Profiles

Indirect Paths

Though Liora Sarfati, the 2004 – 2005 SOFOKS Graduate Fellowship recipient, would argue that she has taken an indirect path to her position as a dual Ph.D. student in the East Asian Languages and Cultures and Folklore Departments, she is anything but off track. After serving in the Israeli army for two years as a soldier-teacher, Sarfati, whose parents immigrated to Israel from Chile before she was born, traveled throughout Africa, India and Nepal before deciding to pursue her M.A. degree in sociology and anthropology with a focus on Japan. “My interest in East Asia started when I was in the fifth grade and had to do a project on Japan. That eventually led to several years of Aikido and Judo training, three months of traveling in Japan in 1996 and an interest in Haiku poetry and Zen art,” she explains. As she worked on her Master’s degree her interests turned to shamanism, and it didn’t take her long to realize that the vibrant folk culture surrounding Korean shamanism captured her imagination more than the Japanese folk culture she had been studying. “The only problem with that,” Sarfati explains, “is that there was no professor working on Korean Culture in Israel.” As a result, Sarfati continued to study and teach about Japan until coming to Bloomington in 2002.

Sarfati describes how she decided to come to I.U.: “Because there was no way to pursue my study of Korea while living in Israel, I began to look for universities in the U.S. with strong Korea-related programs. In the process of e-mailing faculty members at several different universities, I contacted Professor Janelli and knew immediately that he would be fascinating to work with! The Folklore Department seemed like a perfect fit for my interdisciplinary background and interests.” In order to gain the historical understanding and linguistic skills necessary for her research, Sarfati decided to pursue a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures as well.

Her hard work seems to be paying off. Professor Janelli says, “Liora is intellectually gifted, theoretically sophisticated, highly articulate, and indefatigable. Over the past few years she has developed impressively her knowledge and understanding of Korea and its vernacular culture, and she promises to become one of the leading folklorists and Koreanists of the next generation.” Liora is currently finishing her coursework and starting work on her dissertation which will focus on the folk art that is related to shamanic rituals in Korea. “I am very influenced by the work of my teacher, the folklorist Professor Henry Glassie, who has done work on folk art elsewhere. I intend to travel to Korea this summer for the first time, and I am very excited!” she says.

After finishing her degrees at I.U., Sarfati plans to return to Israel, where she will be one of the very few scholars doing work on Korea, and resume her teaching career. For a country that only recently resumed diplomatic relationships with Korea, Sarfati sees Israel as fertile ground for her as a teacher. “The fact that there is such a great need for scholarship on Korea makes teaching Korea in Israel a very exciting prospect for me,” says Sarfati.

As a mother of three small children, Sarfati is especially grateful for the SOFOKS Fellowship, which allows her to focus on her studies and her family. Sarafti concludes, “I would also like to thank Professor Robinson and Professor Janelli who have been such intriguing teachers on East Asia and especially Korea.”

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