Maria Tirnovanu, '20, Korea Institute Scholarship to attend SNU-International Summer Program (ISP) & Summer Thesis Research in Korea, Summer 2019
This summer, I had the pleasure to attend the Seoul National University International Summer Program, as well as spend another month there for independent research, all mostly for the purpose of researching for my senior thesis on K-pop and LGBTQ+ rights in Korea. And indeed, the fact that I was able to attend a summer program there, alongside my previous summer experiences in Korea, were incredibly helpful for my research.
To start off, I attended the SNU ISP summer program from the 26th of June to the 27th of July, a five-week academic program where I took two classes, one being a Korean studies class aimed at understanding more about the social frameworks applicable to Korean current issues titled Life in Contemporary Korea; the other was a Korean language class, where I was placed in Level 5 out of 6 possible levels, and which I studied only in Korean. The classes in general were really interesting, and taught in different ways compared to what I was used to; my bad luck was that for my Korean studies class, the professor decided to focus more of the class on Korean history which I had previously studied to match the needs of his students, which made for less of an analysis-based class I had expected. But nonetheless, the experience was incredibly helpful, and after my Korean class, I do also feel like I improved my fluency and my confidence in speaking the language. As the program was also quite large (approximately 300-400 students), I was able to understand more about different international students’ experiences in Korea, and also make very close friends I still keep in touch with, and still plan to meet.
The high point of my experience at SNU, however, was the connections I was able to make and the people I got to talk to, all of which was very helpful towards helping me draw more points of view for my research. As the manager of the summer program was very helpful for getting me ideas about people I could reach out to in SNU, I ended up talking to the SNU Diversity Council and several sociology professors in SNU who have done work on human rights and media. Furthermore, the SNU Diversity Council recommended me to a professor whose research was focused on K-pop, who in turn put me in contact with a student who had also written a senior honors thesis on K-pop at Amherst College. These kinds of connections really helped me not only narrow my research idea, but also led me on the right path methodology-wise and resources-wise for the rest of my research.
In my independent research month, I focused on changing my methodology from interview-based to observation-based, and the interviews I held were more akin to unstructured conversations where I could draw real opinions and points of view. Starting off with friends from previous programs I knew were K-pop fans, I managed to get opinions and several ideas on new things related to my topic I did not know about, mostly aspects of Korean fandom which are not very familiar to international fans. Luckily, most of my friends were also willing to introduce me to other friends they knew would be helpful to talk to, and I got several opinions and experiences from fans who had been roleplaying as male K-pop idols for 6 years, used to be fansites, or very close fans of certain groups I am looking at, which was all very helpful. Furthermore, I was able to get access to very exclusive music shows, such as SBS’ Inkigayo and CJ’s M!Countdown, where I could observe fan behavior and understand more about the mechanisms specific to Korean fandoms which influence the relationships between fans and idols; I also did observation work at concert halls, subway stops, and in different cities.
The changing of my methodology meant that the work I did this summer for my research was more difficult and abstract, less straightforward than getting interviews which I could later code, but ultimately the conversations I had with friends, professors, and people at SNU or outside, helped me both find evidence for my topic of choice and also gave me many new fascinating leads to follow and shared the experiences which I would need to form what I hope will be a comprehensive thesis on my subject. So I would sincerely like to thank all donors and people who made this possible, and I am looking forward to making the best out of these experiences in the culmination of my academic experience, my Senior Honors Thesis in Social Studies. Thank you!