DÒNG CHẢY XUYÊN VĂN HÓA TRONG XÃ HỘI HÀN QUỐC ĐƢƠNG THỜI: SUY TƢ KHI ĐỌC CUỐN SÁCH “WAY BACK INTO KOREA’ CỦA CHOONG SOON KIM

Abstract

Professor Choong Soon Kim published the book “Way back into Korea: A new insight by a native anthropologist come home‟ in which he describes the dramatic changes in the contemporary South Korean society. He also explains the causes of those changes from an anthropologist perspective. In this talk, I will use the transcultural flow theory to answer the questions and the paradoxes he raises concerning those changes. I hope this can help to understand the current South Korean culture more comprehensively. My conclusion is that forms of South Korean culture, like those of any culture in the world keeps moving, changing under the influence of other transcultural flows and then are reused refashion new South Korean identities. It is this cultural dynamics that create both the paradoxes and the strengths that South Korea what is it today. The talk also raises an important point to consider in studying culture so as to avoid falling into the trap of cultural stereotypes.