The Department of Asian Studies is excited to introduce our new Postdoc, Dr. CedarBough Saeji. Dr. Saeji will be teaching the highly anticipated 2016W course “Korean Popular Music in Context” this fall.
Tell us a little about yourself, your background and how you became interested in Asian Studies?
I moved to Asia without any clue — I only knew three words of Korean– two of them were kimchi and Taekwondo (which I probably mispronounced since most Americans say the first syllable as “tie,” although the first syllable is actually said “tay”). The third was hoedeopbap (a sashimi and raw vegetable and rice salad dressed with sesame oil and vinegar chili sauce) and I didn’t even know it was a Korean food until I got to Korea — I only knew it was my favorite thing to eat at a restaurant in Seattle called Tokyo Garden.
My decision to go to Korea was really one of those stereotypical stories– I had college loans, but wanted to travel. Moving overseas to work was the compromise. That was in 1996. In 1997 (in August), I inhaled and realized I was home. I’ve spent almost fifteen out of the past twenty years in Korea, and leaving Korea to move to Vancouver is tinged with sadness because I’m so happy living in Seoul.
My time in Korea is bifurcated by my decision to get an MA in Korean Studies. I taught English, learned martial arts and then began teaching martial arts (I have taught two different arts in Korea, and used to run my own martial arts studio, I still practice five days a week), I also did freelance photography and journalism. For a couple years during my MA, I earned a fair amount of my monthly income from subtitling TV shows for the US market– it’s definitely a unique type of translating since you need to convey cultural differences, the meaning, and still meet a two line of text requirement.
I went to get an MA at Yonsei University in Seoul because I realized that even though I thought I knew a lot about Korea, because I’d lived there already for seven years at the time I applied, that my knowledge was not very deep– also sometimes I heard or read things about Korea or aspects of Korean culture I was sure were wrong, but I didn’t really know how to prove my points. In general, I love Korea and Korean culture so much, and I wanted to be able to explain that eloquently, and in detail. So the MA seemed logical as a next step. But it had never occurred to me that I could get a PhD or that I would become a university professor.
During my MA I found how much I enjoyed scholarship and research, and my thesis committee chair, Dr. Kim Hyukrae, really encouraged me to go on and get a PhD. I took a year off to do applications, to complete a traditional Buddhist pilgrimage on the Tibetan plateau, and to work on my Chinese and Tibetan language skills, then moved to the US to do coursework towards my PhD in Culture and Performance at UCLA.
I consider myself a “Koreanist” or a scholar of Korea, although in certain contexts I may describe myself as a folklorist, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, or scholar of performance studies. Although my research has mainly focused on Korea, I also have some long term projects primarily concerned with ethnic minorities in the northwestern part of China.
Could you explain to a non-expert what you are researching?
In general my research is concerned with how Korean culture is exhibited (curated, displayed, performed) and how cultural knowledge is transmitted. Although my publications might look diverse, because I write on museum curation, performances of K-pop on television/K-pop videos, audiences for traditional performances, how people learn the traditional arts, and heritage policy, if you think of each of these topics as directly connected to exhibition and the transmission of cultural knowledge, then you can see how they are related. I am really concerned with traditional heritage arts and how they are changing and adapting in the modern world– although cultural policy in Korea tries to keep the arts the same, to protect the valuable cultural patrimony of the nation, unavoidably the performers are different, the venues are different, the audiences are different– in fact the entire context of these performances has dramatically shifted. A lot of great scholarship completed twenty, even fifty years ago, documented the heritage arts quite well– my research is more concerned with the present moment and what that says about the future of these arts and cultural protection policies more broadly.
Is there a project that you are most proud of?
It’s a bit strange to be most proud of something that isn’t done yet, but while I am at UBC my primary goal is to complete my first book manuscript—a project that I am pouring my whole heart into. The book talks about Korean mask dance dramas in the present day, trying to give people unfamiliar with the genre a solid introduction and simultaneously discuss the impact of cultural policy on the presentation, transmission, and future of these fascinating performances. I have been actively carrying out research for this book since 2004, with a strong non-academic interest in mask dance dramas since I first saw them in 1997, and I am so excited to bring all these threads together in one finished tapestry. This book will fill a giant hole in previous publications, obviously that is important to me as a scholar, but also I’m trying to make the writing approachable and fun to read so I can spread interest in my topic.
We are really excited to have you at UBC. Is there anything that you are particularly excited about in regards to coming to UBC or to Vancouver?
I grew up in Washington State and have been to Vancouver and to UBC—particularly the Anthropology Museum—dozens of times in my life. Vancouver is so international—undoubtedly one of my favorite cities in the world. As a scholar, I am excited about being part of the vibrant community of Asianists at UBC, and as an educator I look forward to teaching UBC’s high caliber students.
What will you be teaching at UBC and why should students be excited?
I will be teaching “Korea Popular Music in Context” in both semesters of the 2016-17 school year. Judging from the enrollment, students are already clearly excited about the class. Perhaps some imagine we will spend hours analyzing the lyrics in Big Bang songs, but really it’s a class where I will use Korean popular music, from 1900 all the way until fall of 2016, as a tool for teaching more about Korean society and culture. For example one lesson covers masculinity in Korea with a focus on how masculinity is heavily influenced by mandatory military service. K-pop stars, just like other Korean men, have to serve, and discussions and reactions to how they serve (or try to avoid service) can reveal a lot about Korea. Further, analyzing the way they present themselves as men, particularly before and after their stint in the military, should be quite fascinating. Although this is such a large class, and therefore I unavoidably have to lecture, students should enjoy my lectures since I am very high energy and passionate about the topic.
