Essay Contest Result

The first "bubble": Orientalism and structural education issues

It's August 2021 and I'm in an online conference room, concluding a paper for my International Affairs History class. The paper is titled "Behind economic agreements: open wounds of the Japanese occupation in the Korean peninsula". A student opens the microphone and comments: "Wow, I did not know that Korea had been colonized by Japan, much less a kingdom so powerful before that". This remark shocks me: how can someone attending a higher level of education not know this? My contemplation, however, reveals the reality: the scarcity of knowledge about multiple aspects of Korea is a structural problem in Brazilian education system.

It is ironic - and culturally saddening - how countries with relatively similar backgrounds, relying on increasing economic cooperation, can have populations so unfamiliar with each other. Standing within the sphere of influence of the United States and Europe - as well as being the target of modern colonization and contemporary dominance policies - Brazil, considered one of the most diverse countries in the world and welcomes the largest amount of Korean immigrants from Latin America, internalized Orientalism as a daily pattern: a dynamic of representation and perception excluding the East, which exoticizes, belittles, distances what is not Western, which groups Korea and its peculiarities together with a whole. It sees a collective as one, that is stereotyped and left behind.

For education and media, this translates into misinformation and distorted images of Korea. Flipping through high school books, I locate 3 topics involving South Korea. Firstly, within 1 page and a half, the Korean War is poorly explained: according to scientific articles, this is the most recurring theme about Korea in Brazilian teaching materials. Secondly, within the same length, the Asian Tigers and the 1997 Crisis are barely covered. Finally, in the sociology booklet, South Korea receives an inadequately sized block at the bottom of the page, elucidating technological growth and a Samsung logo. These topics agreeably outline the content scope generally presented to students. Furthermore, the book students use to prepare for the National High School Exam includes only one margin concerning Korea, likewise about the War, written in ridiculously short sentences at the page's top left corner.

The Orientalism bubble produced a configuration of image reproduction that disparages Korea and its specificities. This cycle of image distortion inevitably continues in higher education: while many do not know the basics of Korean history, those seeking information confront a dense barrier that makes access to Korea almost impossible. Much of the data is reported in English, and the essays in Portuguese are redundant - K-pop, K-drama, K-food -, making it challenging to deepen knowledge about the country. While writing the paper mentioned in the first paragraph, 36 bibliographic sources were foreign/in English, while only 9 were in Portuguese: they range from research to journalistic material and prove how Orientalism framed the display of information about Korea as unapproachable and repetitive.

The second "bubble": Hallyu and its consumption cycle

It would be unfair of me not to mention Hallyu in handling Brazil's perception of Korea. It is a fact that the term "Hallyu" is unknown to those who are not deeply interested in it, but the words K-pop and K-drama are sprinting through the Brazilian media. From PSY performing at the Brazilian Carnival in 2013 to Brazil becoming the third largest consumer of K-dramas during the pandemic, the Hallyu wave was the prominent fountain responsible for spreading information flows about Korea in Brazil.

Concerning this, I evaluate 2 points. At first, it blossomed the production of images about Korea, which was notably marginalized in media networks until 2012. It provided the "boom" of informational pages, the creation of Korea-related magazines, such as KoreaIn, articles in noble time on national TV, like Fantástico, and the spread of MOFA agencies in Brazil: King Sejong Institute, the KCC, and the Embassy. On the other hand, it corroborates what I noted about repetition. The images conveyed about Korea remain in the bubble of Hallyu consumers. They research, create, disseminate, and ultimately consume it. The terminologies, portraits, and dissemination methods are embedded in closed communities of Korean culture lovers and become monotonous, repetitive, and uninteresting for those with eyes covered by Orientalism's blindfold.

Popping the two "bubbles": What is being done

Since 2020, MOFA representatives in Brazil have perceived the urgency to reverse Korean representation issues. I seek to highlight two projects concentrated on promoting Korean culture and images of the country in a diversified, broad, and accessible method.

The program "Friends of the Embassy of Korea" is in its third season, actively posting on Instagram with #AmigosDaEmbaixada. The Embassy selects volunteers in strategically relevant Brazilian cities for implementing public and cultural diplomacy work. It embraces the production of digital content and partnerships for the realization of events, research, and seminars to promote the values, history, culture, and habits of South Korea to the Brazilian people. The contents created are disseminated on the participants' Instagram pages, in addition to the Embassy's social media. Its outstanding attribute is the multiplicity and accessibility of images: traditional and contemporary architecture, literature, scientific research, astrophysics, cinema, traditional festivities, clothing, tourism, and tours of various cities in the country.

The second project is a recent initiative of KCC: an E-book Korean Culture Guide. Based on data provided by the MOFA and KOCIS, including the "Understanding Korea" materials, KCC has produced a 31-page E-book providing pertinent information on Korean culture. The KCC justified its creation because there are still not enough books about Korea in Brazil. The book is offered for free aiming to broaden its scope to general audiences, so people can know better about Korea. KCC intends on distributing the book link for journalists every time there are new activities so that the Brazilian media can be more emerged. The book's topics may adapt as new cultural content from Korea expands, but today it covers Hangul, Taekwondo, Hanbok, Hansik, K-Pop, K-Drama and Cinema, K-Beauty, and events.

Further proposals on improving Korea's image in international instruction materials

• Augment the number of Departments focused on Korean studies at Brazilian universities, increasing the number of debates, events, and production of scientific material in the academic degree. Based on the dissemination of this knowledge those educational formulators can reach agencies of significance and provide the imperative transformations in primary and secondary materials, including topics such as the Joseon Dynasty and Hangul, the Korean Philosophy of the Four-Seven debate, late industrialization, the government of Park Chung-Hee, democratization and cultural hybridization.

• Intensify financial investment in the KCC and Embassy programs, as these have shown potential and achieved their goals. These programs must remain active to continue expanding the views on Korea and democratizing access to quality information, ensuring the permanence of its achievements.

• Since most of the materials are available in English, one of the strategies would be the production and translation of content from information materials into Portuguese. The exclusive use of English limits the target audience that the materials reach, and consequently creates a niche of consumption. By making them accessible, the general consumption increases, triggering the greater search and production of content and research with safe and reliable information.

Popping the bubbles aforementioned is not an easy task: it requires deconstructing a systematic structure of Korea's image replication, based on Orientalism rooted in Brazilian society and a closed consumer niche. However, the power of the Internet in Brazil, the growth of Hallyu, and the efforts of MOFA are instruments that, if properly combined and sharpened frequently, can pop the bubbles and improve South Korea's image in Brazil.