Gender and Sexuality in Korean Literature and Film
(2 credits, 2014–15)
Instructor: Dr. Jooyeon Rhee Class Hours: (Tu) 14:30-16:00
Tuesdays, 10:30–12:00
Undergraduate
3 rd
year
Office: #5618, Humanities
Bldg. (block 6)
Office Hrs: (Tu) 12:30-14:00 or by appointment Lecture and Seminar
Email: jooyeon.rhee@mail.huji.ac.il
Phone no.:
02-588-0132
Course Description
This course examines the formation of gender roles and relations in modern Korea
(including North Korea) at the intersections of sexuality, family, class, and age, using a close reading of some of the representative literary and cinematic works that have been produced since the early twentieth century in Korea. It provides the social, political, and economic history of modern Korea in which the construction and dissemination of hegemonic notions of masculinity and femininity were produced; and examines how these notions are explored critically and artistically in literature and cinema. Readings include both primary and secondary sources: historical and theoretical literature, short stories, novellas, one novel, and a few films. Topics in this course include the ideological construction of gender and sexuality, the relationship between gender and the Confucian tradition, effects of global capitalism on family life, Korean feminism, child-rearing, and marriage practices and patterns.
This is a seminar course, thus you will have to prepare ONE seminar presentation during the course. You are required to explore a specific theme or topic from the reading(s) of your choice and present your materials in an organized and thoughtful way. It is extremely important that you participate actively in the discussion and debates.
Goals
1.
Comprehending the social, political, and cultural history of Korea from the perspective of gender.
2.
Becoming familiar with recent scholarship on gender in Korean studies
3.
Becoming familiar with some of the most representative literary and cinematic works that deal with gender in Korea
4.
Improving analytical skills
5.
Improving writing skills

ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAM
1. Written Assignment Value: 20%
You will have to submit ONE short writing assignment on a novel, Please Look After
Mom (deadline will be determined later). The length of the assignment is 3-4 pages
(double-spaced). Detailed instructions will be given about one month before the submission due date.
* Please submit the assignment to me via email on the due date
2. Final Exam Value: 60%
You are to write a final exam on the scheduled exam day. You will be tested on what you’ve learned during the course.
* Please be informed that questions are selected from all the materials covered in classes
(both readings and lectures). Make sure that you read lecture notes and make additional notes during each class if necessary.
Format of the exam
10 multiple choices questions (20%)
10 short answer questions (4-5 sentences, 50%)
3 long answer questions (9-10 sentences, two paragraphs, 30%)
3.
Attendance Value: 10%
Please inform me in advance and explain the reason for your absence(s) so that I can accommodate your needs.
* If you miss the class more than three times without providing me with legitimate reasons/documents, you will fail this course automatically
4. Presentation Value: 10%
You are to lead ONE short seminar (approx. 10-15 minutes) on readings/films. A detailed instruction will be given in the first few weeks of the course. It is crucial that you attend every class and participate in class discussion as much as possible to share your thoughts with classmates.
SPECIAL NOTES
* Please review the university’s policies on plagiarism to be sure you understand them.
* You will be penalized for late submissions of your written assignments: 5% per day.
Marking Scheme

Written Assignment
Final exam
Attendance/participation
Presentation
Total
20%
60%
10%
10%
100%
COURSE SCHEDULE
Wk 1 Introduction of the Course and Women in Premodern Korea Oct. 28
Readings Theodore Jun Yoo, Chapter 1, The Politics of Gender in Colonial Korea ,
Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2008, 15-33.
Wk 2 Gender and Family Relations in Premodern Korea
Readings Theodore Jun Yoo, Chapter 1,
Nov. 4
The Politics of Gender in Colonial Korea
Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2008, 34-57
,
The Tale of Ch’unhyang (Ch’unhayngjŏn)
Wk 3 Sexuality in Chosŏn
Readings
Nov. 11
Carter J. Eckert, “Male Concubinage: Notes on Late Chosŏn
Homosexuality by an American Naval Attache,” in
Epistolary , edited by
JaHyun Kim Haboush. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2009, 235-246.
Sook-Ja Hahn, “Homosexuality in Ancient and Modern Korea,” Culture,
Health & Sexuality , vol. 8, no. 1 (2006): 59-65
Film King and the Clown (dr. Yi Junik)
* Please watch this film at home.
Wk 4 Religions and Gender Relations
Readings Hyaeweol Choi, Chapter 2,
Nov. 18
Gender and Mission Encounters in Korea ,
CA: University of California Press, 2009, 21-44.
Kim Tongni, “The shaman Painting,” in Modern Korean Fiction , 35-58
Film Sopyonje (dir. Im Kwontaek) Part I
* We will watch this film in class
Wk 5 The Politics of Han in Sopyonje
Film Sopyonje (dir. Im Kwontaek) Part II
Nov. 25
* I won’t be there in the class but my assistant will check the attendance
** It is very important that you finish watching this film to prepare for your final exam

Wk 6 The Politics of Han in Sopyonje
Readings
Dec. 2
Chungmoo Choi, “The Politics of Gender, Aestheticism, and Cultural
Nationalism in Sopyonje and The Genealogy
,” in
Im Kwon-Taek , Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 2002, 107-133.
Wk 7 Masculinity in Crisis in Colonial Korea
Readings
Dec. 9
Ch’ae Mansik, “My Innocent Uncle,” in
Modern Korean Fiction , 97-111
Yi Sang, “Wings,” in
Modern Korean Fiction , 65-84
(optional). John Frankle, “Distance as Anti-Nostalgia: Memory, Identity, and Rural Korea in Yi Sang’s Ennui,” Journal of Korean Studies , vol. 17, no. 1 (2012): 39-68.
Wk 7 The Korean New Woman
Readings
Dec. 9
Jooyeon Rhee, “No Country for the New Woman,”
Acta Koreana , volume
19 no. 1 (2014): 399-427.
Judith Butler, From Bodies that Matter (1993), pp. 239-40/241-2
Film
Na Hyesŏk, “Kyŏngui,” in Questioning Minds , translated by Younghee
Kim, Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2010, 27-54
Wk 8 The Comfort Women Issue Dec.16
Readings
Hyunah Yang. “Finding the “Map of Memory”: Testimony of the
Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Survivors. Positions: East Asia Cultures
Critique , 16:1. (Spring 2008): 79-107.
Address Unknown (dir. Kim Kiduk, 2001), Part I
Wk 9 Domestic Prostitutions in South Korea
Readings Jin Kyung Lee, from
Dec.23
Service Economies: Militarism, Sex Work and
Migrant Labor in South Korea . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 2010, 79-91/125-134
Film Address Unknown (dir. Kim Kiduk, 2001), Part II
Wk 10 Military Prostitutions in South Korea
Readings
Dec. 30
Kang Sŏkkyŏng, “Days and Dreams,” Words of Farewell , translated by
Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, NY: The Seal Press, 1993, 1-27
* Please start reading Shin Kyungsook’s Please Look After Mom
Wk 11 “Revolutionary Women” in North Korea Jan. 6

Readings
Suzy Kim, “Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the North Korean
Revolution, 1945-1950,” Comparative Studies in Society and History , volume 52, no. 4 (2010): 742-767
Hyejin Kim, an excerpt from Jia
Wk 12 Changing Family Relations and Gender Expectations
Readings
Jan. 13
Gyesook Yoo, “Changing Views on Family Diversity in Urban Korea,”
Journal of Comparative Family Studies , vol. 37, no. 1 (2006): 59-74
Shin Kyungsook, Please Look After Mom , translated by Jiyoung Kim.
Canada: Vintage, 2011
Wk 13 Who Will Look After Mom?
Readings Shin Kyungsook, Please Look After Mom
Canada: Vintage, 2011
Jan. 20
, translated by Jiyoung Kim.
Wk 14 Wrapping up the course/info-session on the Final Exam
Readings Shin Kyungsook, Please Look After Mom
Canada: Vintage, 2011
Jan. 27
, translated by Jiyoung Kim.