On Advocating for Other Cultures: A Conversation with Somy Kim

Interview

Somy Kim is an associate teaching professor in Northeastern University’s Writing Program; she is also fluent in four languages, with a basic knowledge of two others. Unsurprisingly, her accounts of traveling after college are fascinating; her research, focusing on the essay film as a genre and its significance in the cultural history of the Middle East, especially Iran, is a penetrating exploration of film as a cultural object; and her face, as we try to find a table at Pavement Coffeehouse at 11 on a dreary Wednesday morning, is a little surprised.

“I didn’t expect it to be so crowded.”

Professor Kim is refreshingly honest about naïveté, and the role it has played in her studies and her travel—generally speaking, her encounters with cultural exchange. We manage to snag a table after a few minutes of waiting, and we are already deep into conversation. As a writing professor, she is very interested by the writing course that this interview is for, and we discuss the various ways to approach peer editing and the importance of an open and inviting classroom atmosphere, among other things, for twenty minutes before I start the recorder. All in all, we talk for about two hours and the conversation ranges over a wide spectrum of topics, from the evolution of her studies to the potential of film reviews as an instrument of social justice. I originally found Professor Kim through her work in Middle Eastern studies, but her experience studying and working with foreign cultures and cultural exchange is extensive and multifaceted.

I ask her how she gained this experience, because her academic resume doesn’t explain it all: she earned her BA in Linguistics from UCLA, paused for six years before receiving a Masters degree in English Literature from DePaul University, and then obtained a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. At what point did the shift from linguistics student to expert in Iranian cinema occur?

I learn from Kim that Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Iranian/Persian diasporas in the world. During her time at UCLA, the Near East became a focus of her undergraduate career, but because UCLA had no study abroad program in Iran, she began learning Arabic in order to study abroad in Cairo. From there, she continued traveling, spending time in South Korea, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as returning to Egypt; during that six-month visit, the Iraq War began, illustrating visualization’s role in creating different perceptions of war in the Middle East and the US: “People were in the streets, going crazy on the TV 24/7 where images of bloody bodies… My mother and sister, I would call home and they were like, “We don’t see anything over here!” It’s such a very different experience.” She and her husband returned to the US from Cairo for his new job at DePaul, and after the birth of her first child, she began feeling restless and decided to take one course.

That one course turned into a Masters degree in English literature, but in her last semester, Kim took a course on postcolonial literature. As she says, “It was the first time I knew that we could study things that were not British and American literature. I didn’t know that.” Suddenly, Kim was able to study one of her long-time passions, film, using the critical theories and forms of narrative analysis she found in Comp. Lit.: “I actually did go from novels and poetry to writing about film because I felt more connected to the films. … As a person writing about other cultures, I felt I got an invitation to cinema.” The films were made for her, as a viewer, to watch.

She pauses to take a bite of her sandwich and I check to make sure the recorder is, in fact, still recording.

Now, Kim has a unique perspective to bring to the writing courses she teaches, a perspective informed by her experiences navigating other cultures. We discuss the issues she encounters studying, as she puts it in one of her papers, “a cinema replete with such culture-specific and historically laden allusions.” Clearly, one has to be an expert in the culture to address such a complex subject, but navigating that role when it comes to a foreign culture different from your own is a complicated undertaking. Recently, she has begun to recognize a kind of positivist attitude in her approach to film analysis: avoiding critique, and emphasizing praise and recognition, because of her position as a non-Iranian, as coming from a non-Middle Eastern background.

We also discuss the challenges that she faces in the classroom, especially how to approach and teach problematic, but seminal, subject material, like the film “Lawrence of Arabia.” Ultimately, it’s a question of how to effectively educate students from a wide variety of disciplines on in-depth engagement with culture and cultural products. Kim knows better than most, and tries to communicate to her students, that a film is a story, not a one-to-one relationship, and that by analyzing a film we are unpacking just one narrative about what it is to be.

As we bring our mugs back to the counter and head out the door, I am left with more questions than I arrived with, but also unquestionably more knowledge. Maybe, looking back on our conversation—especially the roles that naïveté and the desire to learn more play in gaining cultural knowledge and expertise—the two go hand-in-hand.

177 thoughts on “On Advocating for Other Cultures: A Conversation with Somy Kim”

  3. I was recommended this web site by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such
    detailed about my trouble. You’re incredible!

    Thanks!

    Look at my blog post – SODO66 app

  5. Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you
    download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my
    blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your
    design. Thank you

    Here is my blog 1ace

  6. Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers?

    My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing many months of hard work due to
    no back up. Do you have any methods to prevent hackers?

    My page: brand fi

  8. Hello there! I just wish to offer you a big thumbs up for your great info you have got right here on this post.
    I am coming back to your web site for more soon.

    Also visit my site … Phising dan scam

  10. I every time spent my half an hour to read this
    webpage’s articles or reviews all the time along with a cup of coffee.

    Stop by my homepage lembu4d

  12. Aw, this was a really nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a good article… but what can I say…
    I hesitate a whole lot and never manage to get nearly anything done.

    Here is my website Phising dan scam

  13. Howdy I am so delighted I found your blog page, I really found you
    by error, while I was browsing on Bing for something
    else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a tremendous post
    and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go
    through it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS
    feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the excellent work.

    My webpage: เลนส์โปรเกรสซีฟ

  14. Hi, i feel that i saw you visited my web site so i came to return the prefer?.I
    am attempting to find things to enhance my website!I
    assume its ok to use a few of your concepts!!

    Also visit my site – homepage

  16. Thank you for another informative web site. Where else could I
    get that kind of info written in such an ideal method?
    I have a venture that I’m just now working on, and I have
    been at the glance out for such information.

    my blog :: Phising dan scam

  17. I’m not sure where you’re getting your info, but
    great topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more.
    Thanks for wonderful information I was looking for this info for my mission.

    Also visit my homepage :: situs taruhan bola resmi

  18. What i don’t understood is in truth how you are now not actually much more smartly-appreciated than you might be
    now. You are so intelligent. You understand therefore considerably with regards to this matter, made
    me in my view consider it from a lot of varied angles.
    Its like women and men are not involved except it is one thing
    to do with Girl gaga! Your personal stuffs great. At
    all times handle it up!

    Also visit my webpage … best book series sci fi

  19. Right here is the perfect website for everyone who really
    wants to find out about this topic. You know a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not
    that I personally will need to…HaHa). You certainly put a fresh spin on a topic that
    has been discussed for years. Wonderful stuff, just great!

    Look at my web-site: لیست قیمت اجاره خودرو در دبی

  20. Wonderful blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo
    News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
    I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!

    Cheers

    My web-site; hollywoodbets (Almeda)

  23. Étape 2 Saisissez ensuite l’URL de la vidéo YouTube que vous
    souhaitez convertir au format MP4 dans la
    nouvelle fenêtre.

    Here is my web site :: ssyoutube

  24. This is the right blog for everyone who wants to
    understand this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I personally will need to…HaHa).
    You certainly put a new spin on a subject that’s been discussed for a long
    time. Wonderful stuff, just excellent!

    Also visit my web site 메이저사이트 순위 문의 telegram@tiptip4488

  26. Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful article. Thank
    you for providing this information.

    Also visit my blog post – opium

  27. I was extremely pleased to discover this great site. I
    wanted to thank you for your time for this wonderful read!!
    I definitely loved every part of it and I have you bookmarked to look at new stuff on your site.

    Here is my blog post – bandar narkoba

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *