Hatfield’s trip to South Korea reveals similarities to American Indian cultures
Samantha Chisholm Hatfield,
Ph.D., is an assistant professor,
senior research in the Department of
Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation
Sciences at Oregon State University.
You went to South Korea for
research work, so tell us how that
opportunity came up for you.
The opportunity is offered globally
by The Korea Foundation, which works
to unite and serve as an ambassador for
global work; for increased understanding
of Korea, including its culture; and to
promote relations globally. Different areas
can be applied for, such as arts and culture,
or language; and it has student, graduate
student and professional levels.
I’m an assistant professor senior
researcher at Oregon State University, so I
chose field research in order to continue the
research I began years ago if I was chosen.
Luckily enough, I was selected for a
field research opportunity. I had the unique
opportunity to travel to South Korea dur-
ing March, April and May 2022. I was
one of 30 global scholars selected for the
prestigious work fellowship opportunity
and was chosen over three other global
scholars for the honor of working with
esteemed Dr. Sun-Kee Hong, a professor
at the Institution for Marine & Island
Cultures at Mokpo National University,
international author and speaker.
Out of all the global places, why
did you choose South Korea?
This was my second time (the first
was in 2017) and I was very, very lucky
to be chosen twice. The first time, Tadee
was unable to go with me so I wanted to
make sure for a return visit we went at a
time when he could go along.
The program is a very difficult one to
be selected for, there’s so much worldwide
competition by scholars who are excellent
in their area.
The first time Korea and Korean
culture “landed on my radar” was back in
2015.A student in one of my classes asked
to write a final paper on a Kdrama (Korean
drama) show. I had no idea what he was
talking about, so I watched one to see if
it was appropriate. I was floored at what
I was watching – the same value systems
and many of the same morals we Natives
embody in our culture were being shown.
I watched one after another and did
some intensive research into the culture.
It reinforced how similar the culture is.
Aspects like honoring elders, commu-
nity, respect, cohesiveness and food like
seafood were so similar it was surprising.
I chose South Korea for a couple of
reasons. First, because of its rich history
and the similarities in cultural styles with
Native culture. South Korea, like Tribal
communities, has had a difficult and often
agonizing history with colonization and
removal of culture.
Many people don’t understand the
depth of history and how hard Korea has
battled to regain itself. Korea has fought
on and off with Japan since at least the
seventh century, with Japan repeatedly
trying to invade the peninsula since then.
In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, turn-
ing the territory into a colony. In order to
gain control, Japan began exterminating
Courtesy photos from Samantha Hatfield
Left: Samantha Chisholm Hatfield, Tadee Hatfield and cherry blossoms at the Bongeunsa (bong goon sa) Temple in Seoul.
Right: Samantha and Tadee at Manjanggul Cave (mahn jahn gool) on the island of Jeju. The cave is a lava tube with a unique
ecosystem that includes a cave spider only found inside the cave, plus the largest bat colony and largest bat cave in Korea.
Korean culture through removals and
forbidding the speaking of the language.
It also became a crime to teach history
from non-approved texts and authorities
burned more than 200,000 Korean histori-
cal documents, essentially wiping out the
historical memory of Korea.
Schools and universities forbade
speaking Korean and emphasized manual
labor and loyalty to the emperor. Mil-
lions of trees were chopped down, with
non-native and invasive species planted
in their place. For a culture that relied on
traditional medicines and food systems
in a similar way that we Natives have, this
was devastating.
By the late 1930s, Japan was starting
to assemble for World War II and began to
force Koreans to work in the factories and
mines, or enlist as soldiers. It also sent tens
of thousands of women from across Asia –
many of them Korean – into military broth-
els to service Japanese soldiers. The victims
became known as “comfort women.”
Japan’s rule of Korea ended in 1945
when it was defeated in the war.
And then secondarily, I learned about
the Haenyo (hay-n-yo), women divers who
were forced to dive for abalone for the
emperor during the occupation and then
contributed significantly to the Korean
economy when the men were unable to.
I was fascinated with the relation-
ship to abalone that’s much the same we
Natives have. It’s a delicacy and there is so
much ornate beautiful inlay everywhere.
I was, and remain, fascinated by these
women and their resilience, along with
hoping to discover how we can learn tips
for and help save our abalone populations.
In 2017 I had the opportunity to go
out on the boat with a group of divers,
but because of COVID we didn’t have that
opportunity this last time.
The similarities to Tribal atrocities
that we (Siletz) and other Natives have
faced, endured and overcome were incred-
ible. It was amazing to be in a society that
has such a similar history to ours and
has overthrown invasions and coloniza-
tion attempts, restoring culture back to
a degree where if one was not aware of
the turbulent history you might assume
they had never been negatively affected
by outsiders.
The first time I went to Seoul and saw
people walking around in Hanboks (tradi-
tional clothing) I was shocked and actually
teared up. I couldn’t help but think of how
it would be for us (Natives) if we had the
same ability and opportunities to retain our
culture and freely – and proudly on our own
homelands and not have to worry about it
– walk around publicly in traditional attire
any time we wanted. The ways in which
they have rebuilt and restored their culture
are inspiring and motivational.
What was alarming or even maybe
shocking to you?
How there’s such strong collective
community support, thinking and being
concerned about the well-being of the
group so everyone is taken care of – it
reminds me of how the elders used to talk
about how we operated as a Tribe and the
real sense of community – in action.
Everyone is so kind; there was always
someone willing to help if we needed it.
And I had zero culture shock – I anticipated
having some major culture shock being half-
way around the world, but there was none.
I’ve worked and been in communities
here in the U.S. doing research where I’ve
experienced high levels of culture shock.
The cultures were so different that it was
difficult to adjust and adapt. Both times
in Korea, however, I felt virtually zero
culture shock.
During my first trip I was “adopted”
by a highly respected Korean scholar
who is an expert in Korean calligraphy
and one of a handful who translates old
Chinese texts into Korean. This is a dying
art that not many younger generations are
interested in.
To have the opportunity to go to a
calligraphy studio and just hang out with
calligraphy masters was such an honor. He
gifted me a Korean name that translated
means “She Is The Place Where Ten
Thousand Flowers Grow.”
Korean naming, just as in Native
societies, is an enormous honor and
expression of respect. Tadee was honored
this trip and since his name in Omaha
means “wind” and translates into Korean
easily, he was honored with recognition
of his strength and power, and his name
was likened to the strong mountain winds.
Tadee had the opportunity to also study
and do calligraphy with a high-level mas-
ter calligrapher and artist who was once
the national calligrapher for one of the
Korean presidents.
I think one of the things that surprised
me both times was the level of respect and
understanding Koreans have for Natives.
They very clearly differentiate us from
mainstream non-Native Americans.
We took a taxi one time and the
driver asked where we were from. He was
incredibly excited when I explained we
were Native (everyone always was very
enthusiastic to meet us once they knew we
were Native). He started talking about how
Koreans love Natives and how Koreans
and Natives think the same way. I didn’t
fully understand the concept, so he used
his translation app to explain and I took a
picture. It was so heartwarming.
Tadee (Bill), what did you like
about Korea?
I found it interesting that their culture
is very different from ours and yet very
similar at the same time.
Korea was fascinating for how small
and compact everything is and yet there’s
so much to see and do, it feels much larger.
I really liked the Buddhist temple we went
to in Seoul, the Coex Mall and the islands
we visited, but I think my favorite place
was Manjanggul Lava Tube caves.
The people are really nice – the
people we stayed with were really nice, we
had breakfast every morning with them.
They showed us neat stuff we might not
have seen on our own. It made us feel like
we lived there. They took really good care
of us, just like we were family.
My favorite food there was the Korean
chicken, sannakji (live octopus), squid
and the snack foods they have. The food
is really good there!
One of my favorite times was spend-
ing time with Oppa (the master calligra-
pher who has “adopted” us). I really had
fun tutoring English and meeting other
students, though, too.
Do you think you’ll go back to do
more research or visit?
Definitely. I’d like to do more research
there. I’d also like to bring students and
potentially Haenyeo and scholars here
to help us figure out how to address the
issues we face that they are working on
in maintaining sustainable populations
in abalone, seaweeds, shellfish – all the
things we are watching being impacted
by increasing ecosystem failures.
It would be fantastic to build Korean
partnerships to learn new techniques
and engage in collaboration for healthy
diverse ecosystems and potential future
opportunities for the Tribe. Being a coastal
Tribe reliant on many ocean resources, it’s
important that we find ways to maintain
and sustain our cultural ways in the midst
of these ecosystem impacts and failures.
Bill: Probably someday. It was a lot
of fun.
October 2022
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Siletz News
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