October 25, 2007
By JENNI SOHN, The Associated Press
Michael Hurt in Seoul -- a place he has very mixed feelings about. (AP Photo/Jenni Sohn) |
As a broadly built African-American who's more than 6 feet tall, Michael Hurt stands out wherever he goes in Seoul, where he lives and works. He gets even more attention when he opens his mouth, thanks to his fluency in Korean.
Hurt, whose mother is from Korea, is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnic studies who first came to Korea more than a decade ago as a Fulbright English teaching assistant who barely spoke any Korean. He's since become a keen observer of Korean culture, with which he seems to have developed a love-hate relationship.
A lot of that has to do with the way he sees foreigners being depicted in the media. "The Korean media," he argues, "seems to be bending as far as possible backwards to show the worst possible stereotypes of foreigners."
So what would Hurt -- who happens to possess a wide range of multimedia skills -- do about this uncomfortable situation? The answer: start blogging.
Hurt put his dissertation on the back burner and started a series of Seoul-based blogs aimed at giving a voice to non-Koreans living in Korea. He's the blogger behind Metropolitician.com, Seoulglow.com and Feetmanseoul.com.
Take a look at this video report to meet Hurt and learn more about what he's observed about race, nationality and Korean culture -- and to hear a member of the Korean media reacting to Hurt's concerns.
http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_news/seoulblogger/
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Jenni Sohn is an asap interactive designer based in New York.
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