New Course - Rise of Modern Korea

Visiting Guest Professor, Prof. Boduerae Kwon, will be offering a new and important course in the Spring quarter.

 

Korean 180C

Spring Quarter

The Rise of Modern Korea: A Cultural History

Instructor: Visiting Scholar Boduerae Kwon

Tuesday/Thursday 2-3:15 pm

ROYCE 164

 

The aim of this course is to understand the rise of modern Korea by examining its cultural history from 1894 to 1910.  The period between these years was one of dynamic activity in political, social, economic and cultural spheres of life. The unexpected defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese War opened up a space once occupied by Chinese authority and it is the emergence of modern Korea within this space that we will map during this course.

In addition to social and political changes which may be more readily apparent, Koreans experienced, under the sign of modernity, profound transformations in every sphere of life.  After providing an overview of the political history of the period and nationalist discourses that were dominant during this time, the course will move on to key topics  in cultural history, such as changing conceptions of the body, trends in fashion, attitudes toward love and marriage, and the question of subjectivity.  We will look at a wide variety of texts including memorials, newspaper articles, and literary works, in addition to visual media such as maps, advertisements, photographs and illustrations.

About the Instructor: Boduerae Kwon is a visiting scholar from Seoul, Korea.  A specialist in Korean cultural history and modern literature, she is the author of Origins of Modern Korean Fiction (2000) and The Age of Romance (2003).

 

For more info please contact:
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
310-206-8235

Published: Tuesday, March 14, 2006

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