SemesterSpring Semester, 2020
DepartmentFreshman Class of Department of Korean Language and Culture
Course NameControversial Issues in Korean Society
InstructorCHEN KUAN-CHAO
Credit2.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule

** I reserve the right to make changes in the class schedule as needed and as seem appropriate for the development of the class objectives, but I will not add major papers or projects.



Week 1 (2/27) Introduction and Course Overview



What is culture and society? How can we understand it? What key terms and phrases come to mind when you think of Korea and why?



[Bring one-paragraph reflection with you to class.]



 



Week 2 (3/05) South Korean Nationalism



Gi Wook Shin, “Introduction: Explaining the Roots and Politics of Korean Nationalism,” in Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy, (Stanford, Stanford UP, 2006), 1-20.



 



Week 3 (3/12) Transnational Adoption





Eleana Kim, Human Capital: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Neoliberal Logic of Return,” Journal of Korean Studies 17:2 (2012), 299-327.



 



Week 4 (3/19) “Comfort Women” Memories and Critiques



Sala, Ilaria Maria. “Why Is the Plight of ‘Comfort Women’ Still So Controversial?” The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2017. Op-ed.



Recommended: Hyunah Yang, “Re-membering the Korean Military Comfort Women: Nationalism, Sexuality, and Silencing,” in Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism, ed. Elaine H. Kim and Chungmoo Choi (New York: Routledge, 1998), 123-140.



 



Week 5 (3/26) Korean Families in Transition



John Finch and Seung-kyung Kim, “The Korean Family in Transition” in Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society, 134-148.



 



Week 6 (4/02) National Holiday



No Class



 



Week 7 (4/09) Inequality and Social Change



Hagen Koo, “The Muddled Middle Class in Globalized South Korea,” in Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society (New York: Routledge, 2017), 107-118.



 



Week 8 (4/16) Gender and Sexuality



Laurel Kendall, “Introduction,” in Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, Class and Consumption in the Republic of Korea, ed. Laurel Kendall (Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2002), 1-24.



 



Week 9 (4/23) South Korean Education



So Jin Park, “Educational Manager Mothers as Neoliberal Maternal Subjects,” New Millennium South Korea: Neoliberal Capitalism and Transnational Movements, ed., Jesook Song (New York: Routledge, 2010), 101-114.



 



Week 10 (4/30) In-class Midterm Exam or Essay (TBA)



 



Week 11 (5/07) Youth and Unemployment



Haejoang Cho and Jeffrey Stark, “South Korean Youth Across Three Decades,” in Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society, 119-133.



 




Week 12 (5/14) Urbanization and Gentrification



Seon Young Lee, “Cities for Profit: Profit-driven Gentrification in Seoul, South Korea,” Urban Studies (2017), 1-15.



 



Week 13 (5/21) Multiculturalism in Contemporary South Korea



Jin-Kyung Lee, Immigrant Subempire, Migrant Labor Activism, and Multiculturalism in Contemporary South Korea,” in Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society, 149-161.



 



Week 14 (5/29) Beauty, Desire and Aesthetics



Zara Stone, “The K-Pop Plastic Surgery Obsession,” The Atlantic, May 24, 2013.



https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/the-k-pop-plastic-surgery-obsession/276215/



 



Week 15 (6/04) Technology and Video Gaming



Dal Yong Jin, “Age of New Media Empires: A Critical Interpretations of the Korean Online Game Industry,” Games and Culture 3:1 (Jan 2008), 38-58.



 



Week 16 (6/11) K-Pop



Michael Fuhr, “K-Pop Music and Transnationalism,” in Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society, 283-296.



 



Week 17 (6/18) In-class Final Exam or Essay (TBA)


Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant

Teaching Assistant: ???; email: 107557006@nccu.edu.tw


Requirement/Grading

Course Grading



Attendance and Class Participation 15%;



Online Forum/Email Posts 10%;



Quizzes 15%;



Midterm Exam 25%;



Final Exam 35%



Course Requirements



Required Reading



Students are expected to come to class having already done the reading listed on the syllabus for that class date. This is the minimum required of you to be in the class. There are no pre- requisites.



 



Attendance and Class Participation (15%)



Attendance is mandatory. You are not permitted to miss class except in cases of illness or family emergency. Please inform your instructor or your TA in advance by e-mail. Unexcused absences will count against your class participation grade. Your class participation grade will be based on regular attendance, preparation, and active and thoughtful participation in class discussions, including active listening. At the fourth missed class, I will assume you are no longer in attendance.



 



Online Forum/ E-mail Posts (10%)



Forum is an asynchronous learning network, or, in other words, a place on the Web where you can post your thoughts/responses/reactions to me and to your classmates. You will be required to write 1-2 posts of approximately 150 to 250 word count, during the length of the course. The posts are to be "posted" by 12 noon on the Wednesday before the Thursday class. Posts are not papers; they are, however, well-organized and well thought-out responses to the readings and topic assigned for that particular week. Your post should make the attempt to integrate the weekly readings and also to place the weeks reading within the context of previous course readings and discussions. As part of your Forum assignment, you will also be required to read the posts of your classmates, which is why the deadline is earlier than our class on Wednesday afternoon, so you will have time to read peersresponses. By reading (and writing) the posts we will begin the class the next day with a number of ideas/responses on the table, so to speak. I expect to begin each class by responding to the posts as a group and suggesting directions and problems for that particular day.



Some general and basic tips:



Reading responses may offer a critical response of the text assigned for the week. Typically, this means you should identify the main theoretical and/or empirical research question orienting the work, provide a brief description of the main argument, and offer an assessment of the text, noting both its strengths and possible limitations. Strong responses will do more than summarize and evaluate a specific reading, but will critically engage the text and its theoretical and methodological questions. You should also try to think about how the week’s readings relate to other texts we’ve read in the course. Do the assigned texts extend or contradict earlier findings? Do they take the literature in a new theoretical or methodological direction?



 



Quizzes (15%)                                  



Approximately 8-10 quizzes will be administered during the semester at random times during class meetings.  Each quiz will consist of three to five short-answer, objective questions on the reading materials for the particular day of class. Approximately 8-10 quizzes will be administered during the semester at random times during class meetings.  Each quiz will consist of three to five short-answer, objective and critical thinking questions on the reading materials for the particular day of class.  If you miss a quiz due to excused absence or documented illness, please contact your TA or Professor Chin Kwan Cho. With permission, a make-up quiz may consist of one-page write up (reflexive or critical response on the week’s reading materials).



 



Midterm Exam and Final Exam (25% and 35%)



Students will be responsible for an in-class exam or an essay.



**The format of the exam and details will be discussed prior to the exam.**



 



Course Policy



Late Assignment Policy



No extensions will be granted, except in cases of serious illness or emergency, for which documentation is required.



 



Collaboration Policy



You are expected to collaborate with others in this class. In terms of any graded assignments, you may discuss and work together with others. However, the expectation is that the final submitted work represents your own original writing, and yours alone.



 



Laptop / Electronic Device Policy



Laptops, tablets and electronic reading devices are permitted in class for the sole purpose of consulting class materials or taking lecture notes. Use of e-mail, internet, texting, etc. and any work related to other classes are not permitted. Use of cell phones is not permitted without permission of instructor or TA. For privacy purposes, video and audio taping is not permitted.



 



Policy on Academic Integrity



Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are serious offenses and will be dealt with according to the university policy and procedures. All students are expected to be familiar with your university policies and guidelines on academic integrity as outlined in the Handbook on Academic Integrity. Please review all the guidelines in the handbook, including the information on responsible paraphrasing.



 



Definition of Grades



A. Exceptionally good performance, demonstrating a superior understanding of the subject matter and skillful use of concepts and / or materials.



B. Good performance, demonstrating capacity to use the appropriate concepts, a good understanding of the subject matter, and an ability to handle the problems and materials encountered in the subject.



C. Adequate performance, demonstrating an adequate understanding of the subject matter, an ability to handle relatively simple problems, and adequate preparation for moving on to more advanced work in the field.



D. Minimally acceptable performance, demonstrating at least partial familiarity with the subject matter and some capacity to deal with relatively simple problems, but also containing deficiencies serious enough to make it inadvisable to proceed further in the field without additional work.



Textbook & Reference

All Readings will be available online as PDF files


Urls about Course
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