Admission requirements
This course is only available for BA students in Korean Studies.
Description
This course will introduce major methods and issues in studying modern Korean culture through the examination of a range of texts and practices. Posing questions about the production, consumption, and circulation of Korean culture both within and outside of Korea, we will discuss how Korean film, digital media, television dramas, popular music, and literature shape or challenge our understanding of Korean culture and what approaches scholars and cultural critics take to investigate them. Each class will introduce selected texts or practices, integrating them into specific topics in the studies of modern Korean culture. We will consider visual or literary texts as historically constituting and collectively shared social experiences as well as aesthetic expressions. Throughout the course, the idea of identity or “Koreanness” is to be thoroughly explored: Are there any pre-conceived notions of Korean culture or Korean identity? Who or what defines them? What aspect of Korean culture do the texts and practices comment on? How do they complicate the notions of Korean culture through their questions about nation-state, class, gender, and ethnicity? By engaging with debates on regional politics in South Korean popular culture, cinematic and literary representations of national division, and identity politics, we will discuss the uniqueness of the production, consumption, and circulation of modern Korean culture. This seminar course will consist of mini-lectures, class discussions, group and individual presentations, and film viewings. By actively participating in these activities, students will be able to develop their critical thinking and analytical skills as well as enhance their academic writing and presentation skills.
Course objectives
Oral presentation skills: 1. to explain clear and substantiated research results; 2. to provide an answer to questions concerning (a subject) in the field covered by the course a. in the form of a clear and well-structured oral presentation; b. in agreement with the appropriate disciplinary criteria; c. using up-to-date presentation techniques; d. aimed at a specific audience; 3. to actively participate in a discussion following the presentation.
Collaboration skills: 1. to be socio-communicative in collaborative situations; 2. to provide and receive constructive criticism, and incorporate justified criticism by revising one’s own position; 3. adhere to agreed schedules and priorities.
Basic research skills, including heuristic skills: 1. to collect and select academic literature using traditional and digital methods and techniques; 2. to analyze and assess this literature with regard to quality and reliability; 3. to formulate on this basis a sound research question; 4. to design under supervision a research plan of limited scope, and implement it using the methods and techniques that are appropriate within the discipline involved; 5. to formulate a substantiated conclusion.
Written presentation skills: 1. to explain clear and substantiated research results; 2. to provide an answer to questions concerning (a subject) in the field covered by the course a. in the form of a clear and well-structured written presentation; b. in agreement with the appropriate disciplinary criteria; c. using relevant illustration or multimedia techniques; d. aimed at a specific audience.
Timetable
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Lecture
Research
Course Load
Hours spent on attending lectures: 2 hours per week x 12 weeks = 24 hours
Time for studying the compulsory literature and preparation for the lectures: 6 hours per week x 10 weeks = 60 hours
Preparation for papers: 56 hours
Assessment method
Attendance: 15%
Active Class Participation: 20%
- Group Presentation: (10%)
- Individual Presentation: (5%)
- Class Discussion Participant (5%)
Writing Assignments: 65% Weekly Postings (10%) Proposal and Bibliography (5%) Final Research Paper (50%)
Resit: students who fail the course (a grade below a 5.5) may resit the formal paper assignments if they have participated in class and in the active class participation.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for delivery of relevant reading materials and submission of assignments.
Reading list
Readings and DVDs are on reserve at the East Asian Library or available at the University Library.
Recommended Texts:
W.C. Booth, G.G. Colomb, J.W. Williams, The Craft of Research
David Bordwell, Film Art: Introduction
Amy Villarejo, Film Studies: the Basics
Timothy Corrigan, Short Guide to Writing about Film
Registration
Students are required to register for this course via uSis, the course registration system of Leiden University. General information about the Registration procedure
Contact
Mw. Dr. N. Han, Room 121 in the Arsenaal.
Comments
Compulsory attendance.
Co-ordinator of Studies Mw. S. Kraakman