I gave a talk tonight at the Fulbright Forum (with one other American historian here for the year) about teaching U.S. history in Korea.
It went reasonably well, though I did get a bit tumbled in my words midway through. I was not reading the talk but had written it out so it would be exactly within the time limits (I have been known to speak at some length when giving free rein) and the combination of looking at the written word and extemporaneous speaking was not actually a good choice.
I focused on using empire to frame American history (as you likely will not be surprised to learn), and on raising focusing on questions of regioalism, globalization, and Americanization. It was useful to lay out the ideas in a clear short talk since they are all vast and easy to follow down the rabbit trail.
One thing I mentioned in the course of my remarks is that I just read that Korea has the highest levels of anti-Americanism in Asia, which is a factoid that surprised and interested me.
Afterwards there was food laid out and the usual interesting conversations among everybody. This event was held over at the US Embassy's Information Resource Center and they served poppy seeds rolls. I don't think they were trying to kill me, but you never know.
I met an anthropologist interested in recording the idiosyncratic clapping at the Seoul markets. Apparently, each seller has their own, goods-specific clap. I've never noticed this but am going to start paying attention.
It went reasonably well, though I did get a bit tumbled in my words midway through. I was not reading the talk but had written it out so it would be exactly within the time limits (I have been known to speak at some length when giving free rein) and the combination of looking at the written word and extemporaneous speaking was not actually a good choice.
I focused on using empire to frame American history (as you likely will not be surprised to learn), and on raising focusing on questions of regioalism, globalization, and Americanization. It was useful to lay out the ideas in a clear short talk since they are all vast and easy to follow down the rabbit trail.
One thing I mentioned in the course of my remarks is that I just read that Korea has the highest levels of anti-Americanism in Asia, which is a factoid that surprised and interested me.
Afterwards there was food laid out and the usual interesting conversations among everybody. This event was held over at the US Embassy's Information Resource Center and they served poppy seeds rolls. I don't think they were trying to kill me, but you never know.
I met an anthropologist interested in recording the idiosyncratic clapping at the Seoul markets. Apparently, each seller has their own, goods-specific clap. I've never noticed this but am going to start paying attention.
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