loudly. We have interviewed after eating our meals. He has black hair. He is 5.74ft tall.

He wears glasses. It was very hot when we did the interview. But he wore long sleeves t-

shirts and jacket that day. Also he wore jeans. So I was teasing him. “Look at you! You are

such a fashion leader!” He brought big backpack. He wore sneakers.

I focused on knowing the Korean-Americans’ life. So I asked the question, “Do you

have some problems when you try to adjust in US?”

I had a lot of troubles at first time and I also have some problems until now.

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The first problem was ‘loneliness’. These days, I almost overcame through my

friends. However, at first time, I cried every day. Second one is ‘language’. I

am not good at speaking English but in here I am a teaching assistant. So I have

to teach biology class in English. Actually, that classes’ subjects are not that

difficult but I have to explain everything in English. It is very difficult to me.

(Jung)

And after I asked this same question to all of my informants : Do you think that we (Korean

students and Korean-American students) are sharing same culture?

No. I mean I was born in Korea too but I lived in United States longer than the

amount of time I lived in Korea. I moved here when I was 10. It was very late

compared with other Korean-American friends. So I can remember the

Korea’s situation when my family tried to move to US. So I’m not just

American but I have both American and Korean cultures and that makes me

different from anybody else. (Lee)

When I came here at first time, I really shocked. Because their fashions are too

free. In Korea, most of Korean students really cared about their fashion but

here’s student really do not care about their fashion. Second one which makes

me shocked is humor sense. Korean-American students do not laugh at Korean

style humor and Korean students do not laugh at American style humor. (Jung)

Yes. I think that we can share same cultures. For example, we also never call

the people’s name who are older than us. (Kim)

After I heard their answers, I want to know their difficulties when they tried to settle

in US. So I asked the question, “Do you know that how many difficulties your parents have

to settle in US?”

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Yeah, I’ve been living in US for about 12 years and I’ve been watching them

tried to settle down and get job and stuffs. It is definitely hard. But the

rewarding effect is there is more opportunities in US (Lee).

And Rosa said that her father went to the US first and 1 year later her mother, her

sister and rosa went to the US. So she do not know whole situation when her father tried to

settle down in US but she said that it would be definitely hard. And according to the article

“Problems of Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs” by Pyong Gap Min, it mentions that Korean

entrepreneurs’ extremely long hours of work do not allow them time for leisure activities and

recreations, which has detrimental effects on their health (450).

Second, I want to know about the educational expectations. According to the article

“Educational Expectations of Asian American Youths: Determinants and Ethnic Differences”

by Kimberly Goyette and Yu Xie, it says that Asian Americans appear to exhibit greater

aptitude for mathematics and only slightly lower verbal aptitude than whites. For example,

Asian American students’ average score of 519 on the 1984 quantitative SAT test (SD=127)

was .40 of a standard deviation above the white students’ score of 487 (SD=114) (24). And I

heard that Americans think that Asian Students are good at math. I also found this article

“College Entrance Exams: an inside look” wrote by Dae S Hong and Kyung Mi Choi. It

argues that Korean high school students are assessed in a high-stakes test. Korean students

are expected to know and which problem-solving skills they need. Students in the US learn

similar mathematics content or topics through calculus or trigonometry courses (213).

However, I think that this is not because Asian students are smarter than whites. I do

not know all about the other Asia countries’ cultures but in Korea attending a high-ranking

university is very important to the students and their parents and we can check this truth

through Jinny’s interview. In her interview, Jinny Jung said like this: “As you know, In

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Korea, going to good university is very important. So because of that most of Korean parents

really pushed their children” (Jung). And most of Asia countries’ parents believe that

educational goals are achievable through effort and are not solely determined by ability,

parents typically push their children to attain as much education as possible (Goyette and Xie,

25).

However, my informants’ situation look quite different. When I asked them this

question, “How was your parents’ educational expectations?” they answered like this:

My parents are Koreans but their thoughts are Americans. They really did

not care about my grades. Sometimes my mother cared my grade but it’s just

sometimes. But I cared my grades. When I was a high school student, I

thought that I had to get a scholarship to remove my parents’ oppression

about my university tuition fee. So I did my best and I got a scholarship from

UofL (Kim).

Actually, they really did not care about my grades or some other things. I

have a lot of relatives in Korea so my parents knew that studying in Korea is

very hard and because of that, do you remember what I said before? The

reason why my parents moved to Louisville was me and my sister’s

education. Yes, so my parents decided to move to US. So they really did not

care about my grades (Lee).

According to this step, I can find out that most of Korean-Americans thought that

they are sharing same cultures with Korean students. But on the other hand, Korean students

including me do not think like that. Readers can find differences when you read Jinny’s

answer. (She was born in America but she moved Korea when she was 4. So she is

‘Koreanized’.) Sometimes we cannot understand Korean-American students’ behavior and

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we also cannot laugh at their joke. So I think that we can share some parts.

CULTURAL ARTIFACTS

After I finished interviews, I started to find cultural artifacts about Korean-American

students.

First one is KAKAO-TALK (see Figure 3). Kakao-

talk is a kind of SNS. However it is very different from

face book or instagram. All of Koreans who use smart

phones use this application to contact each other. But

when I came US, I could find out all Americans do not

know about this app and do not use this app. And after I

came UofL, I figured out only Korean-Americans who are

the member of KASA using this application. And also the people who have Korean-

Americans friends use this app. So I think that this can be the perfect cultural artifacts of

Korean-American students.

Second, K-POP (see figure 4). Most of KASA members

very interest in Korean songs. And they really want to share

cultures with Korean students. So when we meet each other,

we sometimes talk about new songs or their favorite singers’

new performances.

Third, chuseok & lunar new year’s day. Those are the biggest holidays in Korea.

Those days are national holidays. In those days, we

eat special foods. This is Koreans’ traditional

culture. In chuseok, we eat Songpyeon (see figure 5).

In lunar new year’s day, we eat rice- cake soup(see

figure 6).

Figure 3. The image of KAKAO-TALK

Figure 4. The image of K-pop

Figure 5. The image of Songpyeon

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There was chuseok in October. So in that day, I went to the Korean church in

Louisville and I could eat songpyeon. And I asked Lee who is my informants in these

assignments, “Do you celebrate Korea’s holiday?” He said that most of Koreans who lives in

Louisville try to celebrate those days. However, they cannot take a rest those days. So it is

difficult to celebrate those days but they really hard to try and if they cannot celebrate those

days in their house, they come to Korean church because

church always celebrate those holidays. So every each

holidays they can eat those traditional foods. In other

words, most of Korean-Americans really try to celebrate

those days and they also eat songpyeon and rice-cake soup

in chuseok and lunar new year’s day.

Also in those holidays, Koreans play some special games. We called it Hwatu (see

page 12) and A game of Yut (see page 12). We only paly A game of Yut on lunar new year’s

day. However, we play Hwatu on chuseok and lunar new year’s day. And I also asked about

those games and he said he did not play those games on those holidays. He knows how can

play those games but he and his family and maybe most of other Korean-American families

also do not play those games they only eat special foods on those days.

CONCLUSION

Figure 7. The image of Hwatu

Figure 8. The image of A game of Yut

Figure 6. The image of rice-cake soup

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-How your perspective or relationship with the community changed.

My perspective of relationship with Korean-American students do no changed much.

Just my prejudice was broken. Before I met Korean-American friends in Louisville, I just

thought that they must like living in US. However, It was wrong. Most of them really miss

Korea. They really want to have experience which is living in Korea. But it does not mean

want to live Korea forever. The reason is when I asked the question “After graduating the

university, do you want to live in Korea?” to Lee. He answered like this:

No. I actually went to Korea in May for a month after 13 years I’ve been

here and I just saw a lot of hardships and umm.. I’m not a city person but if I go

to Korea, I will be most likely be Seoul and I don’t like the business and whole

crowdness in there (Lee).

So through this answer, I can know that they only want to experience Korea life. But I was

still surprised by their eager desires and interests about living in Korea.

However, my perspective of KASA changed a little bit. At first time, I thought that

all Korean-American and Korean students have to join this club. And I also thought that

KASA represent all Korean and Korean-American students. But I realized that KASA and

Korean-American students who have attended UofL are located different section. I mean

some Korean-American students do not join KASA. KASA’s opinions do not represent all

Korean-American students’ thoughts. So I think that KASA is just one of clubs in UofL.

-How you gained access to your informants and the fieldsite, and any potential set-backs you

may have experienced.

Accessing to my informants is not that difficult because all of my informants are my

friends. So they were willing to accept my interview requests. The only obstacle was that they

were too busy to make some time. So we had to process our interviews when we ate lunch,

during the tutoring and in my informant’s house at late night.

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However gaining the fieldsite was quite hard. It was not easy to find scholarly

articles than I thought. I think that I would put a lot of time finding scholarly articles. It is

because I have to search everything in English. So the title did not come at a glance. I had to

read it in detail. And after I found the title which I liked, I had to read summary of that article.

It also took a lot of time. But the hardest one was that I had to connect my scholarly articles

with my writing. To connect them I had to read all of my scholarly articles several times and

also I had to read my writing. And then I had to think a lot and it made headache.

-What interviewing skills you developed, and which you would like to work on.

This was my first time doing interview. So I think that it is little difficult to check

whether my interviewing skills was developed or not.

However, I could learn that how do the interview through this time. The most

surprising thing is the Release Form. Before I processed the interview, I just thought that

doing interview was just having conversation with my friends. I did not think that having

conversation with friends is not ‘real’ interviews. However, Mrs.A asked us ‘Release Form’

and I could realize that this is the ‘real’ interview. I have not experienced having interview in

Korea. So submitting ‘Release Form’ was very unfamiliar to me. However, it made me more

seriously.

-How would you continue the study if you had more time?

In the assignment 3, I said like this: I think that if fieldworker want to progress

further research about the KASA, he or she has to ask this question: “If your parents do not

move to US, would you move to US on your own for your future or your children like your

parents did?” And now, I want to change ‘US’ to ‘Louisville’. I mean I want to ask that ‘If

your family were not move to Louisville, would you try to move to Lousiville?’

So If I had more time to continue the study, I would want to research about that

question. Before I came here, I always thought that I want to live in US. I thought that I could

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live anywhere in US. So I really wanted to find a job in US. It was a kind of my ‘American

Dream”. However, after I came here, I changed my mind a little bit. I still want to live in US

but I do not want to live in country. I am a kind of ‘city person’. I want to live in very busy

and crowded places. And also I cannot live alone in abroad.

And I think that some Korean-American students also want to ‘escape’ Louisville.

Some people also want to live in city like me.

Works Cited

Bourgois, Philippe. Crack in Spanish Harlem: Culture and Economy in the Inner City.

Anthropology today, 1989.

Genzuk, Michael. A Synthesis of Ethnographic Research. University of Southern California,

1999.

Peter(dongeon), Lee, Personal Interview. 14 Oct. 2015.

Jinny(Hyun Jin), Jung. Personal Interview. 23 Oct. 2015.

Rosa, Kim. Personal Interview. 16 Oct. 2015.

Hong, Dae S, and Kyung Mi Choi. “College Entrance Exams: an inside look”. National

Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2011.

Goyette, Kimberly, and Yu Xie. “Educational Expectations of Asian American Youths:

Determinants and Ethic Differences”. University of Michigan, 1999.

Min, Pyong Gap. “Problems of Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs”. Queens College, City

University of New York, 1990.