HIST 398 - The Two Koreas

3 Credit(s)

Despite a shared cultural and historical heritage, the two Koreas have moved in radically different directions since national division in 1945. Who divided Korea? How do we explain North Korea’s extreme totalitarianism and cult of personality? How do we account for South Korea’s economic miracle and its transformation from a military dictatorship to one of Asia’s most stable democracies? How can we understand the strong nationalist sentiment in both Koreas? Moreover, how do we appreciate the experiences of ordinary Koreans who have been caught in dramatic, tumultuous, and frequently devastating political, economic, and social transformations? This course seeks to understand Korea and its recent past by engaging both secondary and primary sources. To shed light on the above questions, students analyze the themes central to the fields of modern Korean history: colonialism and post-colonialism, communism and capitalism, democracy and authoritarianism, tradition and modernity.