[KS] Fwd: Hello from NPR Reporter

[Serk-Bae Suh]

Dear all,

I have received the following inquiry from Yowei Shaw, a reporter with NPR.
Any leads will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best,

Serk-Bae Suh



-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Hello from NPR Reporter
Date: 	Mon, 22 Apr 2019 20:51:48 +0000
From: 	Yowei Shaw <YShaw at npr.org>
To: 	suhsb at uci.edu <suhsb at uci.edu>



Dear Dr. Suh -

This is Yowei Shaw – I’m a reporter with NPR’sInvisibilia 
<https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/).>, a documentary podcast 
based in Washington DC with about 2 million listeners. We explore the 
intangible forces that shape our everyday lives – like beliefs, ideas, 
and emotions. To get a sense of the work I do on the show, here are some 
recent stories I’ve done:

https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/710046991/a-very-offensive-rom-com?showDate=2019-04-05

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/23/595564642/podcast-what-was-not-said

https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/667160047/bonus-youth-radio-girl-mystery?showDate=2018-12-21

I wanted to reach out to you, as the Faculty Director of CCKS.

I’m working on a story about fan death – and I want to first assure you 
that I’m not interested in doing another piece that rehashes what’s out 
there on the subject. I’m definitely not interested in making fun of 
Koreans or anyone who believes in fan death! I think every culture has 
beliefs like this. I honestly still need to do the science reporting 
myself, to know what I think. (And I know that a lot of Koreans don’t 
believe in fan death today – especially the younger generation.)

My particular angle is looking at the (often funny) conflict between 
those who believe and don’t believe, why fan death has become so popular 
in Western media, and the ripple effects of fan death becoming a meme on 
the internet. I’ve noticed that a lot of coverage is like: “look at this 
strange thing Koreans believe in” and I’ve heard from some people that 
they feel like fan death has become an easy way to dump on Koreans, 
which in turn, has led to the curious rise of fan death trutherism…

I’m interested in looking at WHY people are so fixated on fan death, 
when every culture has beliefs like this. Does this phenomenon speak to 
the West’s obsession with “rationality” with a capital R? What are the 
limits of this approach to rationality – and how does it not work in 
other cultures? Why do people especially in the West love making fun of 
fan death?  I’ve also heard of a shift happening in Korean culture – 
where because information is now at everyone’s fingertips, elders who 
are considered to be the most wise and respected are having their 
credibility and authority questioned, on things like fan death for 
example… When is culture and tradition more important than facts? Or 
itself a different kind of fact?

Anyway – I wanted to reach out and see if you know of any researchers 
who happen to be knowledgeable about fan death – and could speak to 
these questions, as well as the history and current status of fan death 
in South Korea…

I’m also looking for people to speak to, who might have stories about 
believing and then not believing in fan death, people who were made fun 
of for having believed, or people who know of families where someone 
reportedly died of fan death…

Any leads you have would be much much appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance!

All best,

Yowei



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