Gender in Korean History

This course introduces students to the gendered nature of Korean cultural history. Using primary sources from the archives, as well as short stories, documentary film and classic cinema, we will explore such topics as the fall of the Choson Dynasty through the eyes of kisaeng (courtesans), the emergence of New Women and Marxist Girls under Japanese colonial rule, collaboration with wartime Japan as a crisis of Korea’s male intellectual elite, North Korea’s early feminist constitution, lesbian subcultures of South Korea’s military dictatorship period, US military camptowns as a site of love, exploitation and migration, and the gender politics of the two Koreas today. Covering important flashpoints in modern Korean history, this course will introduce students to classic literature and film from the Koreas as we closely read the gender politics of historical change.