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Home › Forums › Core Seminars › East Asia Origins to 1800, Spring 2019 › Session #5 - March 16 (morning), Jennifer Jung-Kim
Heidi Kwalk.
cgaoProfessor Jennifer Jung-Kim from UCLA will speak about Ancient Korea. Please prepare for the session by downloading and reading the files below.
Dennis O'ConnellAs part of our Language Arts/History curriculum we spend a week discussing the importance of primary sources. We look at letters, documents, interviews with eyewitnesses, photographs, paintings, and physical artifacts as ways of learning about the past. The resource given to us for Session 5 titled "A Teacher's Sourcebook for Korean Art & Culture" seems like a valuable resource for presenting primary sources from the Korean past. I am interested to explore this idea further to see how I could incorporate use of this resource in a unit on Asian history and the importance of primary sources.
Marcos RicoWonderful resources!! I followed the link of Jennifer Kim_Korea. It took me to another website full of Primary and secondary resources. One of the topics that we are currently covering in my 4th grade class. I followed the first link other Resources Asia for Educators,Primary Sources with DBQs http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_korea.htm
This website has the primary sources organized by time period, 4000-1000 BCE, 1000 BCE-300CE, 600-1000 CE, 1000-1450 CE, 1450-1750 CE , etc. I found a document that caught my attention "Inheratence of Slavery Status" from Scholar Yu Hyongwon (1622-1673).
The Scholar starts by describing the origins of slavery in Korea. It goes on to talk about how in the past, only criminals would be forced into slavery to pay for their crimes, but their descendents would not become slaves by birth. Now, in his current time, people are slaves just because their ancestors were slaves. In his time people did not have a way to become a freeman or woman. It goes on to compare their system of slavery with the Chinese system of slavery. Yu Hyongwon proposes a way to abolish slavery in a gradual manner.
I find this article interesting because in class with my 4th graders, during social studies, we were talking about slavery in the USA. How after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California was eventually allowed to join the United States as a Free state. During our conversation, students wondered how the United States created with such an unfair thing as slavery. Others share how the Egyptians had the Jewish people as slaves a long time ago, and someone else mentioned that the Romans also had slaves. I mentioned that unfortunately even the Greeks practiced slavery. Students realized that slavery was not invented by the United States, and fortunatelly our country was able to get rid of that horrible system of exploitation.
I feel that I can use this article as a shared reading with my class. We could learn more about how other cultures used slavery and how it affected their societies.
Brenda-Jean ShephardIn "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," by Hurst (U of Kansas), we see more of what we learned about last Monday. More difficult-to-substantiate history with controversial characters.
“Imagine trying to piece together the background of the Watergate conspiracy thousand years hence, using only three brief accounts written in 2175, 2300, and 2500, by pro-Nixon authors, without any newspaper or magazine accounts, or the books written by the participants themselves, let alone the records of the trial.”
Kung Ye – illegitimate child of a king, not sure which one. Survived infanticide attempt, but lost an eye. Raised by bandits. As king, became so cruel, he personally murdered his own wife and sons. Eventually assassinated.
Kyon Hwon – son of a farmer, according to myth, suckled by a tigress. Led a popular revolt during the reign of hughly-criticised Queen Chinsong. General in the “Rape of Kyongju.” Tried to make his 4th son his successor, which was not well received by his other, older sons. Had to flee.
Wang Kon – “Since in the end he emerged victorious and founded the dynasty of which all the compilers of the sources were loyal subjects, Wang Kon not surprisingly appears in the sources as an unqualified ‘good dynastic founder,”” Credited with virtuous loyalty, magnanimity to his enemies (refreshing!), military prowess, and benevolent rule (yay). Reunited the Three Kingdoms and had the Ten Injunctions written.
The stories of oppression sound only too familiar. Remove the Early Asian names and replace them with names from any number of different cultures. Makes humans look pretty bad. Are humans better today? We would certainly like to think so, but how would we actually know? Will our planet survive long enough to find out?
Brenda-Jean ShephardThe text did not explain what the injunctions were. Made me wonder if there was any similarity to the ten commandments. Looked it up (https://www.ancient.eu/Taejo_of_Goryeo/, not wikipedia!), and it turns out there is no similarity. While the commandments are aimed at the common person, the injunctions are specifically for rulers. If you want to know, they are
Now I may have to google "emoluments"...
Brenda-Jean Shephard
Brenda-Jean ShephardI've never been a fan of stories that are told as fact but are difficult or impossible to establish the credibility of; I feel like the educational field is full of educated people making guesses based on the limited evidence that is available, and different people come up with completely different theories based on the same limited evidence. Yesterday a friend dragged me to watch a documentary showing (very limited release) in the cinema. It was the most excrutiatingly boring movie I've ever seen--although for the record, I don't have TV and so I've seen very few documentaries. For two hours we were dragged through the controversy of whether written language had developed to the point of being possible for Moses to have written Exodus as a primary source by an actual participant. The filmmaker (whose name escapes me, and I don't feel like looking it up) presented the argument that artifacts found between Egypt, the Sinai peninsula, and Canaan give evidence that the Hebrews had an alphabet before the Phoenicians did.
When it comes down to it, I don't like ancient history because it seems so gory. It's painful to think about people butchering each other in heinous ways, with their own hands. Are there any prehistoric or early historic societies that were more humane than others? Or has the history of civilization always involved the survival of the cruelist?
Brenda-Jean Shephardok, obviously i have no life and i decided to stay home and do homework on friday night...
The additional resource, Lady Hyegyong 1795 memorial is remarkably readable. Although the first thing you will want to do is make a visual chart to place the characters described in the first 11 pages! I can definitely imagine 6th grade girls reading it voraciously, if it were available. I’m guessing it’s long since out of print.
ps: googled it. no amazon hits. according to thriftbooks.com, it's not currently available, 5 people are interested in getting a copy, but they only receive one every 6 months, on average. will check out the library next. but not tonight.
Amy ChenAt our STEAM magnet, teachers try to incorporate art into lessons. The source book, “Why Teach About Korean Art and Culture?”, discusses how Korea is often in current news but the sophisticated arts and culture of Korea did not gain global recognition until the 1950s. I teach Mandarin so I found the fact that Korea used the Chinese written language in Aristocrat society and still with scholars into the 20th century very fascinating. Another art aspect that I did know about is how famous Korean paper is. This sourcebook showed many examples of Korean paper with fans, furniture, utensils, and other common use items. Confucian values influenced the simplicity of these items. Lacquer and porcelain are other popular materials used for vases, jewelry cases, and other vessels. Through colors, animals, and plants, symbolism decorated Korean household items and art. Symbols are a great way to bring math and art into an art history lesson. When I teach world religions, I could use images of Shamanism to compare and contrast with images of Hinduism and Buddhism. The school I teach at has a significant population of Korean students as well as other East Asian students. With this resource, I gathered many ideas to bring attention to Korean history through art to find commonalities between Asian cultures.
Brenda-Jean Shephardthis was written (in Korean) in the 17th century, but seems pretty contemporary. It was posted on the Sejong Cultural Society sijo contest.
If everyone were a government official,
would there be any farmers?
If doctors cured all disease,
would graveyards be as they are?
Boy, fill the glass to the brim;
I’ll live my life as I please.
벼슬을 저마다 하면 농부 할 이 뉘 이시며,
의원이 병(病) 고치면 북망산(北邙山)이 저러하랴.
아희야, 잔 가득 부어라, 내 뜻대로 하리라.
Kim Chang-Up (1658-1721)
Stephanie RodriguezDennis had an idea regarding artifacts and primary sources really gave me an idea! I used to teach second grade and they have this whole unit on primary sources and archaeologists. I would love to show that yellow golden looking pottery that is cone shaped but its pointed on the bottom. I think that’s so cool because they will see a lot of potter in other cultures but I think this one will really make them think, especially because of the shape. I’m sure I can find a way to integrate this into 5th grade curriculum as well because we also talk about primary sources, but I just think it fits so well with what is done at my school because they talk about archeology specifically.
Jimmy MartinezOne of my favorite activities, which I must admit I was not too excited about in the beginning, was the sijo activity. I would love to incorporate this into a lesson and would tailor this by creating a rap sijo. Most of my students love rap and I could really see them getting into it this activity. Here is my sijo:
The day is bright and the stadium roars with cheers;
Gerlinde GoschiVirginia Woolf's description of the shaping of Shakespeare's sister's life reminded me of Professor Katsuya Hirano's presentation and his statement: " Understanding of history is constant questioning of the facts and what we are told to be the truth." It is important to ask and continue asking questions so answers will be found. Females did not have a voice during the period the article refers to. Virginia Woolf speculates what the voice of Shakespeare's sister would be like. Then she goes on to compare and contrast the life of Ho Nansorhon with that of Shakespeare's sister. Nansorhon grew up privileged who was not afraid to write poetry, her passion. Kichung Kim argues that "For a wellborn married woman of the times to do what Ho Nansorhon did must have been clear defiance of the public mores and morality of Choson society, and might even explain the many charges of plagiarism leveled against her by men of her own and later times." Prof. Hirano and Dr. Dube have both stated that history is written by the victors. This excerpt illustrates this clearly.
Gerlinde GoschiI will introduce the Korean vowels to my class after a short history of its origins dated back to 1443 during the times of King Sejong the Great. I will also emphasize that Korean phonetic script and the moveable metal print predated this period to Gutenberg's bible. We will watch this short video and dance together to it learning how to show the characters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbfvzzzNeSc
At the end, students will team up with shoulder partners and practice with each other. Students then will perform all together as a class.
Gerlinde GoschiI will model to my students how to write a Sijo during our unit entitled "How we express ourselves?" I usually only teach Haikus during this period. I will, in addition, start teaching Sijo as well. Students will first write a Sijo together as a class with me and afterwards each student have to write their own and illustrate it. Students will share out loud once everyone has completed their peom.