"One World Divided" by Kevin Rheese, licensed under CC by 2.0.
Divisions, both material and not, have decisively shaped contemporary Korea on various levels. In the fall of 2020, students in Divided Korea (AAAS 362/HIST 384K) examined global processes and domestic contexts that create and maintain divisions in and beyond the Korean peninsula and among its people, broadly conceived. Divisions may produce moments of memorialization. They may also produce social tensions and conflicts that challenge national narratives, identities, citizenship, and cultural belonging.
Throughout the term, students created digital timelines to historicize divisions in Korea since 1945. Two timelines (“Divided Korea: the Korean War” and “Divided South Korea”) were produced collaboratively as a class, with each student contributing a slide. The other timelines are the result of students’ independent research conducted as individuals or groups on a topic of their choice. These annotated historical timelines reflect the interests of the students and the myriad ways histories of the Japanese colonial rule, Cold War geopolitics, authoritarian rule, economic development and crisis shape lived experiences both in the past and present.
This course is taught by Dr. Sonja Kim, Associate Professor, Department of Asian and Asian American Studies.
Acknowledgments are extended to Amy Gay and Dr. Chelsea Gibson for their guidance and assistance in designing these assignments.