Multiculturalism in a Homogeneous Society

Since college, I've been a firm believer that multiculturalism is a benefit to any society. Add a little spice to your life, a little funk to your rhythm, some pepper to your salt, whatever. Stop being so vanilla. After my first international trip to South Africa, finding friends with different cultural backgrounds became a necessity to my life. I craved the differences, and hungered to learn about their lives, culture, languages. When I traveled to Ireland, it was the same. I got a high from learning the cultural do's and don'ts. It kept me on my toes, made me feel like a small piece to something bigger, and deepened my need for multiculturalism.

When I was in grad school I had to take an education class that focused on multiculturalism (that was ironically taught by a man whose only qualification was that he was half German half African. Other than that, he was a close minded schmuck.). Through that and other ed. classes I began to see how we as humans really truly benefit from being surrounded by people who are different from us, in and out of the classroom.


I would certainly say this is true for Korea as well. Korea, the hermit kingdom, a true homogeneous society, how you should thrive from differences. I've never really run in xenophobia before, but...damn...it can run strong in parts of this country. Like in my wee little town people are sometimes shocked by my presence, unsure of what to do. Options are run, hide, and seek police because surely she is a Russian spy, point, stop where you are, stand with mouth ajar, or pretend like you don't see me and then when I pass you by, turn around and gawk. Other places in Korea are not this bad. Seoul, for example, is a well seasoned veteran of a city and is no longer impressed by foreigners. It still happens. For example this past weekend in Busan an old man stopped directly in my path to laugh and gesture with his hands about my size, then tell me and the guy I was with that his girlfriend (me) was much bigger than he (the friend) was. I understand your Korean, and the fact that you are so not accustomed to seeing differences (and the fact that you should know that's not ok to say) both horrifies me and disgusts me. Please oh please add a little sweet potato pie to your kimchi. Say ya'll with 주세요.


Something that makes me exceedingly happy is having so many friends from all over the world; ones that I've met here and ones that I've met in my other travels. They add something to my life. I see bigger pictures, I have a vast knowledge of slang and mannerisms that I picked up from them all. I say "em" instead of "um", the words "keen, chuck, aigoo, chincha, mulla, how's it, posh, seedy, and lekker are now apart of the regular vocabulary. I love love it.


I hope to raise kids to see multiculturalism as a thing of beauty, and I cannot wait to share my sense of wonder about cultures to the students I'll teach, both here and in the States. I hope to teach them that we can learn from one another; learn that our way might not be the best way, learn to love others regardless of how funny their accents are, not to laugh when you realize that to pronounce their names you have to add clicking noises, learn that ultimately you see the Lord in each of their faces and languages. It's a beautiful thing to go outside of your comfort zone, put yourself out there, and dare to form true relationships with those who are so different from you.


"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." ~ Nelson Mandela.

*Photos are totally not mine, but ganked from Facebook. Thanks Becks.