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luvnpeas
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Location: somewhere i have never travelled
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 Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:42 pm Post subject: Non-White Teachers' Experience |
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| Apologies if this has been discussed before. I am curious about the experiences of African-American, Maori, Mexican-American, African-British etc. teachers in Korean schools. I'm white, but every now and then I see some pretty ignorant racial attitudes toward non-whites, so I wonder about the experiences of my fellow teachers. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| My black friends say they don't experience much that wouldn't be experienced by white foreigners. They get called Michael Jordan a lot. That's better than Michael Jackson if you work around kids! They know Koreans are more scared of blacks than whites, but they don't care. Women often flock to them due to the bigger black dong stereotype/myth. |
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fromtheuk
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:29 am Post subject: |
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I'm from the U.K. (hence the imaginatively titled author)
I'm of Pakistani descent. I've been here for nearly 4 months.
During the Korean hostage episode I was regularly called Taliban and Al-Qaeda by children and adults.
I used to get the ridicule white teachers have talked about. Where I live, people seem to getting more used to seeing me, so I don't get as much ridicule as before.
Some Koreans are respectful/kind. While some of the 'young ones' are not.
It's true I think, you get good and bad people wherever you go.
What I prefer about this country, is the hostility towards foreigners is less extreme than what I've experience back in the U.K.
Here, so far, I have experienced no sense of physical hostility, no paki-bashing in Korea! |
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merkurix
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Location: Not far from the deep end.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:38 am Post subject: |
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I am an American of Mexican extraction.
Nobody knows what I am unless I tell them; you couldn't really tell otherwise.
I have no accent, I have very pale white skin, and I have light colored eyes. My parents, and seven out of eight great-grandparents are Spanish-stock Mexicans. Mexican-Americans like me might not find too many problems. But I do have a few Mexican American teacher friends who are darker-skinned and indigenous-looking and have encountered a few more problems, but otherwise, they are happy too.
I haven't suffered any problems that any other American white guy hasn't suffered. Life has been pretty normal for me here as it has been these last 5 years. |
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bejarano-korea
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:44 am Post subject: |
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I'm of Peruvian descent - I don't look English but I'm tall and broad so I'm not typically Peruvian either.
| Quote: |
| My parents, and seven out of eight great-grandparents are Spanish-stock Mexicans. Mexican-Americans like me might not find too many problems. |
I'm not saying you lying or anything but I remember this American girl who was going out with a Mexican American at our uni and she said all his family were 'of pure Spanish stock all the way back to 1760'
Then I met him! He looked like Fernando Vargas! or any multitude of my male relatives... 'pure Spanish' my backside - they obviously never been to Spain and met real Spaniards.
Again Mercurix - thats not to say you are lying or I'm insinuating that are you are. It is just that a lot of Latin Americans say they are white or of exclusive European stock when they obviously are not. My mothers family have a ton of indigienous blood and are proud of it. |
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merkurix
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Location: Not far from the deep end.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:10 am Post subject: |
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| bejarano-korea wrote: |
| Again Mercurix - thats not to say you are lying or I'm insinuating that are you are. It is just that a lot of Latin Americans say they are white or of exclusive European stock when they obviously are not. My mothers family have a ton of indigienous blood and are proud of it. |
You are absolutely right bejarano. I am definitely not of exclusive Spanish stock nor do I pretend be (sorry if that was the impression I gave in my earlier post). In fact, my maternal grandma is of Romani descent and my paternal grandad's mother was Huichol. My fiance even saw a picture of my late grandfather (whose mother was pureblood Huichol), who was very dark-skinned and had single eyelids; she said he looked very much Korean even (but he is not).
I cannot claim a single type of stock, I am a little bit of everything, and not many people can really pinpoint what I am exactly (I have been asked if I am a of particular ethnicity many times; even half-Korean) I am very proud of every little bit of heritage I am.
There is also probably no such thing as a pureblood Spaniard either. While it is true that the stereotypical Caucasian image that comes to mind is fair color hair and eyes when we think Spaniard, I have met a few Spaniards who could easily pass off as indigenous Mexicans (but in fact claim Moorish / Morrocan descent).
I have no family tree to prove my lineage. But I do believe what my grandparents say. But to be absolutely sure, I should probably take a haplotype test. |
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Alyallen
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Location: The 4th Greatest Place on Earth = Jeonju!!!
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:31 am Post subject: |
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I'm Jamaican-American. So, yeah I guess I'd get lumped in as African American but ehh....that's not me. I'm dark and I look African because my hair is natural  or so I've been told
Been in the same city for 3 years. Things seem to happen to me in waves. Sometimes things are great and other times I want to punch the next Korean that looks at me funny. But for the most part, every one gets ripped on for something so I can't say it's better or worse. I will say however that my tolerance for that kind of garbage has steadily dropped over the last year or so.... |
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bejarano-korea
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
You are absolutely right bejarano. I am definitely not of exclusive Spanish stock nor do I pretend be (sorry if that was the impression I gave in my earlier post). In fact, my maternal grandma is of Romani descent and my paternal grandad's mother was Huichol. My fiance even saw a picture of my late grandfather (whose mother was pureblood Huichol), who was very dark-skinned and had single eyelids; she said he looked very much Korean even (but he is not).
I cannot claim a single type of stock, I am a little bit of everything, and not many people can really pinpoint what I am exactly (I have been asked if I am a of particular ethnicity many times; even half-Korean) I am very proud of every little bit of heritage I am.
There is also probably no such thing as a pureblood Spaniard either. While it is true that the stereotypical Caucasian image that comes to mind is fair color hair and eyes when we think Spaniard, I have met a few Spaniards who could easily pass off as indigenous Mexicans (but in fact claim Moorish / Morrocan descent).
I have no family tree to prove my lineage. But I do believe what my grandparents say. But to be absolutely sure, I should probably take a haplotype test. |
Your family is probably like mine then, the younger cousins and nieces and nephews who are 1/4 Peruvian are of all racial hues which range from black skin to blonde hair and blue eyes. A lot of my relatives have black skin through the constant sunshine of living in Spain - but they also live in Mallorca where the local Catalan population aren't at all dark skinned, so it is obvious to us all we are not European genetically.
True - Spaniards in the south around Andalucia (where a lot of Gitanos Moorish live) can be dark but in my experiences Spaniards tend to be physically interchangable from the French - least in my experiences anyway.
There are a lot of South Americans who can claim exclusive European ancestory but they would be Argentinians and Uruguyans I would imagine,
I'm sure your grandparents were telling you the truth but it is easy how much truth gets lost in the ravages of time, check this out:
http://www.geocities.com/kempcountrymen/sandralaing.htm |
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