HKOB0001FU Introduction to Korean Studies, modern

Introduction to Korean Studies, modern: History, Society and culture after the opening of Korea to the Present.

This course follows on from the course ‘Introduction to Koreanstudies, pre-modern: languagehistory, culture and society up to the opening of Korea’ and provides an introduction to modern Korean history, society and culture following the opening of Korea, through the Colonial period and to modern times. The main focus of the course is on history in the post 1945 period. The course is divided into two blocks, the first block  - approximately half the course, focuses on history covering the following topics: traditional Korea, the loss of sovereignty, the different phases of Japanese Colonial rule, the liberation and division of Korea, the Korean War, post-war economic and political development in North and South Korea, the Korean peninsula in the 2000s. The second part of the course deals with individual social, political and cultural phenomena in Korea; including: education, women in North and South Korea, demographic changes in Korea, sports and cultural developments in South Korea, political participation in South Korea. By the end of this course the Student will be able to demonstrate basic knowledge of the most important political, economic, social and cultural developments of twentieth-century Korean history; and explain their historic context. Students will be expected to consider the different debates that have occurred over controversial aspects of modern Korean history and society, read important texts about modern Korean history and society, make informal presentations important historical issues, based on readings, think critically about important historical and social issues, write one referenced and evidenced discursive essay.