A unique graduate-level history course will be offered in Autumn 2021-- History 7401, “East Asia and the Modern/Contemporary World: 20th Century Korean History” (class number 23480). This is a Korean studies e-school class that will be taught by Dr. Charles Kim of the University of Wisconsin and Dr. Suzy Kim of Rutgers University. The course will be taught online, synchronously via Zoom, on Thursdays from 4:45 – 6:45 p.m. Further details are below, and registration is now open on Buckeyelink. 

Course Description: Designed as a discussion-driven seminar for graduate students, we will examine emerging scholarship and major debates in modern Korean history dealing with topics as varied as historiography, gender and women’s history, colonial modernity, the Korean War, and postwar developments in both North and South Korea. The course includes treatment of Korea beyond its geographic borders to include transnational movements of people, culture, and capital, such as the Korean diaspora and the Korean Wave. Although we will question concepts such as “modern,” modern Korean history generally refers to the “opening” of Korea in the late 19th century to the present. Readings will be drawn from a variety of disciplines and topics depending on recent publications in the field, but a solid grounding in historical methodology will drive analysis and discussion, in order to facilitate the completion of the final research project based on primary sources.

Course Goals

• Critique historical methodology and current debates in modern Korean history.
• Understand key theoretical concepts in historical analysis.
• Complete substantive research project, not only analyzing and synthesizing multiple primary sources, but articulating a persuasive and innovative argument of one’s own.

Assigned Readings
In a typical week, we will read one historical monograph or a combination of journal articles and book chapters that will be similar in total length to a single historical monograph.

Course Requirements
Requirements include: active participation in discussions every week; leading discussion 2-3 times over the course of the semester; weekly response papers; a proposal for your final paper; and a final paper.

Questions
Contact EASC Director Mitch Lerner with any questions.