Session 6b: Korea: Past, Present and Historical Understanding

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Please post responses to the 8-4-08 afternoon session here.

[Anonymous]

I am struck by the interconnectedness of our world. Two of the trailers that Prof. Hwang showed us featured big band jazz, which began in Harlem, New York in the late 1920’s-early 1930’s. Hearing this American music and seeing the hairstyles that went along with it in these films made me even more aware of how cultures influence one another and how closely tied we are with Asia. My best guess to how jazz worked its way over to Korea is through soldiers that were stationed there or in Japan and on holiday in Korea. In any case, it obviously caught on if there are historical films being made about that time period. The third clip was a Western style, imitating Clint Eastwood. This once again is evidence of our interconnectedness and the effects of a culture’s actions on another.

We affect Korea in more ways than through film and music, but these pieces of evidence could be used to start a conversation with a class about economy and society, and the fact that one must pay attention to their actions and the happenings in the world around them.

[Anonymous]

Monday afternoon 8/4
Okay I know that many people will be deep diving in today’s discussion but I really liked the Rabbit and Tiger discussion. I know that many things are important to many people; but I see a Rabbit. I like Rabbits.
My knowledge of Asia is very limited especially, about Korea, my father was in the Korean War and yet I didn’t know anything about the how or whys of how it started other then the communist had taken part of Korea. And what I had seen on MASH.
I am left with many questions because of my lack of knowledge and I plan on continuing my education about Korea.
I love the Pop Culture information and the movie trailers where great.

[Anonymous]

I thought this was a great lecture-- I especially appreciated the timeline slides that allowed me to look at the big picture while Prof. Hwang was talking.

I think North Korea is vilified by our media, and I was struck by how the South Koreans view North Korea as a "pitiful sibling." It really makes you reevaluate why Kim Jong-il is so maniacal about his country. I think showing the satellite image would be a great way of generating discussion with students about why the North Koreans (or just Kim) are so interested in nuclear proliferation.

Film note: Another inappropriate film you should see because it is awesome is Old Boy. No historical merit and it's incredibly gruesome, but it changed the way I view Corean cinema!

[Anonymous]

http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/tiger/Korea02-KoreanMap-Tiger.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:9JmnEcG8Lv69yM:http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/tiger/Korea02-KoreanMap-Tiger.jpg

[Anonymous]

Monday morning 8/4
I have to chime in on this one I know I am not a doctor but how do you go to the rest room without the penis? In today’s time things can be moved around and we have sex changes and antibiotics to take care of such procedures. When I looked under eunuch it stated castration is what is done. Then if you look up castation in Wikipedia, it is just losing the function. (not Mutilation) I have learned that castration is the usual way of losing the function of the testis. I have had enough sheep and animals to know that castration is the way of controlling birth.

[Anonymous]

That is a great image (the tiger image of Korea). Thank you. I watched some of the Korean TV drama and movies, and I always wondered about some of the time period of those stories. I cannot wait until we get the slides for the time table Professor Hwang is going to send us.

To answer part of the question Susie raised during the lecture about Chinese immigrant to Korea, my family was one of the example. In order to escape from the communist, my grandfather, my father, and two of my uncles just jumped on the boat to Korea the night before the communist party would "dou zheng" (humiliate them in public) them the next day, because my grand father was a school principal. (My family owned land and properties as well.) There were a good number of Chinese population in Korea from 1940's to 1980's mainly to escape from communist party. However, after the Vietnam War, because of the fear of war recurring to Korea (North vs. South), and the discrimination of Korean on Chinese, a second wave of immigration took place for Chinese from Korea to different parts of the world took place. A majority of Chinese in Korea moved to Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S. I am not sure about the exact number. According to my father, the Chinese population dropped from 50,000 to 10,000 during this period of time (1940's to 1980's). That was the time I came to the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that information, Vera. I have heard similar stories from people in Long Beach who came from VietNam and Cambodia. It always amazes me and does again listening to your gra.ndfather's account. It is simply not in my consciousness, having lived in the U.S. all my life, to think in terms of having to escape. Even listening to my aunt's mom about being awakened in the middle of the night to come north of the border because Pancho Villa and his men were on the way didn't make me think it would ever happen to me.
I have such admiration for people like your grandfather. What a legacy he has left you.

Thanks also for the picture of the tiger. NOW I see it. I have to agree that a rabbit would be just fine - in Japan, rabbits are good luck - they see a rabbit in the moon instead of a man. But I'm sure Japan's rabbit attitude doesn't interes Korea. In any case, the tiger is beautiful. I'd like to get a depiction of that. The problem I was having was that I was placing the head where the front left paw is.

I loved the presentation today - so much information, so many notes, and I'll have to go over everything again. My small learning community, International Studies, is probably going to get involved with the Economic Summit this year. As I understand it, the students are assigned a country, but Korea would be a terrific study, if we are lucky enough to get it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I could only see the rabbit earlier...

[Anonymous]

There were many topics from Professor Hwang's lecture that I found very interesting. I do not know much about Korea and this session really have me a great foundation on which to build my Korean knowledge. I especially want to learn more about the economic history of South Korea and bring that information into my economics class.

I also really enjoyed the movie trailers...I have never seen a Korean pop culture film but thge trailers really made me want to rent one!

[Anonymous]

I wondered how Korea got its name; it gets it from the Koryo Dynasty.

Learning that Russia and the U.S. were a deciding factor on splitting Korea in half. Because Russia occupied the north and the U.S. the south of Korea, it was decided between Russia and the U.S. to take the territories they had occupied. Koreans felt this was a punishment for something they had not done. It was the Japanese who should be punished for WWII; the fact is, Japan was not divided.

On another note it is great to see South Korea survive despite all the atrocities, aflicitions, corruption, and famine and become a megatropolis...is there such a word. South Korea has dramatically at intensified speed become modern. The colonial shadow continues in the hearts of Koreans because of what has been done to them by Japanese colonialism; making them change their Korean names to Japanese names, shaving their head and only braiding the back hair , and women becoming sexual slaves.

Because the Koreans are presistance and reistant to foriegn control and did not allow them swallow-up Korean culture they have been resiliant to cultural identity. South Korea continues to survive while North Korea is in poverty. North Korea's situation is blamed on its current leader Kim Jong-il. It was very interesting to see how a satelite night picture of North Korea shows it to be a black hole. This is due to it not having enough money to pay for energy and the ongoing fact that there is no need for materialistic comforts that the west emphasizes.
Here is a site with the same pictures Dr. Hwang and Dr. Dube showed us in class along with more info.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/dprk-dark.htm[Edit by="rosanna_elgohary on Aug 4, 8:56:12 PM"]Great picture of tiger in position of Korea and how they view themselves

A positive view of one's nation is what we all do; the negativity brings the spirit down.

I pray for North Korea's innocent people to be able to live comfortably and free, soon.[/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Kelli-
Thanks for posting the image of Korea as a Tiger. I was getting a headache trying to NOT visualize it as a rabbit. Wait, this would be a fun art project -- turn countries into animals that are important to the people or if the countries happen to look exactly like a cotton-tailed bunny.

[Anonymous]

This information was overwhelming but totally fascinating because my background knowledge on Korea could fill a paper cup. I was most interested in the Korean War (or Korean Conflict, or military action) because my father-in-law fought there. He does not speak much about it (okay, except for the prostitutes) and I guess my high school history class confused me. I did not know South Korea was planning its own offensive before North Korea invaded first. It seemed that S.K. has been portrayed as the victim or a weaker party. I would have liked to have heard more about this and seen more pictures. I hope history classes today are making this war clearer to students and using multiple sources to do so.

[Anonymous]

The lecture about Korea was very good. I like to know some history on a country to help me understand topical occurrences like the recently exacerbated struggle with Japan over the tiny island or the recent investigation findings that Korean citizens were (needlessly) killed by American bombs just before or at the beginning of the Korean conflict.
For my students I will try to start off with some geography of the area to get them plugged in to the right place regarding the connection of Korea with Japan and China and Australia and Hawaii, etc. I have enjoyed the two Korean films that we have seen very much. I had never seen a Korean film up until last week, but it looks like there are many more great films to view.

[Anonymous]

Just a quick note about Wikipedia...not the most reliable source. I, in fact, do not allow my students to cite it as a source because information is posted on there without any verification. It is a helpful starting point but all info should be verified on another source. I'm sure you're already aware, but just in case.

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