Sonya Gwak’s workshop covered ethnic idenities. (Abby Hocking / Photo Assistant)

Sonya Gwak, author of “Be(com)ing Korean in the United States: Exploring Ethnic Identity Formation Through Cultural Practices,” provided a learning workshop and presentation on Oct 21.

The presentation centered on the complex relationships among young people who proclaim a common ethnic bond and how they understand their ethnic, racial, and national identities as part of the Urban Education Pro-Seminar Speaking Series. Gwak, currently serving as the associate director for Student Affairs and Advising at the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, received her Ph.D. in education, culture, and society from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School for Education.

“The whole idea of my dissertation came from family lure,” Gwak said to a room of teaching students and College faculty administrators.

“I grew up in a very multicultural experience,” she said.

Gwak, born in South Korea and raised in Ghana, said she defies all cultural categories and has “always questioned who I am.”

Her dissertation’s points of interest looked at the everyday cultural practices, performance, teaching and learning, food folks, and fun, and the difference between being and becoming during a five-year iconography of a group of Koreans in a cultural drumming group based on the ancient natural religion of P’ungmul.

Gwak analyzed each individual member of the group’s core members and examined the effects the person’s upbringing had on his or her perspective and cultural outlook.

“Who am I and why am I acting this way were central questions to all of my studies while writing my dissertation,” Gwak said.

Gwak advised the future teachers to be aware of young ethnic students struggling with the damaging consequences of identity switching between their home and school.

“One of the hardest things with being a teacher is that you don’t get to choose who comes into your classroom,” Gwak said, “But, everyone that does has baggage.”

Dealing with the emotional baggage is a major concern of teachers, especially those caring for children and teens because adolescents suffer the greatest consequences if they are unable to fit in, Gwak said.

“It is very important for teachers to understand that people have personal histories that you cannot assume,” she said.

“It is important to learn about people,” she said.