무용프로그램이 다문화가족의 문화적응에 미치는 영향

Abstract

Today, the Korean society is fast becoming a multi-cultural society. In view of this, it is not ideal for Korea to pursue a single-race nation. A multi-cultural society aims at unity, which can be accomplished through interactive communication, not unilateral absorption, helping immigrants establish a national identity. Culture is composed of various areas while a language is only one of them. Besides a language, therefore, we need to consider how to approach other areas as well. At present, educational programs for a multi-cultural family provided in Korea are mainly focused on teaching Korean culture in a unilateral way. Thus, this study suggests an interactive dance education program in order to change such educational trends. Of various areas helping one understand culture, dance is worthy of notice. In terms of communication, communication can be done not only through voices or letters but also through gesture, and a language of such gesture is dance. In terms of cultural history, dance has always reflected cultures of times and thus significantly helps one understand societies. Supposing that problems in the multi-cultural society in Korea arise from lack of communication between cultures, this study examines the need and effectiveness of dance education for communication. Comprehensive effects of the program suggested in this study are as follows. First, a dance program could offer an opportunity for cultural exchange. Second, the problem of lack of communication could be solved through the joy obtained from participating in the dance class. Meanwhile, there were secondary effects as well. First, the participants could change their previous ideas on dance. Second, the Korean dance and musical instruments (e.g. Janggu, Sogo) could renew their perspective on Korean culture. Third, children who were excessively timid or overreacting could develop positive and cheerful personalities through the dance class. As the number of multi-cultural familiesis rapidly rising, which increases the potential of a cultural clash, art education for such a family is highly valuable and effective. Nevertheless, the following problems are present as obstacles to the popularization of these educational programs. First, the number of art education programs available for multi-cultural families is not sufficient and they are operated only by a few organizations with limited coverage. Second, there is lack of diversified efforts to operate the programs. Along with individual efforts, there should be an infrastructure to share research and study materials on various cultures, and those majoring in art should be able to receive more practical cultural education in this regard. Third, there is lack of those majoring in art that are equipped with multi-cultural capabilities. Fourth, limited human resources make it difficult to meet various needs of participants. Based on an analysis of this study, it suggests several solutions. First, various art education programs should be implemented with the support of government and academic organizations. They should make a cooperative effort to establish an infrastructure so that more multi-cultural families can benefit from the programs. This would include establishing more public and easily accessible facilities to increase coverage. Second, intensive efforts should be made to foster lecturers equipped with multi-cultural capabilities through practical curricula on multi-cultural dance. More studies and education materials are also required. Particularly, such efforts should be made by universities, for those majoring in dance play an important role in multi-cultural education as lecturers. Third, continuous efforts should be put into operation of art education programs by families. A cultural clash may occur from a relationship with a spouse or parents-in-law. Thus, operation of the programs at a family level can help to communicate and understand each other.