Session 8 - Discussion

[Anonymous]

I had very little knowledge about Korean history before this class, but I was very surprised to learn about the level of involvement the United States has had in Korean affairs. According to the lecture, the Soviet Union and the United States both provided support economically for the war. Also, due to the fear of communism, the United States pumped a lot of money and effort in the development of Korea after the war. I am always interested in the perceptions of other countries on the United States, and thus, this information leads me to wonder how Koreans feel about the economic support that they received by the United States? Are they thankful? Resentful?

[Anonymous]

I knew that Koreans did not like to be confused with Japanese people, but I did not know why. Now I know why. I have learned that Japan was an aggressor that colonized Korea and other East Asia countries and places China, Taiwan and Korea. There are too many un-heal wounds still in Korea that prevents the two countries to have amicable relations. Such as the Comfort women issue that Japan is now trying to make right. Recently Japan agreed to give monetary compensation to comfort women in Korea. This action may lead to better relations between the two nations, Korea and Japan.

[Anonymous]

This lecture was very informative, it gave light into why there are 2 Koreas. Given that it used to be in Japanese rule during WWII and after the fall of the Japanese empire the US split the territory with Russia along the 38 parallel. Now during the cold war these two territories became a strategic location to see who was superior, the communist or the democracies. Given all that turmoil we see that North Koreas have it the worst economically. But now with their "successful" detonation of their nuclear bomb we should be a more concerned with what is happening in North Korea.

[Anonymous]

Prior to this lecture, I did not know much on Korea and the background of how it split, so it was very informative to this regard. First off, the number of leaders they had or that the professor talked about was so many! I found it especially interested how many were assassinated, exiled, or removed due to a coup. This definitely shows the instability at the time, and would be an interesting topic of discussion to bring up with the students. One could pose the question of why they think there has been instability there, and how that compares to instability the US has had during certain parts of history? Furthermore, when the professor shared that Park Chung Hee's wife had been assassinated and he himself had been killed, but that his daughter is the current president was quite shocking but also fascinating. This would be an interesting story to share with the kids, and have them discuss is this ethical and if they were in the daughter's position, would they rule given what happen to her parents.

Another aspect of I enjoyed from this discussion was the Professor's comments on how they were considering nationalizing the high school history textbook with the "correct perspective." What does that even mean? Whose perspective is the "correct perspective" and how does one decide that, as well as who decides that? I would be interested in looking more into this in 2017 when it officially comes out. Again, this would be a great discussion to have with students, as well as have them examine their own textbooks and question the perspectives of what they are learning from.

[Anonymous]

I was very fascinated by today’s lecture on Japanese cinema, particularly because I didn’t know it is the second longest running cinema in the world. It was mentioned that during the 1930s and 1940s, cinema began to be used as a tool for political movements, specifically by Germany. Having such a developed film program at their disposal, I wondered if Japan leveraged this tool to communicate or rally support during the Second World War. It was also very interesting to see Japanese culture represented in Japanese cinematography as compared to the way it is represented in the US. I was not surprised to see that American cinema tended to hone in on more stereotypical representations of Japanese culture, whereas Japanese cinema tended to show a more simplistic and relatable view portrayal of its people. I wonder if there is a movie made in Japan about Americans, if so, I am curious to see if they use stereotypical representations of us.
edited by nramon on 1/10/2016

[Anonymous]

The Korean War, ans its consequences had affected everyone in Korea. Many people lost members of their family forever, and others don't know if they are alive or not, since some were caught in North Korea at the time of the division of the country. Maybe some day there will be a solution.

[Anonymous]

Re: Koreans' perception of the US
Kriztian, I am also very curious about the perception of Americans in Korea. Based on encounters with folks who teach overseas and a brief mention on one of the most prominent imports in Korea, it seems that at the very least many Koreans are interested in learning English, and I wonder if this is any indication of somewhat of a positive interests in American culture. It also seems that during the Japanese occupation, American popular culture was prominent among the more progressive sectors of society. I also question who some of the most critical minds in Korea look upon the US given their involvement in the Korean War. Per the article, Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey it seems the war left a lot of scars mainly psychological ones, and I wonder how that informs how Korean's feel about the US.
edited by nramon on 1/12/2016

[Anonymous]

Re: The “correct” history in textbooks
Jennifer, you pose a very interesting point of view in regards to the narratives that are included and excluded in textbooks. Another topic of discussion for students would also be the question of how our textbooks reflect structures of power. In examining what is and what is not included in Korean textbooks, one can have the students make an observation on who might have written the textbook and who they might have excluded from this academic record. This could probably serve as a great opportunity to teach students about perspective and bias.
edited by nramon on 1/14/2016

[Anonymous]

The Stanford "Reading Like a Historian" website has several activities where students read depictions of historical events from different texts. There is a very good one about the causes of the Korean War, where different sides are depicted as aggressors. I wonder what the "correct" approach will be in the new Korean texts.

[Anonymous]

What really stood out to me about this lecture was learning more about the specific things that both North and South Korea do to make their countries seem more modernized and forward than they actually are. I previously did not know many details about the things that the North Korean government does, besides hearing general things in conversation about how their government is corrupt and people do not have rights. Seeing the images of the empty Ryugyong Hotel was especially fascinating to me. It's not very often that I actually get to see images of the deliberate actions a government is taking to hide the truth, however insignificant it may be, from its people. North Korea is clearly trying to create an image that they just can't uphold. On the other hand, I always imagined that the situation in South Korea was vastly better. But hearing in the lecture that South Korea is attempting to create "1 correct textbook" is highly problematic and disturbing to me. In my opinion, these two countries are acting similarly in their actions to hide the truth from their citizens.

[Anonymous]

What I still wonder about is how does K-pop culture appeal to my students, who are mostly 1st or 2nd generation students who's parents are mostly from Mexico or Central America. I do not understand it. Most of my students have never even met a Korean person before. I understand how the culture can appeal to them, but I wonder how Korean culture even made it's way into Pomona. I ask them how they hear about the music or learn about the fashion and they always trace it to someone who exposed them to a taste of the culture and they ran with it. Maybe K-Pop is the new cool thing to be into. I did not know about the prevalence of gaming in Korean youth culture, however. That was definitely new to me

[Anonymous]

Political drama was a big part of Korean politics. I appreciated the class's discussion on the president and the problems she faces. Park Geun-hey has a troubled past and I was interested to learn how her father Park Chung-Hee was president and faced many assassination attempts, until he eventually died, assassinated by his head of security.
I am not sure how much this will apply to my lessons. I don't want to speak in a way that would offend any of my students. They are very proud of their Korean heritage and I don't want to speak in a way that would appear disrespectful to their current or former presidents. I am grateful for the knowledge and I understand my student populations better as a result of taking this class.

[Anonymous]

Before this lecture I had no idea of the colonization of Japan and how it had impacted Korean culture. When I was reading the short stories I felt frustration and rage, I can even imagine how they just stole their identity and gave citizens a new name, it reminds me of Spanish colonization and the atrocities they did to natives when the Christening process begun. This lesson helped me realize why our Korean students do not get along with our Japanese ones. Even though a century has passed by, there is still a lot of animosity among younger generations. I wonder how families treat this subjects at home.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed this session about the Korean history and culture. I did not know much about Korea, especially about how they got their names changed to Japanese ones. It was sad knowing Koreans had to adopt a new life to avoid being discriminated in society. So many Koreans were forced to go to Japan and even women were forced into slavery. This session informed us about the atrocities committed during the colonization of the Korean culture.

[Anonymous]

I was intrigued by the fact that there are more smartphones than people in Korea. I have read before that there is such an issue with students and their phones in Korea that phones are collected before class and redistributed after class. In some schools students phones are remotely disabled so that students don't have access throughout the school day.

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/07/28/koreas-smartphone-population-tops-milestone/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/20/5528842/korean-schools-block-smartphones-in-class-ismartkeeper

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