Crusade against discrimination

By Bonojit Hussain

Since July 10th when racistand sexist remarks werelaunched at my colleague HanJi-sun and I on a bus inBucheon, the media hasswarmed to the issue.Numerous newspaper articleswere written in Korea andabroad. Hundreds of blog en-tries have been made, bothsupporting and condemningour case. Some criticized thesteps we took. But most impor-tantly, an anti-discriminationbill has been proposed by theDemocratic Party in theNational Assembly.

Finally, the case came to anend on Nov. 27 with theIncheon district court convict-ing the defendant and slappinghim with a fine of 1 millionwon. While the episodedragged on for five months,there have been few thingsthat came as surprise to me.

I didn’t expect the amount ofmedia enthusiasm that wasgenerated. Perhaps at the be-ginning the case took hold inthe media because the incidenthad all the elements to make ittop selling news — a foreignerprofessor, young Koreanwoman, an intoxicated man,racial slurs and a bit of vio-lence. But once Korean and mi-grant organizations pitched into form the Joint ActionCommittee against Gendered-Racial Discrimination — andwith the proposal of the Anti-Discrimination Bill — thenews reports took a more seri-ous turn, and many more ana-lytical articles appeared.

The foreign media — includ-ing Indian and American out-lets — also noticed and gaveextensive coverage to the case.But it might be noteworthy tomention here that a section ofIndian media had tried to ap-propriate the news as anIndian nationalist issue. Sometried to be portray me as anIndian hero, which I reject.Since I don’t carry a placardon the streets of Seoul declar-ing “I am Indian” — this casehas nothing to do with me be-ing an Indian; it is more aboutthe abuse and discriminationfaced by migrant workersfrom different parts of Asia inKorea.

It is purely coincidence that Ihappen to be an Indian. Iwould have taken this up evenin the land of my birth, or forthat matter anywhere in theworld, should the need havearisen. The issue is importantto me.

Nonetheless I believe thatthe extensive media coveragedefinitely had a considerablypositive impact on Korean soci-ety. It is imperative for any so-ciety in order to addressemerging issues of social con-flict to discuss and deliberatethem. The extensive mediacoverage has precisely prompt-ed Korean society to do justthat — to talk about racism —whether they agree or disagreeis of a secondary importance.In recent months racism hasbeen discussed in Korean soci-ety in way it has never been be-fore.

However, the media can’t beabsolved of portraying only a

part of the story. The maledominated Korean media ut-terly failed to show the uglyunderbelly of sexism and gen-dered discrimination of society,which was so blatantly presentin our case. Han Ji-sun was notonly the victim of sexist com-ments, but she was also physi-cally assaulted.

Moreover, Han was my co-complainant in both the courtcase and the petition to theNational Human RightsCommission of Korea. Like nu-merous other women-relatedissues, the mainstream Koreanmedia conveniently pushed herstory into oblivion.

Before being kicked, Hanwas called a “Joseon Bitch”and was asked “how does it feelto date a black bastard?” Thisis an isolated incident. I havemet numerous Korean womenwho had similar experienceswhile being with non-Koreanmen.

In fact after our incident wascovered by the media, I re-

ceived many e-mails and let-ters from anonymous Koreanwomen who are married to“other” Asians. They invariablyreported the same story: Whenthey got married, they werecalled “prostitutes” — some-times even by Korean familymembers. Considering the se-riousness and frequency of vio-lence against Korean womenin these kinds of incidents, themainstream Korean media de-serves to be strongly con-demned for having failed inbringing forth the sexist di-mension of the whole incidenton the bus.

But one of the interestingthings arising out of this casehas been the response from theexpat community in Korea, es-pecially some Western ones. Imentioned in many interviewsto newspapers and other me-dia, Asian and African mi-grants face more discrimina-tion than Western expats inKorea. some, especially in theblogosphere.

One blogger called me a “per-son with post-colonial hang-ups,” another called me“Cultural Marxist” and thenstill another blogger declaredthat “I was searching forracism” in Korea. And anotherblog conducted an analysis,concluding that the case was aconspiracy by SungKongHoeUniversity, who hired a profes-sional mercenary namedBonojit.

Of course, I paid that non-sense little attention, whichhad been passed off in thename of “an exchange of ideas.”

Pointing out that Asians andAfricans face more serious dis-crimination in Korea in no waydenies that Western expatsalso face discrimination. It isonly to say that the degree andform of discrimination variesbetween these two groups ofexpats. It is important to havea dialogue on the grave abuseand discrimination the mi-grant laborers face on the fac-tory floor. And if one travels toplaces like Pocheon orNamyangju, its not very diffi-cult to find that these migrantworkers are often not allowedto enter restaurants.

I remember hearing someWestern expats complain thatthey were not provided withchopsticks — and insteadwere given a fork and spoon ina Korean restaurant — andthey felt discriminatedagainst. Now, being given afork and spoon instead ofchopsticks and not being al-lowed to enter the restaurantare completely different, notonly in form but also in de-

gree. Again, getting stared allthe time on public transportand in public places is also dif-ferent in form and degree thangetting kicked by a bus driverjust because someone fellasleep and ended up in thebus terminal (in this case ithappened to me last June).However, female Western ex-pats do face very serious abus-es and discrimination with anumber of incidents of sexualabuse and rape being report-ed.

Let me put forth the proposi-tion that even though we areall expats living in Korea fromdifferent backgrounds, withdifferent color, creeds and be-liefs, we can still find somecommon ground that will notonly be mutually beneficial tous, but also to our host society.There could be bridges built be-tween migrant factory workersand Western expats in generaland English teachers in partic-ular, wherein migrant workers’struggles don’t remain silentand Western expats don’t stoponly at campaigning againstAnti-English spectrum. But tobuild those bridges, differenceshave be recognized and re-spected, including the differ-ence in form and degree of dis-crimination faced. And theonus lies with Western expats.

The opinions expressed heredo not necessarily representthose of The Korea Herald. Tocomment, e-mail matt-lamers@herald.com; to con-tact the author, e-mail h.bono-jit@gmail.com — Ed.

COMMUNITY18 WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2, 2009

Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily living of expatriates. It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. To share stories about your life abroad, send stories or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at mattlamers@heraldm.com Submissions may be edited for length or clarity.

By Brian Deutsch

Representative Cho Jeon-hyukof the GNP has some big plans forEnglish education, and they in-clude making it mandatory fornative speaker English teachersto undergo training programs onKorean culture. According to anEnglish-language article fromKBS, last week he said “most for-eign teachers in the nation do nothave enough of an understandingabout Korea’s culture and prac-tices,” and this program would“(raise) the quality of the nation’sEnglish education programs bymandating that foreign teachershave better knowledge of Korea.”

At first glance this looks likeanother attempt to criticize for-eign teachers without providingany evidence. How did Cho cometo the conclusion, for example,that “most foreign teachers” heredon’t know about Korean cultureand what impact does that haveon Korean schools? But Cho’splan hits on some important is-sues worth discussing by foreignand domestic teachers alike if any

real progress toward “raising thequality of the nation’s English ed-ucation programs” is to be made.

When Cho talks about “betterknowledge of Korea” and“Korea’s culture and practices”what does he mean? He mightbe surprised to learn that publicschool teachers often undergomandatory orientation sessionsand seminars already, thoughunfortunately for them they fo-cus not on teacher training butrather, well, on “Korea’s cultureand practices.” When I attendeda week-long orientation in 2006,I sat through many lengthy pre-sentations on topics such as mu-sical instruments, holidays, andfunerals, and through severalredundant talks on “Korean cul-ture” reminding me that kimchiis spicy and that Korea has fourdistinct seasons. There wasnothing, though, on lesson plan-ning, classroom management,or on the expectations of NSETs.Anecdotal evidence shows myexperience is not unique, andthat teachers consider sessionspoorly-planned, impractical,

and condescending.I’m reminded of a passage in a

book called “Mastering Businessin Korea: A Practical Guide” byTom Coyner which I think ap-plies well here. He notes thatmost books on Korea start withthe same lengthy introduction toKorean history and culture,though his is different: “we as-sume the reader knows how touse the internet and can read upto his or her heart’s content aboutKorean history.” Knowing aboutBaekje and gayageum is less im-portant than other considera-tions, and though he talks hereabout business professionals, wemight change that to fit our situ-ation: “As a business profession-al, however, one need not be con-versant on historical trivia butone does need to know the impor-tant basics that Koreans willeventually expect even a foreign-er to know at a minimum — andperhaps more importantly, oneshould have some insight on theimpact of the legacies of Koreanhistory in the workplace.”

The word he uses in his title is

“practical,” and the orientationsessions mandated thus farhave been anything but. Andwhat’s “practical,” what’s vitalfor native-speaker Englishteachers, is an understanding ofthe Korean classroom and howthey fit into it. I’ve written nu-merous times that most of thechallenges that accompanyNSETs are due to the lack ofplanning and support they re-ceive and to the ambiguous rolethey fill in the system, and anynew training session needs toaddress these concerns.

A new teacher doesn’t need alecture about kimchi — he’ll getit often enough at mealtime —but would benefit from presen-tations on lesson planning for aclass of 40. A foreign teacherdoesn’t need a lesson on how topour drinks Korean-style —she’ll get one from her friendslater — but will need to learnhow to fit into the teachers’ of-fice. An orientation doesn’t needa mundane lecture onHangeul—-teachers take theinitiative to learn on their own

— but NSETs should be giventhe opportunity to take Koreanclasses while here. Teachers —some of whom have nevertaught before — need to be ac-climated to the Korean class-room as quickly as possiblethrough practical lessons fromexperienced NSETs, not fromteachers or bureaucrats whodon’t understand the NSET ex-perience.

Training sessions need to fo-cus on the classroom and howEnglish is taught, and thusneed to include Korean Englishteachers. It’s been several yearssince NSETs have been intro-duced, yet schools are still un-clear about how they’re to beused. With some co-teachers,NSETs work as pronunciationguides, with others they splittime, and in some cases the co-teacher doesn’t show up forclass or workshops at all.

And just as there is ignoranceof Korean culture by someNSETs, there is ignorance ofEnglish and the culture ofEnglish-speaking cultures held

by Korean teachers, an igno-rance that can damage howEnglish is learned and how itsspeakers are understood. Someteachers believe, for example,that English doesn’t have politespeech, or that “What’s up!” isan acceptable greeting, or that“negro” or “colored” is an appro-priate term for “heukin” be-cause the dictionary says so.

One wonders whether a newmandatory training session on“Korea’s culture and practices”would be for the benefit ofNSETs or Koreans. Koreansspend a lot of time worryingabout their image in the eyes offoreigners, and it’s no coinci-dence that unsavory elementsof Korean culture are sup-pressed around foreign teachersin favor of sources of pride suchas food or weather. Koreans re-sent that some teachers come toKorea to travel and have fun,though this motive is perpetu-ated not only by recruiting com-panies that advertise Koreathusly, but by presentationsthat treat teachers not like pro-

fessionals but as tourists.Foreign teachers actually

seem responsive to the idea, andthough a local reporter titled hisstory on this “Foreign TeachersUnenthusiastic Over CultureCourse,” the president of theAssociation for Teachers ofEnglish in Korea said right inthe article “This is a great idea,if it’s done right.”

Unless Cho intends to giveteachers a lesson on Koreanbias and last-minute planning,a lot of thought needs to go intomaking these sessions work foreverybody. He should start byfirst offering opportunities forpractical training, languagecourses, and professional devel-opment, rather than announc-ing with much fanfare thatthey’ll be mandated.

The opinions expressed heredo not necessarily representthose of The Korea Herald. Formore of Brian Deutsch’s writ-ings, go to http://brian-deutsch.blogspot.com — Ed.

Skip kimchi lesson — teachers want real training

My crusade against discriminationKorean media deserves to be strongly condemned for ignoring sexism

The mediacan’t be ab-solved of por-traying only apart of the sto-ry.The maledominatedK orean mediautterly failed toshow the uglyunderbelly ofsexism and gen-dered discrimi-nation of soci-ety,which wasso blatantlypresent in ourcase.Han Ji-sun was notonly the victimof sexist com-ments,but shewas also physi-cally assaulted.

Bonojit Hussain poses in Seoul. He iscurrently in his home country of Indiapreparing his Ph.D proposal and will returnto Korea. Matthew Lamers/The Korea Herald

Bonojit Hussain poses in Seoul. He iscurrently in his home country of Indiapreparing his Ph.D proposal and will returnto Korea. Matthew Lamers/The Korea Herald