Dr. Jocelyn Clark 배재대학교 국제학부 교수



A few weeks ago I was sitting with friends enjoying the fourth “after” of the night. This wasn’t a typical norabang and soju affair, however, but the gathering of a more thoughtful group interested in finding Korea’s place in an ever-flattening world. After a second round, one of my friends asked me to compare East Asian countries to countries in the West. It is rare that I find such essentialist comparisons to be very interesting or helpful. Nevertheless, I still found myself quashing two facile thoughts that immediately came to my slightly inebriated mind: “Japan=Germany; China=U.S.”While I planned to remain silent, my friend insisted I offer my thoughts on Korea. Tired and stuck, for lack of a better idea, I tentatively offered “Spain”─I was thinking of cante style flamenco singing, which always reminds me of pansori in both its vocal style and intensity. The Czech Republic also came to mind─the writings of Milan Kundera, in particular─but I quickly dismissed this notion as well. Neither my Czech nor Slovakian students bear much resemblance to my Korean students in the way they talk or write about themselves and their countries. Ultimately, I found I had little to contribute to the conversation.

※ 해당 기사는 유료콘텐트로 [ 온라인 유료회원 ] 서비스를 통해 이용하실 수 있습니다.