Korea readings 6 - Norimitsy Onishi, VN brides

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Globalization:

Norimitsu ONISHI, “Korean Men Use Brokers to Find Brides in Vietnam,” New York Times, February 22, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/world/asia/22brides.html
Accessed July 13, 2009.

[Anonymous]

Wow!! Maybe I should move to Korea! [Edit by="eschlum on May 10, 9:50:19 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Maybe I'm an fool for love, but I wonder what affect these arranged marriages will have on future generations? Will these new brides adapt well? Will the future kids experience a healthy family experience? Are the languages similar between Korean and Vietnamese?

[Anonymous]

Can somebody help me. I'm confused! According to my schedule found in the coursepak, Readings #6 and the class on May 11th was going to be on "Imperial Japan and the Pacific War". Also I thought Morgan Pitelka said he would see us, "next week" at the end of his Session #5.

So DOes everyone know about further schedule changes I don't? And are you guys calling it Readings 6 because of the schedule change? Because again, my schedule has the "Imperial Japan" readings as #6

I'm really trying to keep up on the readings and so this information would really help.

Thank You!

Pat

OK, I did just see this, which I had forgotten about---

"updated reading materials for Korean sessions
Posted: 05-10-2010 05:50 PM
Hi all,

I hope that you are all ready for the Korea sessions! The speaker Dr. Jennifer jung-Kim has updated the reading materials for the sessions and I post them on the forum. Please feel free to download the materials. Guidelines for the readings and additional resource information will be disseminate tomorrow.

See ya tomorrow!

-Xin"

I haven't looked at it yet, but I will be doing that soon....
[Edit by="price on May 15, 4:38:44 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

eschlum on 05-10-2010 09:42 PM
Subject: Re: Korea readings 6 - Norimitsy Onishi, VN brides
Message: Wow!! Maybe I should move to Korea!

That was my first thought too! Then I read on....
There's always more beneath the surface isn't there? That's one reason why education is so important! (I'm always trying to get organized in my brain about---"Why is education important?" a question many of my students ask, if not of me, then quietly and unconsciously in their own minds.

[Anonymous]

I found the article very interesting. It seems ironic that a nations that valued male births is now feeling that ramifications of its actions by not having enough women for the men. I couldn't help but be alittle pleased that the Korean women have become somewhat picky since they are a hot item. It is amusing that they are weeding men out by their education and physical attribules. Im interested to see all this situations pans out.

[Anonymous]

I know that there are a lot of shows on Korean Television that highlight mixed racial couples. They are potrayed as happy and assimilating. There are classes in Korea to teach the brides the Korean language. The brides all learn Korean and how to cook Korean food, but the husbands rarely learn the other language. The men are all tend to be older and the brides are very young and mostly from very poor families.

[Anonymous]

I think that there is an international "market" for brides, and babies. With the internet and increased communication around the world we see "migration" of women and children. There has been prior history of women being brides and not always knowing the language of the husband. The concept of "love" is relatively new. They also mention the effect of pop culture that has swept all of Asia. I like the concept of the "union being not only of two people but of two countries." Perhaps this "people to people diplomacy" will help melt some of the friction of the governments. Yes I know I'm unrealistically optimistic.

[Anonymous]

So many thoughts as I read this article:
1. As a female I have always been sad about the traditional Asian "boys are more desirable" mindset. Reading that the preference for males has led to a shortage of wives in Korea, the bratty part of me wants to smack these guys around and say "see what did you think would happen when everyone wanted sons?"

2. The idea that it was a marriage between two countries as well as two people. I teach my students that sometimes the rulers of two countries would marry off their kids so then the countries were "friends".

3. My students NEVER can understand that you would get married to someone you didn't love. I never thought of using internet/mail order brides as an example of why you would get married to a person you didn't love.

[Anonymous]

Well, many people seem to learn to love each other, or learn to love the situation they are in.

[Anonymous]

I believe the genocide of female babies is the reason behind the shortage of brides in Korea. Its amazing how nature balances out the female and male species and when we mess with this natural order, there are serious ramifications. I believe China is experiencing a similar problem.
I feel bad for the Vietnamese brides who have to completely assimilate into a foreign culture and way of life for the sake of finances. I love my family and would do anything for them except lose my sense of self which is what these brides have to do. And what about the children that are produced from these type of marriages. Can the mother even tell the child about her own culture or is it just strictly Korean history divulged.

[Anonymous]

What an interesting news story. It would make a great subject for a short story. I loved the part about marriages being under the Consumer Protection Board. We need that kind of supervison in this country. I also love it that Korean women can be so picky - “If a man has only a high school degree, or lives with his mother, or works only at a small- or medium-size company, or is short or older, or lives in the countryside, he’ll find it very difficult to marry in Korea.” It's ironic that as the Asian countries discriminate against women in deciding on what gender their child will be, they are also raising the status of women.

[Anonymous]

Arranged marriages have worked before in the past so I think it would work for Vietnamese/Korean brides too. I think that culturally we're so shocked because we have never seen this before. But, 40 years ago, people who were my parents' age were prearranged into marriage and are still married today! Not surprisingly, Indian men and women are still practicing arranged marriages.

[Author]

Posts