Literature as Engagement: Teaching African American Literature to Korean Students

Abstract

Teaching African American literature to Korean students has special cultural implications regarding Koreans' perception of and attitudes toward African Americans, especially after Los Angeles of 1992. Although many of problems which caused derived from racial history of United States, media played an influential role in focusing upon and contributing toward creating and perpetuating myth of Black-Korean conflict, which Elaine Kim rightly termed case of visual media racism in her Newsweek article soon after riots. Kim claimed that media diverted attention away from long tradition of racial violence that was not created African-Americans or Korean-Americans and so-called Black-Korean is a decontextualized manifestation of much larger problem. During and after riots, major media and some European Americans discussed conflicts as if were watching dogfight or boxing match (E. Kim, Home 3) (1) which enraged many Koreans. These attitudes remind me of scene in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, in which young blindfolded shines are forced to fight against each other in ring and later struggle for prize money of fake gold coins on electrified mat for amusement of audience (27). The parties in conflict at end of twentieth century are so-called problem people, Blacks and some Asian horde, pitted against each other over crumbs of broken society (E. Kim, Self-Defense). Like boys in battle royal scene, both groups are blindfolded symbolically with white cloth; instead of hitting audience who put them in ring, African Americans attack and scapegoat Koreans as middleman minorities (Pyong Gap Min, qtd. in Chang and Diaz-Veizades 35). This view is supported Cornel West, leading African American scholar and activist, who points out in his interview with me on Black-Korean relations that they [African Americans] strike out at those [Korean Americans] who are closest to them and those whom view as symbol of power which do not (M. Kim 316). Without acknowledging real source of their bitterness, Korean Americans and African Americans were represented as being at war as both victims and perpetrators of violence against one another during and after Los Angeles which were termed America's first multi-ethnic riots (Chang and Diaz-Veizades 6). What could be done to improve bad relations between these two communities caused bitter portrayal of misunderstanding and hatred? As Amritjit Singh pointed out in his Op-Ed piece in Chicago Tribune after riots, we need to fight not one another, but against discriminatory practices such as redlining which have hindered minorities (27). Singh also suggested that by learning more about long experience of Blacks and Native Americans in fighting discrimination, all Asian American immigrants might develop sense of responsible connection to national history embrace through their new citizenship (27). This corresponds with views of Ronald Takaki, who called for new urgency in pursuit of more accurate history: what is lacking is historical context.... How can African Americans and Korean Americans work it out unless learn about each other's cultures, histories, and also economic situations? (5). The outcome of painfully reminded us how ignorant different racial or ethnic groups are of each other's history and culture, and this ignorance hinders coalition among colored peoples because the conflict between ethnic groups can be conceptualized as developing in 'border zones' where two cultures meet, intermingle, and sometimes clash (William Tierney, qtd. in Chang and Diaz-Veizades 38). The result of survey of African American and Korean American perceptions of inter-group relations, conducted Edward Chang and Jeannette Diaz-Veizades, proves this. …