SungWha Oh (Yoo)

Instructor, Korean Language and Culture

209 Thaw Hall
412-624-8106
Fax: 412-624-3458
SUOH@pitt.edu

Office Hours
By appointment

My current research interests include work on the growth and decline of Korean agriculture, farm development and cultural change in a climate of rapid industrialization and globalization. I also do research on the comparison of traditional dwellings and modern housing in the context of cultural change. In Korea, my undergraduate and graduate studies were in the biological sciences.

My experience in this country started as a graduate student in science, and continued with employment in the public health sector of the U.S. Federal Government. These varied involvements – as a graduate student, as an employee of the Federal Government visiting various industries, and as a Korean language instructor at the University of Pittsburgh – have made me sensitive to and aware of the pluralistic make-up of American culture. Moreover, they have provided me the nucleus for cross-cultural understanding.

The challenge of language transition faced by Koreans, in fact by all Asians, creates many conflicts. These conflicts are compounded by pressures of adapting to Western language and culture – ways of thinking and living, housing structures, and even greeting manners. One tries to cope with these conflicts through some kind of enculturation especially by learning the language and culture.

Due to my personal experience with these issues, beginning with my doctoral program, my academic interests have been focused on Korean culture. I have been teaching a course in Korean culture: Korea: Past in the Present (KOREAN 0070). I have been traveling to Korea often to get hands-on experience and to study cultural changes and preservation.

Education: PhD, University of Pittsburgh, Educational Anthropology, 1997

Courses Taught

Fall 2006: World of Korea: Past and Present.

Spring 2005: World of Korea: Past and Present. Korean 6.

Fall 2005: WOrld of Korea: Past and Present.

Fall 2004: Korean Language 5.

Current Activity with Students

Korean Cultural Assocation: Advisor

Research Fields

2006 - Culture and educational system in North Korea by Ethonographic Studies.

2003 - Research on comparison of traditional dwellings and modern housing in the context of cultural change.

2001 - Organic Farming and the New Communcal Culture in Korea.

Selected Presentations

Presentation of paper "Cultural Change and Preservation in Agricultural Sector" at 34th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, October 2005.

Presentation paper on 100th American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, "The Growth and Decline of Korean Agriculture: Farm Development and Cultural Change in a Climate of Rapid Industrialization." San Francisco, California, November 2004.

Special Lecture on "Koreans' Life History in the United States," Korean Studies Center's Lecture Series, Suk-Myung Women's University, Seoul, Korea, May 2003.

Special lecture on "My Life History in the United States," Korean Studies Center Lecture Series, SukMyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea, May 2003.

Presentation Paper, on 46th Annual Conference of the Comparative International Eduction Society, Orlando Florida, "Korean-American College Students: Multiple Construction of Identity," Orlando, Florida, March 2002.

Special Lecture on "Perspectives on the Recent Korean Summit Talks: The Ongoing Impact,” Asian Studies Program, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, November 2000.