KOREA FOUNDATION

My name is Alam Naushad, and I am a current KF research fellow. On the day I was selected to receive the Korea Foundation’s half-year field research fellowship, I was more than happy. I felt that it was destiny, as I knew the KF had been promoting Korean studies worldwide, serving as a global bridge connecting Korea to many other countries in cultural, academic, and diplomatic fields. At that time, it was extremely difficult to get a visa to enter Korea due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the KF verifying my fellowship allowed me to acquire a visa without a problem, as if by magic.

I reserved an economy class seat on the single direct Asiana Airlines flight from India to Korea in all of last January. Just three days before I was set to depart, however, the travel agency informed me that it could not confirm my spot on the flight because the plane I was about to board was going to take only 20 percent of the Indian passengers with tickets due to a new rule. I became a little pessimistic, but hurriedly sought other choices, discovering that I could reserve a plane ticket to reach Korea by transferring through Dubai. On January 31, after a nine-hour layover in Dubai, I finally arrived in Korea. I immediately entered the 14-day quarantine period mandatory for incoming persons, but I didn’t have to worry about where to live after my two weeks in isolation; before leaving India, I had already rented a one-room studio near Korea University through Zigbang, a Korean real estate app.

This was not my first visit to Korea, as I had spent nearly five years completing my doctoral studies in modern Korean literature at Korea University from August 2011 to June 2016. Therefore, Korea did not look foreign to me at all. To be frank, I felt almost as if I had come back home.

As a KF fellow, I am doing research to compare the works of Indian writer Premchand and Korean writer Ri Ki-yong. Premchand wrote 16 novels and some 300 short stories, and Ri wrote 11 novels, 81 short stories, and seven novellas, whose themes are quite similar to those of the Indian writer. There has been no comparative research done on these prolific writers, and I consulted with my research advisor, Professor Kang Heon-guk of Korea University’s Department of Korean Language and Literature, to seek guidance on the research I was planning to do. As comparative research on Korean and Indian literary works is very rare, I collected materials on studies that compared Korean literary works to those of other countries to determine the trends of such research. I was able to obtain books on comparative studies in pre-modern Korean literature through offline and online sources.

I wasn’t able to actively attend seminars and other academic gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I have been continuing my research with the guidance of my research advisor, who suggested that I extend my stay in Korea to keep working. As advised, I submitted a request to extend the term of my research and thankfully, the KF granted me a two-month extension. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems it will be very difficult for me to come back to Korea, and I would like to raise my research potential until I must end my stay in September 2022 by going through as many materials as possible. When I return home, I will share the KF’s spirit and promote Korean studies in India by teaching students and making my best effort to present and publish my research papers.

Department of Asian Languages, School of Arab and Asian Studies, EFL University Alam Naushad, Assistant Professor

Research in KoreafellowshipAlam NaushadPremchandRi Ki-yong