Kindness Culture in South Korea and The Power of Learning and Discussing History
Published 10/23/2024 in Scholar Travel Stipend
Written
by Sally Williams |
10/23/2024
This summer I had the amazing opportunity to travel to South Korea with the Harvard Summer School study abroad program. Over the course of the program I participated in two classes, an intermediate Korean language course and an anthropology course with a focus on “Global Korea”.
The first half of the program was dedicated to language classes and the second half was the anthropology course. During this second class, Ewha Women’s University students took this course alongside Harvard Summer School students. Each Harvard student was paired with an Ewha student for the purpose of cultural exchange and to practice speaking Korean with. We would also have weekly class trips to important landmarks in South Korea, museums, and cultural parks and monuments. By being immersed in Korean language and culture I was able to take what I was learning in class and see it actualized in the real world. This was a surreal experience that allowed me to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the struggles and sacrifices that have been made to result in what South Korea is today.
The Milken Institute’s goal of accelerating progress towards a meaningful life as well as the Milken Family foundation’s ideal in using education to help others help themselves live prosperous lives inspired my time in South Korea. I felt compelled to research how Korea’s culture and language is reflected in the way Korean society is ordered and functions, furthermore how Korea’s history informs present realities and where Korean society may be heading.
In my Korean language class we learned new vocabulary, sentence structure, cultural customs, and speech styles. Korea’s use of speech styles intrigued me and resulted in the beginning of my investigation of its effects for my final presentation of my Korean language course. We were tasked to present, in Korean, about anything that interested us during our time in South Korea and a part of our presentation included an interview with a native Korean speaker that we would discuss our topic with. I decided to present about the “kindness culture" in Korea that exists on public transportation, as seen in the use of priority seating and pregnancy seats. This “kindness culture” refers to the respect that Korean people have with one another in social settings.
My hypothesis was that the use of honorifics embedded in the Korean language resulted in Korean people respecting each other, more so than in other places, and this translated over to laws and social customs ensuring that people that are elderly and disabled, as well as pregnant women have places to sit on public transportation. Through my research I found that the use of pink pregnancy seats were implemented in 2013, while priority seats began being used in 1985. The pregnancy seats were only created after pregnant women filed numerous complaints of harassment by elderly people for sitting in the priority seating. With drops in pregnancy rates in Korea, as well as the concern for the safety of mothers, the pregnancy priority seat was introduced. This led to me questioning my original hypothesis.
In my time spent in South Korea I’ve noticed the social culture is heavily felt and influences the way people interact with each other. On public transportation priority seating is respected and even on crowded trains the seats are left empty for those who it is designated for. In my presentation I compared this to priority seating in New York City, that often is used by anyone. Though the seats are not usually left open for those the seats are made for, most passengers offer their seat to those who need it. I wondered if people in South Korea were leaving the seats open for the kindness of fellow passengers or because they felt social pressure to do so.
I interviewed Kim Jin Su, a Cafeteria worker at Ewha University for my presentation. After explaining my initial thoughts to him, I asked him what he thought about Kindness culture in Korea and the resulting respect seen on public transportation. Mr. Kim stated he didn’t think of Koreans as innately kind people, but that the culture was followed because it was passed down through generations stemming from Confucian beliefs. He believed this dedication to the respect of this passed down culture is what results in “kindness culture”. When considering this I thought whether acts of kindness and respect are made out of one’s personal kindness or the duty to respect others. I believe the end result of having a society that considers the humanity of others to be a good thing. I found this question to be an interesting one that all societies should grapple with. Understanding where customs stem from and if said customs produce a productive society that cares for its people.
My “Global Korea” anthropology class helped further my research in educating myself on Korea’s history and putting societal issues and innovations moving towards progress on a global scale. By taking this class with Korean students, we were able to engage in deep discussions that uncovered how the knowledge of the Harvard students differed from the Ewha students and how our previous education influenced our judgements and understandings of history and the world around us. Our discussions were very thought provoking and made me further realize on a personal level the importance of open dialogue on difficult issues and how that can result in new ideas being cultivated to bring about positive changes to our futures.
One of the discussions following our reading of an excerpt of Korean Multiculturalism: The Genealogy of the Concept, Shifting Meanings, Issues and Implications by Andrew Eungi Kim and the chapter “‘Waifs’ and 'Orphans': The Origins of Korean Adoption.” In Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging by Eliana Kim was very memorable. Using our previous readings about Korean global history and the authors’ insights, respectively, on the involvement of race in adoption and if Korea could be considered “multicultural” our class expressed our own opinions on these ideas. People brought to the conversation their personal knowledge whether through what they were told growing up in Korea or what was learned in textbooks, our varying ideas coming together felt very valuable to experience. Following this, as a class we traveled to parts of South Korea known to be ethnically diverse. We had a trip to a museum in Itaewon and a trip to Ansan. It was interesting to see life in these parts of South Korea and compare it to other parts of Seoul.
By learning and living within the society I was researching I felt I was getting a better understanding of the way of life in South Korea. By comparing and sharing my experiences in America with the Korean students’ life in South Korea, I felt we all gained invaluable knowledge that will inform the way we view other cultures and how we can together create a better world to live in.
Works Cited
Subways.” Explore, Explore, 22 July 2024, https://www.explore.com/1626910/what-tourists-south-korea-subway-pink-seats-pregnant-women/#:~:text=Priority%20seats%20make%20up%2030,designated%20exclusively%20for%20pregnant%20women
Kim, Andrew Eunggi. 2010. “Korean Multiculturalism: The Genealogy of the Concept, Shifting Meanings, Issues and Implications.” Journal of Asiatic Studies 53(2)102-129. Kim, Eleana. 2010.
“‘Waifs’ and 'Orphans': The Origins of Korean Adoption.” In Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging. Duke University Press. (43-82)
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