Spring 2006

ANS 361 • The Two Koreas and the U.S.-W

Course Description

Drawing on history, anthropology, and political science, this course will focus on the relationship between North and South Korea, and between the Koreas and the United States, since 1945. It aims to conceptualize the Korean War and Korean division as possessing political, social, and cultural dynamics that have had complex ramifications across space and time. This is thus also a course in thinking about, and across, borders. It finally seeks to address a pressing issue of the day: Can North Korea be understood? This is a question at once political and epistemological attended by much wringing of hands. Let's try is the best practical answer I can suggest as the starting point for the work before us.

Texts

Woo, Jung-en, Race to the Swift. Lewis, Linda, Laying Claim to the Memory of May. Oberdorfer, Don, The Two Koreas. Moon, Katherine, Sex Among Allies. Grinker, Roy Richard, Korea and Its Futures. Ryang, Sonia, North Koreans in Japan. Kang Ch'ol-hwan, Aquariums of P'yongyang.

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