Undergraduate

This course presumes that to describe what is normal in human culture, premodern and modern, we can observe how one culture’s monsters and marvels define the abnormal. The history of monsters and marvels in China, Japan, and Korea is explored on several levels: indigenous constructions of monsters and marvels in each culture; cross-influences among the three cultures; the place of monsters and marvels in everyday life; their religious and political significance; and their influence in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean aesthetic products—literature, visual and plastic arts, and performance. The focus is premodern with an eye to modern revivals in East Asia and globally.

This course is an introduction to the prose literature of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) of Early Modern Korea with a focus on novels and short stories, their readers, and their detractors. We will examine major works of early modern Korean literature in translation, investigate elite and popular literary culture, and explore the status of novels according to contemporary critics. The course highlights questions of cosmopolitan and vernacular language, translation, script, the materiality of texts, readership and reading practices, gender, class, canonization, cross-cultural influence with China and Japan, and the legacies of Chosŏn literature in contemporary North and South Korea.

This is the second part of the East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine series. In this series, we will read major works on the history of STM in East Asia and constantly are in conversation with studies of this history in the globe.

This course discusses the history of major energy sources in East Asia with a focus on coal, hydropower, and nuclear power plant. We pay close attention to both the technological side of the history of energy and how different energy sources interact with the social and political environment in Japan, China, and Koreas.

This course is the first half of the East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine series. The second part of the course will be offered in the spring quarter by Professor Jacob Eyferth. In this series, we will read major works on the history of STM in East Asia and constantly are in conversation with studies of this history in the globe.

This course is on the post-imperial and postcolonial history in East Asia. After Japan declared defeat on August 15th, 1945, the empire has officially ended. Yet, the aftermath and afterlife of Japan’s empire still deeply influenced the social and political environment in this region. How did the post-imperial connections shape Japan and its Asian neighbors? How did different actors react to this sudden change of political environment? This course pays close attention to the imperial and post-imperial continuity and changes.

Although food is an essential part of human existence, it has only recently become the object of historical analysis, and historical research has drawn attention to its significance in relation to issues of health, gender, class, technology, and culture.  This course explores the history of food in Japan in the period from c. 1600 to the postwar era.  Topics to be examined include changing practices of consumption and production, medical discourse and conceptions of a proper diet, the impact of introduction of new foods and new methods of preparation, the rise of nutritional science, the development of a “national cuisine,” and the impact of war and defeat upon food culture.

This course explores modern Korean history through the lens of gender as a critical analytical tool. In studying social, historical, and cultural changes shaping gender relations, we will extend our understanding of gender dynamics and its relationship to the family, the state, civil society, class, and the economy. By reading and discussing significant scholarly works, this course will help students understand Korean women’s history in both local and global contexts. The course will be divided into two parts. The first section will address women’s issues and identities, such as women as mothers, wives, and citizens in the framework of family and social institutions, by looking at postcolonialism, patriarchy, and nationalism. Next, the latter half will examine various aspects of women and the economy, including labor, consumption, market economy, governmentality, and class and status. 

Korea has a rich and dynamic history in terms of historical coherence and distinctiveness but is often restricted to just a one-note idea, such as North Korea’s nuclear threats or BTS. This course explores modern Korean history from Japanese colonial rule to the contemporary era, covering major historical events such as Korean War, the Kwangju democratization movement, and two Korea’s reunification efforts, as well as contemporary sociocultural dimensions such as the industrialization of plastic surgery, drinking culture, classified expansion of Korean popular culture as written and called with Capital K (K-pop, K-film, K-drama, etc.), and mukbang (food casting). Weekly topics address major socioeconomic, political, and cultural issues such as postcolonialism, capitalism, developmentalism, neoliberalism, governmentality, gender, sexuality, and family. Students will gain a fuller understanding of Korea’s place in the world through engaging with Korean cultural heritage and historical transformations. They will also learn how to critique contemporary media representations of Korea and enable critical reading of texts and films to build their own perspectives.

This course explores Korea's modern history through a variety of media, such as short stories, comics, magazines, films, and webtoons. Covering events ranging from colonization by Japan, mobilization during the second world war, the Korean War, to dictatorships, development, democratization, and the tensions on the peninsula today, our focus will be on examining selected media produced from the period under discussion paired with retrospective portrayals. By mixing past and present media together, the course tackles both historical events and historical memory, examining how history is created and remembered through different media.