Joining more than 108 countries and international organizations, USA Pavilion 2012 will build on the Expo’s overall theme of “The Living Ocean and Coast,” and showcase the diversity, spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation, and commitment to sustainable development of the American people. U.S. participation in Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea demonstrates U.S. commitment to deepening our friendly ties and strengthening U.S. – Republic of Korea (ROK) relations and engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.
I'm sorry to see the theme will incorporate my least-favorite buzzword, the s-word:
Focusing on the themes of Diversity, Wonder, and Solutions, the USA Pavilion 2012 is expected to reach millions of visitors through a host of exciting technologies and storytelling. A highlight of the USA Pavilion experience for visitors will be their interactions with Student Ambassadors. In partnership with the University of Virginia, 40 college-aged American Student Ambassadors proficient in Korean will be selected to serve as representatives of the United States, engaging directly with USA Pavilion visitors and supporting the USA Pavilion operation.
Official site of the USA pavillion here, brochure for University of Virginia Student Ambassador Program here. Canada, we learned in August, will not participate.
The International Pavilion (국제관).
Under construction in September.
3 comments:
I thought 'hub' was your least favourite Korean buzz word?
I wonder how many of those American students proficient in Korean will not be ethnic Koreans.
Times change, and the only time I hear "hub" anymore is when I glance at K-blogs or K-papers. "Solutions" is everywhere in the US . . . I ignore websites that advertise their "business solutions," out of principle.
I'm sorry to say, every time I think of the intersection between the University of Virginia and Korea, I am reminded of Jessica Kim and her hateful opinion piece in the Korea Times:
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/04/and-in-other-newspaper-news-more.html
It would be nice to see some non-Koreans included in this group. I've actually met quite a few non-Koreans studying Korean even here in Pittsburgh. They're making an effort to learn, and are more advanced than those Korean-Americans who picked up a few words residually. Not sure how many fluent Korean-speaking Americans you'll find though, ethnic Korean or not. But, may the best people win . . . and if there's some diversity, that's good too.
Looking at just names alone, at least 18 of the 40 are ethnic Koreans:
http://news.gnom.es/pr/usa-pavilion-2012-announces-student-ambassadors-for-world-expo-2012-yeosu-republic-of-korea
So there is some diversity at least. But the fact is, that there is more than one non-Korean proficient in Korean is a big improvement. In the Korean-language courses at my university in the US there is a surprising number of non-Koreans. I remember just 5 - 10 years ago, while looking at Korean programs in Pennsylvania, the classes were entirely if not almost entirely made up of Korean-Americans "discovering their roots" or whatever. That we have others taking these classes, and going to Yeosu for the summer, shows that people are becoming more aware of Korea and its culture, and that these programs are becoming more accessible to the traditional outsiders, too.
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