Session 4 (10/14) - Korea Since 1800

[Betsy Telle]

This is a really great idea as a student activity. I went to a Christian college and this was a very real debate that occured frequently on campus, but from the "saviour" side of things. I like the idea of what would we want from an alien visitor. This was a creative idea that I think the students would enjoy and help them understand the differences.

[Betsy Telle]

I think that Christianity in Korea is an interesting point of study. Christianity had an influence in Korea that was not seen in other parts of Asia. I had knowledge of Christianity's large base currently in Korea. I appreciated learning more about the history of Missionary work in Korea. It makes sense that the nontraditional approach of providing Western care and education, rather than proselytizing, was an attractive force. I found it very surprising that the Missionaries also supported the Women's rights and empowerment movements, as Christianity is often opposed to those movements.

[Brigid Schmidt]

Hello again, Prof. Jung-Kim, 

 Thanks for all of the resources and links to the Korean film archive channel on youtube!

[Brigid Schmidt]

This week in our advisory classes, our students are learning about each other’s different cultures and ways to respect them. America is such a melting pot of people and ideas from around the world, that it is beneficial for our students to know more about others to be respectful and welcoming. Reading the article about the increased popularity of K-pop music like BTS and Korea culture made me think how I could tie this into our studies this week. I open each one of my Zoom classes with music. Last week I was really into piano instrumentals. My students try to guess the songs and one asked me what "that beautiful song was" I only could see the title, "Blood, Sweat, and Tears." I knew this wasn't from that band, so I looked it up because both the student and I thought the instrumental was stunning. It was a BTS song! I did not even realize. Now I love it. I decided to use this as a starting point for talking about Korean culture. Because it was advisory, I had students talk about what they knew about Korean culture and those who were Korean explained foods their families eat, holidays they celebrate, places they have visited, and even brought up the Academy Awards-Parasite. A couple students talked about Korean athletes they knew about. None of my students brought up stereotypes or showed disrespect. I was able to share personal stories from my trip to Korea. It was a great discussion and some students asked if we could discuss their culture tomorrow. 

[Brigid Schmidt]

When thinking about lessons that would be relevent to my English students, I always aim for ones that would spark their interest. With the Olympics being canceled this year because of Covid, I thought about them writing a compare/contrast piece on the Summer and Winter Olympics in Korea and in the United States. Because I love sports, I have always been extremely interested in the Olympics. The first ones I really remember vividly were the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Maybe this is because I was a gymnast and our team was spectacular that year or because it took place in the US, but I was fascinated. Then, the US had the Winter Olympics not too long after in Salt Lake City in 2002. What is interesting is that the US has a range of weather and geography to host both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Similarily, so does Korea. In 1988, Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics. (I was able to see some of the areas on my trip.) Then, thirty years later, in 2018, PyeongChang was the site of the Winter Olympics. Part of the standards for my 6th graders is to find reliable sources and use it as research. The goal for this assignment would be to choose either the Winter Olympics or Summer Olympics and compare and contrast what they were like in Korea versus the US. They could search for things like, where there boycotts? What country won the medal count? Did the weather cooperate? What impact did the different terrains have on the events? How much money was spent? What impact did it have on the city/country? This could make for some really interesting and lively writing samples. I think the students would be engaged and really get ready for the Olympics next year (if they happen!!)

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

I love the idea of looking at radio broadcasts, but it may be dificult to get audio files from back then, and if you did, there would be a language barrier. There are a couple of good English-language readings on the topic that you could use as a secondary source. 

 

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Cynthia, these are some really interesting ideas! I think the lack of support from the army was a major signal that Rhee did not have the military strength to carry out his authoritarian rule. 

Your second point raises some very interesting possibilities for class discussion! 

[Jennifer Cutler]

I'm so curious to learn about the divide - almost that one worlds somehow became two with the armstice during the Korean War. How do we end up in Korea with a dictatorship in one nation and such an anti-communist gov't in the other? And what does it look like for this government-led economic development. The idea that Koreans, both N & S, experienced the actual "Cold War" as a reality is so different from how the western world experienced. That South Korea took about 30 years to develop into a democracy while the North went into an oppressive tyranny (I'm so biased, clearly) is quite remarkable. Do we think that both Koreas continued to suffer as a result of Japanese occupation and colonization? From the "comfort women" to cultural oppression (including renaming) to suffering loss of life, the legacy of this period dictates so much of how Korea opperates today - in politics, in gov't and in international relations. The Korean War drastically boosted Japan's economy but not until the Vietnam War does Korean economy see a similar boom. Do we think both Koreas will find common ground, even if it's to unite against their anger towards Japan? Teaching US History, I'd love to bring in this concept of America's "Forgotten War." It's so integral to Korea today and we have relations with both the South and North (don't get me started) that our intertwined history should certainly be part of our curriculum. So I'm looking for ways to do that. 

[Khrystle San Diego]

I am particularly interested in how Korean culture in terms of music, arts, food, movies, and makeup, were able to garner such widespread attention from around the world. Growing up in Glendale, CA, a majority of my classmates were either Korean or Armenian. We lived near a Korean market and if I earned good grades I was able to take a trip to my favorite stationary store - Morning Glory. It was quite interesting because as a child, I was already aware of Korean culture, but as I got older, I noticed more and more people around have quite an interest to it. Some of my other family members and friends would go home to the Philippines and when they returned, they would have boxed sets of Korean dramas on DVD ready to share with one another. The impact of their culture only increased as K-Pop became more popular which emphasized a certain image which then brought in the importance of Korean skin care and makeup products. As Korean culture began to become more accessible to the world, it has brought more awareness about their country and has even become a highly desired tourist destination. 

In the article about BTS, it is quite evident that their fame came from the "hybridization of cultures" and the use of social media to promote their songs. I think social media has really made an impact on the power of Korea's culture on the world. BTS's work with UNICEF also helped boost their popularity even more as the fans or "ARMY" saw the group as more than just a "boy band" but also as global changemakers. As a result there is much global exchange between Korea and many countries around the world. 

An activity I would love to integrate in my classroom about Korea is to take graphical data and count any Korean store, show, or video that they see within a few weeks period. I think this will be quite a large number because we are close to Koreatown in Los Angeles and the fact that Netflix does now have Korean titles they can view. The number may be quite shocking and show how Korea's influence has grown. 

[Susie Suh]

The topic of comfort women is always a challenging one to confront because it brings up so many intersecting problems such as what is and isn't considered war crimes, retribution and reparations, and the ever changing social norms that are unique to each culture. I've always had a passionate concern for the issue of sex slavery and trafficking, and in the case with Korea and Japan, as angry as I can be about Japan always skirting making formal reparations or still glorifying people who committed war crimes, I think it is even more frustrating how Koreans will want to blame the Japanese for everything and not critically dissect their own culture that allowed these women to be susceptible to these situations and forced them to hide these truths due to shame. 

The way Korea and Japan has dealt the ramifications of war crimes can be compared to the inadequacy in which the US government has dealt with its own war crimes abroad AS WELL as with its dealings in domestic horrors such as slavery, jim crow laws, and Japanese-American internment camps (obviously we can continue taking this further into the present with the prison system and border detention camps). The cavalier way in which we have glossed over the disturbing nuances of the interstate slave trade in the 19th century can be compared to the way the Japanese have attempted to rewrite their own history regarding war crimes in educational textbooks. By pointing out the "other" story first and recognizing how wrong it is for the government to not take responsibility, I think it will make it all the more poignant when pointing the finger back at ourselves to see how we have been doing the same for over a century. 

[Katherine Caneba]

Hi Brigid, I definitely agree with your point and there is a lot to discuss about the spread of Christianity in East Asia. I am also reminded of the Boxer Rebellion in China in the late 1890s, which was in part an anti-Christian movement. In China during that time period as well, Christian missionaries were proselytizing and gaining new followers, and it was also particularly attractive to Chinese women because the traditional social hierarchy denied women many rights and dignities afforded to men. Korea and China have massive Christian populations today, and South Korea is well-known for sending Christian and/or Catholic missionaries abroad all over the world.

[Thomas Pineda]

I found this really intersting as well- I guess it is topical in the current times of our country and history. But I found this interesting document http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/korea/slavery_koryo.pdf  that talks specifically about this class of slaves who were below commoners.

[Ester Yang]

You just gave me a perfect lesson plan for an advisory period. My 8th graders are obsessed with BTS, although I know nothing about them. The girls use one of the member's photo as their zoom picture and I'd ask them about that just to have a small conversation. Definitely students want to learn more about the Korean culture so I'd like to have a mini lesson during advisory. 

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Hi,

It was a pleasure to "meet" you today. Here are some links you may want to check out: 

Underdogs and Marginalzied Characters in Some Recent Korean Films (co-hosted with my former student) 

The Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles has a ton of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNn_oYg2Vwg-dagc5R8vuIg

I hosted the Virtual Korean Language and Culture Series with my colleague, but there are a ton of topics there. Within the next 2 weeks, my next video on K-pop, K-drama, and fandom will be uploaded as well.

Jennifer 

 

 

[Zoey McKinney]

I thought the readings on radio and BTS fandom complemented each other really well in that they both talked about the impact of technology on the creation of communities. The Kim article discussed how radio "gave rise to new everyday spatial practices, leading to formations of new imagined communities," while the McLaren said that "social media plays a central role in connecting BTS and their content to fans - and vice versa." When I taught fifth grade, I had many students who were fans of BTS and Kpop in general, and I always thought it was so interesting to see how deeply the connected with this genre, much of which is in a language unknown to them. This phenomenon would not be possible without the technological developments that allow us to connect to the other side of the globe instantaneously, and while this is pretty obvious to me, I feel like our students take this for granted. They have never known a world without the internet, and this is something I plan to touch on when we get into "How is life different in other times and places?" in first grade Social Studies. I thought the comparison of the radio to the smart phone with regards to rise in popularity was a great way to show students what an impact the development of radio had. I doubt many of my students spend a lot of time listening to radio now, not when they have Google Homes in their bedrooms that will play any song they want if they ask it. But if we talk about how smart phones have affected so many aspects of our lives, and compare that to radio as another transformative technology, it might help them see how important it was. To go back to the idea of creating communities through technology, we can also compare it to video calls. The fact that my six-year-olds have formed a class community without ever having met in person is amazing, and something that can only be attributed to technological advancement.

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