KOR/CMPL 232: Imagining the City in Modern Korea: Text, Image, Space

This course introduces students to the modern history and culture of Korea through the lens of the city and its transformations. Beginning in the late Chosŏn period and concluding with the contemporary era, we will explore the changing shape of urban space on the Korean peninsula as well as the central role that visions of the city and of city life have played in the development of modern Korean literature, television, and film. In the process, we will consider a range of questions including the following: How have changing forms of urban life and culture grown out of – and contested – broader transformations in Korea’s modern history? How have the growth of urban spaces facilitated the re-imagination of modern Korean life and identity across different historical periods? By addressing these questions and making use of new technologies like digital mapping, this course will highlight the dynamism of modern Korean history and the diversities of experience, identity, and imagination that have emerged in tandem with it. New for Spring 2021, this course will be taught as a Research-Related Skills Course (RRS) with the support of the Office of Undergraduate Research. There are no prerequisites for this course and all readings will be in English. LA, BN.