1) Have meetings...I went with my former boss Joo Jay-youn (pictured left) to meet and interview Professor Choi Jong-Sil, one of the original members of the SamulNori group.
My new changgo teacher asked me this question the other day, to which I responded somewhat cheekily: 뭐, 그냥 여기 저기 다니고요...어떨때 밥도 먹고요...("Oh you know, I go here and there; and then sometimes I have a meal too.") I think it's perplexing for some people here as to what forms my research takes and how exactly I structure my days. Lately, I've been trying to balance archival/library work with interviews and meetings. This involves a lot of traveling around the city (and also around the country) - and I've jokingly told friends that one of my primary ethnographic sites is the Green Line, the subway line that wraps around the city, and the line that I consistently spend the most time on. Commuting to-and-fro in the urban sprawl of Seoul is one obvious challenge with conducting fieldwork here. Having a good read in my bag helps pass the time, and also commuting during non-peak hours helps preserve my general "well-being."
This "photo essay" gives a sampling of the kinds of things I might do during a typical week...
2) Meet with my dissertation support group...This is a picture of the Fulbright research grantees taken in September. A few of us have formed a support group to keep us accountable to our dissertations. I've found the meetings extremely helpful, and it's been great to learn about other researcher's projects.
3) Attend family functions...I went to the 1st year birthday party for my cousin's baby boy. This was held at the KT Building in Yeouido, and was, in all candor, more of a show of status than a celebration for the baby, who was crying hysterically most of the time. Here is an interesting article on doljanchi that I think sums up the spectacle better than I can...
4) Dine with friends...and sometimes we venture into bizarro fusion cuisine, like this pork cutlet pizza (tonkatsu pizza) - a Japanese-Italian inspired dish, complete with a salad bar that had jello.
5) Study at libraries/research centers...(Sorry, I have no juicy archival research pics...yet) Here, on my way to the Yonsei University Library, I managed to catch the incoming freshman class as they were being subject to various rites of passage on campus - which included lots of group singing, dancing, and pounding down of soju shots. One poor group was ordered to dress up and then pose for a picture in the middle of a busy intersection.
6) Visit places...Suzanna Samstag Oh and I took a trip to the Space Theater (Gonggan Sarang), where SamulNori first made their debut. The building is famous for its architecture and use of space.
7) Take the subway...The descent leads to my ticket in and around the city. I thought the picture was amusing, as it is an ad for the Korean Language and Culture Center at Korea University.
3 comments:
I get the same question all the time, and sometimes wonder myself what the answer is. Some days I have really good answers, and other days I don't. But the commuting alone, I think, is more than enough. There's something about doing it here that sucks all sorts of energy out of me. Makes me wish I was a tree in Seoul rather than a person. At least I'd get all wrapped up and hooked up with IV fluids.
haha. it's both a blessing and a curse that seoul has such an amazing public transportation system. back in the midwest, it would be a major thing to schedule an appointment with someone who lived an hour away...here, you can have 2-3 meetings with people who live all around the city, and spend up to 3 hours commuting back and forth.
maybe we can collaborate on a performance piece where we dress up like trees? i think it may be perfect for the fulbright conference coming up...
Haha, babies and banana's! Crazy Korean pizza. Yeah I'm kind of partial to American pizza... I remember the Yonsei library. So weird to see all those places.
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