Korean Studies courses for 2007

The ANU is offering a wide range of courses in 2007 for Korean Studies. Korean language classes will be offered through the China and Korea Centre, located in the Faculty of Asian Studies, for students who have no previous language experience through to classes for background speakers. In addition to language classes, students will also have the opportunity to study facets of Korean history, music, film, gender issues and religion.

A full description of all ANU courses on offer in 2007 can be found through the Study@ANU site and a list of Korea related courses, including all of their details (syllabi, requirements, course codes, etc.), can be found here. Below is a synopsis of all Korea related classes on offer:

Quick links: gender and history || music, film and society || religion || language ||

Gender and history

Gender and Korean History (ASIA 2006)

Semester 1, 2007 Professor Ken Wells

This course is a cultural history course in which the organisation and activities of the people on the Korean peninsula are approached from the point of view of various beliefs and practices concerning gender. The Korean experience is perhaps ideal for a study of this kind, since from traditional times its society had been organised according to a cosmic, explicit doctrine of gender. The course begins with consideration of the chief issues that have been raised in writings on gender history, including whether there is a virtually universal pattern of female subordination in traditional societies and beyond, distinctions between biology, politics and culture, prescriptions of sexuality, the relation between gender and class, and the relations of gender to colonialism and nationalism. This is followed by consideration of traditional gender relations in Korea on the basis of a variety of materials, including literature, and the alleged transformation of gender relations between the Koryo and Chosen dynasties. The main focus of the course, however, will be placed on the 20th century, where we will deal specifically with the question of gender in relation to invasion, colonial rule, nationalism movements and modernisation.

Music, film and society

Music and Society in 20th century Korea (ASIA 2055)

Semester 1, 2007 Dr Roald Maliangkay

The sounds, lyrics and performing styles have reflected the many economic and socio-political changes in society. It is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students of music, Asian studies majors, and those specifically interested in Korean society and history. Through a multi-disciplinary, anthropological approach to history they are encouraged to explore the boundaries of their discipline and learn much about the intricacies of Korean history in the process. The historiography of Korean music and society has for long been distorted because of strong nationalist tendencies and government censorship. For some time after liberation historians rejected, for example, the notion of any true market opportunities for Korean entrepreneurs during the colonial period . Instead, they overly emphasised the undeniable impact of Japanese cultural policy on the performance and survival of Korean music traditions. In the process they ignored, however, the possibility that the Koreans constituted a market force in their own right. In a chronological fashion, lectures will focus on the many different forces that have marked the development of different types of Korean music. Special attention will be paid to the role of nationalism and government propaganda, the enthusiasm over American culture in the 1950s and early sixties, and the commercialisation of folk music since the 1960s

Korean and Japanese Cinema: Shaping Identities through the Lens (ASIA 2056)

Semester 2, 2007 Dr Carol Hayes, Dr Roald Maliangkay

This course aims to train the eyes of the participants into seeing the intricacies of film making and viewing. Students will be shown the various ways to look at film, and use it to learn about Korean and Japanese societies both through the eyes of directors, and those of their audiences. We will use the following themes to explore a number of issues: the popularity of ghost stories, buddy movies, the importance of Confucianism and Shintoism, gender relations, political issues, national and personal identity, alienation and the modern versus tradition.

Theme 1: General Introduction to Film Studies; Theoretical Framework; Historical Overview of Japanese and Korean Cinema
Theme 2: Sound
Theme 3: Cinematography
Theme 4: Scenario
Theme 5: War and Colonialism
Theme 6: Beautifying Rural Life
Theme 7: Social Critique
Theme 8: Anime and Crossing Boundaries

Religion

New Religions in China, Japan and Korea (ASIA 2059)

Semester 2, 2007 Dr Benjamin Penny

This course is designed as an introduction both to new religions in China, Japan and Korea as well as to the study of new religions, as such. It will address the various categories by which these movements have been analysed as well as the characteristics of some of the approaches to them - ranging from the academic to the religiously committed. The course will be divided into three sets of four weeks, each of which will have a general lecture and seminar on the modern religious world of China (as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong), Japan and Korea, in turn, followed by three case studies. The seminars for each of the weeks which focus on a particular group will directly engage with scriptural or other doctrinal material from each group as well as with critiques from other religious groups, state organs, "anti-cult" activists and academic works.

Language