Gwangju International Center

SPEAKER: John F. Greenman

CO-WRITER:​ KIM Jiseong

GIC TALK DATE: April 23, 2016

GIC TALK TITLE: Finding Korea in a Small American City

For today’s GIC Talk, Professor and Carter Chair in Journalism emeritus John F. Greenman introduced the audience to the Korean historical facts that were found in America. 

He first explained how the Korean immigrants who arrived during the 17th century in the United States lived on this new land. He showed the numerous resources he found in his U.S. city Columbus, Georgia, that are linked to Korea such as Korean churches and Korean companies. It was very interesting when he explained how ‘KIA’ is hiring lots of Americans as well as other countries’ labor workers.

Professor John Greenman came to Korea in order to better understand the Korean population of his city back at home. He already put a foot in Korea a few times, but it was solely to change flights at the airport. April this year was actually his first time travelling around Korea, so he presented the numerous places and people he needed to visit during this time. 

In the second part of his Talk, he introduced the audience to his first impressions of Korea. He was really surprised by the success of the brand of ham ‘SPAM’ here in Korea, and explained how special the feeling called ‘Han’ was to him. He didn't know anything like ‘Han’ before and it seems like this feeling only exist for the Koreans. He told the audience that he understands it like a rage, grief and shame, but that he could not find a word able to explain this feeling in English. Maybe the Scottish will understand the meaning of this word, as they were in a similar environment with Korea.

Finally, as an answer to the question from the audience, Professor John Greenman explained how children from ‘immigrants’ parents and ‘born’ parents are different. Usually, immigrant parents want their children to know about their traditions and language, so they try to teach them. But the children don’t seem to like it because they think that they are ‘Americans’ and not ‘Koreans’. So it may confuse their identities.

Listening Professor John Greenman's GIC Talk, I learned a lot about Korean’s life in America. Even though they just look like us, and are born in Korea, they have different experiences and memories. 

Thank you John F. Greenman for this amazing talk and for reminding us that they are Koreans after all. I feel proud of it.