Course Offerings for Fall 2016


Introduction to Korean Music (전공선택)
37558
Heather Willoughby

T6, Th4
601 International Education Building

This course is designed to introduce the student to a variety of music cultures from Korea. By studying specific pieces of music, we will explore some of the ways in which Koreans have historically and culturally approached concepts of sound, acoustic arts, music and performance practices. In the process the student will increase her listening skills, gain a vocabulary with which to intellectually discuss music, and learn to analyze certain aspects of music, meaning, and culture. (However, the no prerequisite knowledge of or experience with music is necessary) In so doing, we will investigate issues of identity (including gender identity), class, historiography, aesthetics and culture and philosophical ideologies.

North Korean Society and Culture (전공선택)
37561
Kyong-Mi D. Kwon

T3, Th2
601 International Education Building

With the recent passing of Kim Joing-il and the new "supreme leader" Kim Jong-un staking his claim on North Korea, the world has renewed its interest in what may be one of the most closed-off and the least know countries in the world. In order to gain better insights to North Korean society, the course provides a comprehensive overview of its history and culture through literature and films about North Korea. The course aims to investigate the actual lives of North Korean people vis-a-vis the visual images that the regime tries to project to the world versus the international community's biases othering North Korea, given that the country is closed off to the outside world and allows only a parochial view of the people and their everyday lives. Topics such as diaspora, gender and sexuality, as well as the revolutionary aesthetics will be explored in order to deepen our understanding of North Korea and the two Koreas at large.

Globalization and Korean Migration (전공선택)
37560
Sharon Yoon

M3, W2
601 International Education Building

This course uses different disciplinary approaches to analyze the diverse experiences of Korean diasporic communities in the United States, South America, Russia, and Asia. We will analyze historical accounts, cultural theory, ethnographies, sociological papers, policy reports, and films to critically examine process of ethnic boundary construction, host societal adaptation, aging and health, religious networks, socioeconomic mobility, and return migration from a comparative perspective. The first part of the course is devoted to building the analytical tools to engage in theoretical debates in the field. The remainder of the course will follow the trajectory of Korean migration to countries around the world across key moments in history including Japanese colonization (1910-1945) the post war era in the 1960s, and globalization (segyehwa) since the late 1990s.

Introduction to Premodern Korean Literature (전공선택)
37559
Inhye Han

M4, Th5
601 International Education Building

Introduction to Premodern Korean Literature is a survey course examining various forms and themes of Korean literature from the Silla to the late Choson period. Premodern writers and intellectuals reckoned that literary, philosophical, and historical knowledges and writings are invariably intertwined and inseparable, a stance that contradicts the modern idea of independent discipline. This course focuses on reading exemplary texts, while analyzing the intersection of genre, theme, philosophy (or religion) that constitute each literary work. First, literary genres including hyangga, sijo, kasa, p'ansori, folk drama, poetry, fiction, and literary criticism. Second, themes for literature that we read range from love, suffering, and women, to family, monarch, and enlightenment. Finally, philosophy and religion underlying premodern literature include (Neo-) Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, shamanism, geomancy, and indigenous beliefs. By comparing and contrasting literature and philosophy/religion, we investigate how literature created an otherwise unattainable discursive space in premodern Korea. 

Korean Heritage (교양, General Education course)
11221
Sang-ho Ro

T5, F6
108 Hakkwan

South Korea, like many other countries in the world, has rich heritages from the past. When we study Korean heritage in interdisciplinary academic methods of history and anthropology, it is possible to overcome a simple dichotomy of Westernization and Korean nativism. In this course, students will examine how Korean heritages formed their basic shapes in the early modern era and can develop their cross-cultural ability to better understand Korea from global and East Asian perspectives. The course will place the main focus on intellectual and cultural transformations in high and low society of traditional Korea, as well as on controversial issues of gender hierarchy, slavery, and food culture. Our class include various formats such as lectures, individual fieldworks and music and dance performances. Korean language skill is not required.

Courses offered by affiliated departments

Modern History of Korea (Department of History)
35714
양지하

Comparative Study in Korean & Asian History (Department of History)
35715
양지하

Politics in Korea & East Asia (Department of Politics and Diplomacy)
35725
정지현

International History of East Asia (Department of Politics and Diplomacy)
35726
윤지환

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