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Course Descriptions for ISS 2007
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 Introduction to Korean Studies
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| IS 100 Introduction to Korean Studies (I) [Werner Sasse &
additional faculty]
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This course is designed as an overview of the field and as an introduction to the various subject areas which constitute the field of Korean Studies. An introduction to cultural norms, the arts and architecture, the economy, history, and political development will be covered, as well as an overview of current trends in Korean Studies.
This course will be of interest to both overseas and domestic Korean students who have not yet been exposed to an academic, university-level approach to Korean Studies. The lead faculty member will provide an introduction to the various fields. These lectures will be supplemented by guest lectures provided by other ISS faculty, as well as guest speakers, as appropriate. On some occasions, students enrolled in IS 100 will join the activities or lectures being offered in other ISS classes. Lectures and readings will be supplemented with out-of-class visits and hands-on experiences. |
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| Korean History and Politics |
| IS101 Korean History: Korea in East Asia [James Lewis] |
Korea by itself is impossible to understand, so the approach is comparative and contextual and places Korea within a greater ¡®East Asian civilization¡¯. China supplied models of governance and economy, political and moral philosophies, was a conduit for world religions, and occasionally presented military threats or military aid to Korea and Japan. The people on the peninsula and in the islands responded to these influences and adapted themselves according to local circumstances and unique internal dynamics, creating the countries and cultures we know as ¡®Korea¡¯ and ¡®Japan¡¯. Over the past century, capitalism, communism, Japanese aggression, and Korean division have added new elements to give us the contemporary scene. The Korean peninsula has long been the cockpit of ¡®East Asia¡¯. If we take a view on the region from the Korean perspective, we can see how it worked in the past and isolate the threads of current and future cooperation as well as conflict. Lectures begin with prehistory and come up to the late 20th century, with an emphasis on the period from 1876 to the present. |
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Korean Arts and Literature |
IS 201 Korean Dance[Judy Van Zile] |
| The course introduces students to what constitutes Korean dance and the ways in which it is inextricably embedded with Korean culture. Students should gain an appreciation of the many different kinds of dance in Korea as well as many facets of Korean history and society.
Korea¡¯s multifaceted dance world will be explored by focusing on such topics as main characteristics of traditional forms, changes that have occurred over time, and things that contribute to both perpetuation and change. The course will take advantage of the fact that it occurs in Korea; it will be comprised of lecture presentations, extensive videotape viewing, and field trips to a variety of performance venues and dance institutions. Students will be expected to read assigned text materials, participate in class discussions, see several performances, write four short papers based on discussions and performances seen, and give one in-class presentation based on the reports. There will be a final take-home exam. |
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IS 202 Korean Cinema [Nemo Kim and Antoine Coppola] |
This course consists of lectures, discussions, film viewings and a film production practical workshop. The various activities will provide students with an introduction to the history of Korean cinema and will also familiarize them with contemporary Korean cinema within a global context. An introduction to the recent developments in television drama productions will also be provided. In conjunction with viewing a number of classic as well as contemporary films, Professor Kim will encourage students to examine Korean social issues such as images of women in Korean cinema, homosexuality, and juvenile delinquency through lectures, class discussions and individual presentations.
Professor Coppola will lecture one morning a week and direct the production practicum teams one evening a week. The lectures will provide students with an introduction to the history of cinema and theories of cinematographic aesthetics. Comparisons drawn with cinematic traditions and current developments in Europe and other Asian countries will allow students to situate Korean cinema in a comparative perspective. The lectures will be supplemented by outside weekend encounters with contemporary Korean film directors and/or visits to film sets.
A film production practicum, under the direction of Professor Coppola, will be offered to students as one of the components of this class. Up to 20 people may be accommodated in the production practicum. [The practicum is required of all students enrolled in IS 202; it will be open to other enrolled ISS students on a space-available basis.]
Note that IS 202 Korean Cinema will follow a special schedule, with most class sessions being held in the evening to allow viewing and discussion of full-length films. The schedule will run Monday-Thursday evenings from 5:30-8:00 pm and on Thursday morning, as follows:
Monday evening: Production Practicum (Coppola)
Tues., Wed, and Thurs. evenings: Viewing of full-length filmsLectures & Discussion(Kim)
Thurs. morning (10:50-12:30 am): Lecture session (Coppola) |
| IS 203 Korean Music and Performing Arts [Heather Willoughby and Hee-sun Kim] |
This course explores Korean music in all its forms: from court music to folk music, form ritual to entertainment genres, from government-sponsored to student-led folk revivals, and the pop music that has recently become popular throughout East Asia and beyond. The course will take a cross cultural perspective utilizing historical, musicological and anthropological approaches. Lectures will include audio and audio-visual materials and demonstrations of instruments and vocal techniques wherever possible. Students will be encouraged to attend concerts in a wide variety of venues, and to join practical vocal and instrumental workshops
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IS 205 Korean Poetry and Culture [Werner Sasse] |
This course, through an examination of aesthetic values transmitted through poetry, will provide students with insights into Korean culture as portrayed in Korean poetry. Since
poetry is a medium which can portray human emotion in a concise form, it can be an efficient instrument by which to obtain an understanding of the core of a specific culture. This course is designed for those who wish to investigate Korean culture in depth through studying traditional and modern Korean poetry. While the course is taught in English, prior knowledge of the Korean language would be helpful. |
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Economics and Business |
IS 301 Korean Economy [Norman Thorpe]
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When the Korean War ended in 1953, South Korea¡¯s economy was in shambles, and the country depended on foreign assistance to survive. Today, barely 50 years later, Korea has become the world¡¯s 10th largest economy, and a model for other countries¡¯ economic development. This course will explore some of the factors that contributed to Korea¡¯s amazing economic growth. Students will also study some key industries that fuel the economy today, and learn about the strategies some Korean companies have used to become global leaders.
Although the focus would be on the Korean economy of today, it would necessarily include some of the history of Korean economic development during the Park years, and also the 1997 collapse. Those things are critical for understanding Korean business today. From that grounding, we will move to considering the chaebols and the key industries as they exist today,
The course will include outside speakers and visits to Korean factories and other sites where students will be able to see the cutting-edge technical level of some Korean manufacturers, and some of the differences between business practices in Korea and elsewhere. Students also will form teams to research a particular industry.
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IS 302 Korean Business and Management [Jihye Park] |
This course examines both the factors contributing to the growth of business in Korea as well as the typical management style of rapidly globalizing Korean business firms. Characteristics of Korean entrepreneurship and their hidden dynamics will be explored. Special lectures by leading business consultants are planned. |
| IS 304 Information Technology in Korea [Byung Lee] |
The information technology revolution is rapidly changing the pattern of modern life. Its impact is far more vast than that of the industrial revolution. Korea is acknowledged as one of the leading IT nations of the world. This course investigates how Korea has been able to occupy such a dominant position in the world¡¯s IT industry and examines the paths along which it will likely develop in the future. Korea¡¯s IT strategy is examined and the competitive power of Korea¡¯s IT industry will be closely analyzed. Visits to IT industries will be offered when possible. |
| IS 402 Cross Cultural Communication [Marilyn Plumlee] |
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This course will examine deeply-rooted cultural norms and their impact on communicative practices. Domains of communication that we will examine include marketing and advertising, international politics, the media, international business settings, as well as interpersonal communication. We will draw on theoretical frameworks from pragmatics, politeness theory and social organization in the fields of anthropological linguistics and cultural anthropology and on accommodation theory from social psychology. General principles will be supplemented through case studies which exemplify Korean norms in both intra- and inter-cultural contexts.
Students will engage in weekly fieldwork assignments as participant-observers and will use the frameworks and theories studied in class to synthesize and analyze their observations of Korean communicative norms. Korean communicative practices will be compared and contrasted with those from other cultures and the resulting cross-cultural interpretations and potential for misreadings will be analyzed.
Students completing this course can expect to increase their ability to prevent or resolve cross-cultural conflict by having an analytical framework within which to interpret such phenomena. Because diversity among the members of the class will greatly enrich discussions and the learning experience of all class members, both domestic Korean and international students are strongly encouraged to enroll.
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IS 403 Social Issues in Korea [Michael Hurt] |
Korean society is one of the most interesting and dynamic in the world, and has been said to completely remake itself "every ten years." With the clash of many forces of industrialization, urbanization, and democratization, all taking place within a matrix of breakneck economic development and runaway consumerism, all taking place in the shadows of the thrall of both non-Western and Western colonization, it is no exaggeration to say that there is no other society in the world that has experienced such intensely stressful social turmoil and change. The class will examine such controversial issues as the conflict between classes and generations, gender inequality, Korean notions of "race" and "nation," sex work and the exploitation of the female body, and even contentious notions of history itself, as found in debates over the so-called "comfort women" and the Tokdo/Takeshima island. This lecture series will closely and critically examine the problems and offer the critical thinking skills actually engage with and grapple with complex issues. Active participation in discussions from the students is expected and students are encouraged to attempt to compare Korean society with that of the United States or the other countries with which they are familiar, using the several critical concepts that will be the foundation of the course. |
IS 405 Gender Issues in Korea [Grace Kim] |
This course takes as its point of departure the idea that gender and sex are socially-constructed categories based on perceived biological difference. Specifically, we will examine the ways in which gender/sex meanings, roles, identities, and relations in Korea have been shaped and transformed by political-economic and cultural forces during the pre- and colonial modern historical periods as well as in contemporary Korean society. We will also consider the ways in which gender and sex intersect with and mutually constitute other categories of difference such as race, ethnicity, class, and nation. We will pay particular attention to how men and women experience local and global structures of inequality in the social fields of education, family, migration (both domestic and transnational), work (including sex work), the mass media, and human rights. We will also attend to the various ways in which men and women in Korea have resisted and transgressed gender and sexual oppression by forming oppositional cultures and communities in the struggle for rights and recognition.
After a brief review of the major theoretical developments in feminist and queer studies, we will read foundational works in Korean gender studies by such scholars as Nancy Abelmann, JaHyun Kim Haboush, Cho Haejoang, Laurel Kendall, and Chungmoo Choi. To enhance learning, we will view the feature film Sop¡¯yonje, read short fiction such as Tampe p¡¯iunun yocha (¡°The Woman Who Smokes¡±), and even analyze the construction and resistence of gender roles and identities in manhwa and personal weblogs! A field trip to the Sex Discrimination Department of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea is also in the works. Lively group discussion and active participation by all |
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Korean Language Course Descriptions [Kiho Chin & staff] |
| IS901 Beginning Korean |
This course is designed for those who have no active knowledge of spoken or written Korean. Two sections are offered: |
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IS901A Beginning Korean: Reading and Writing Skills |
This section will focus on developing students' basic reading and writing fluency and on recognizing sound/spelling combinations. Students will learn to read and write simple passages. The focus will be on reading survival skills appropriate for a short-term summer visitor to Korea. |
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IS901B Beginning Korean: Listening and Speaking Skills |
This section will teach basic sentence structures of Korean useful for everyday conversation for someone living in Korea. Through a communicative approach, students will have supervised and extensive practice in the classroom, enabling them to engage in simple conversations in the community while spending the summer in Seoul. |
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IS902 Intermediate Korean |
This course is designed for students who already have an elementary knowledge of the Korean language. Two sections are offered: |
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IS902A Intermediate Korean: Reading and Writing Skills |
| Presuming students have prior background knowledge of the basic structures of Korean and that they can read Korean with fluency, this course will introduce students to more advanced vocabulary and structures through readings in both adapted and unadapted texts |
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IS902B Intermediate Korean: Listening and Speaking Skills
Presuming that students can carry on basic conversations in Korean, this course will emphasize increasing students' conversational fluency and listening comprehension of natural occurring audio materials (films and TV broadcasts). The Listening/Speaking section will emphasize active use of structures and vocabulary learned in IS902, Section A.
IS903 Advanced Korean
This course is designed for advanced level students who wish to perfect their knowledge of both spoken and written Korean. The emphasis will be placed on developing students' language skills for professional level communication.
IS903A Advanced Korean: Reading and Writing Skills
Students will develop both their grammar and vocabulary through readings drawn from various disciplines and genres, selected in collaboration with the instructor. The study and use of Chinese characters will be encouraged and practice in essay writing using appropriate Korean discourse forms will constitute a major component of this course.
IS903B Advanced Korean: Listening and Speaking Skills
This course will emphasize advanced listening comprehension skills in both academic and business contexts. In addition to having ample speaking practice during informal class discussions, students will make several prepared oral presentations and lead discussions on topics related to their interests and/or specialization. |
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