KOREA SINCE 1860
HIST 386A (951), Summer 2014
Instructor: Avram Agov
agov@mail.ubc.ca
Office hours: 12:00-13:00, Wednesday or by appointment
Buchanan Tower, 1111; Tel: 604-6791624
REQUIRED TEXT
Bruce Cumings. Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New York: Norton, 1997.
ADDITIONAL LITERATURE
Michael Robinson. Korea’s Twentieth-century Odyssey. Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2007.
Carter Eckert, et.al. Korea Old and New: A History, Cambridge MA: Harvard University
Press, 1991.
Carter Eckert, Offspring of Empire: The Koch’ang Kims and the Colonial Origins of
Korean Capitalism, 1976-1945, Seattle: Washington University Press, 1990.
Don Oberdorfer, The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, New York: Perseus Books,
2001.
Dae Sook Suh. Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1988.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course will examine transformation of Korea from a Confucian state into an
industrial nation; the rise of nationalism and modern ideologies in Korea; cultural, social
and economic changes Korea has undergone as it has entered the modern world. The
focus of study will be continuity and change of Korean society and people.
Chronologically the course will include late Choson dynasty Korea, colonization,
division and war, and the development of two Korean states.
COURSE EVALUATION
Attendance and Participation: 25%
Term paper: 35%
Final Exam: 40%
DISCUSSION GROUP
The Class will have a discussion groups, which will meet on Friday.
Discussion topics:
1. Traditional Korean society
2. Colonialism and modernity
3. Division and the two models of development on the Korean peninsula
4. The two Koreas in global context, unification problem
TERM PAPER
The students will write an essay (around 8 double-spaced pages) on a chosen topic
through consultations with the instructor. In addition to secondary literature, students are
encouraged to use primary sources such as media reflecting events to support their
arguments.
FINAL EXAM
The final exam will include ID questions and writing an assay.
THEMES AND CHRONOLOGY
The course will be divided into three major periods of modern Korean history.
Part I: Late Choson period and colonization, 1860-1910
Late Choson Korea; reforms of traditional order; opening of Korea
The Sino-Japanese War; reforms and rise of nationalism
After the Russo-Japanese War – Protectorate and annexation
Part II: Colonial Period, 1910-1945
Early colonial period, March First Movement
Korea in the Japanese colonial empire
Early industrialization and wartime mobilization
Part III: The Two Koreas, 1945-present
Liberation, division and war
Reconstruction and militarization: North and South Korea in the 1950s and the 1960s
The divergence in the 1970s and the 1980s
Korean peninsula in the wake of the Cold War
United or Divided?