Oberlin College

Provided Programs&Courses

Undergraduate

1. Program (Korea-related degree offered) : East Asian Studies Major
   • Programs Remarks - The East Asian Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program focusing on the region that includes China, Japan, and Korea. The main goals of the program are to provide training in East Asian languages and to introduce students to the societies, cultures, and histories of the region through courses in anthropology, art history, cinema, economics, history, literature, politics and religion. Since language study is an integral part of the East Asian Studies major, interested students are strongly advised to begin language study in their first or second year at Oberlin. This is especially true of students who hope to spend time studying abroad.
2. Program (Korea-related degree offered) : East Asian Studies Minor
   • Programs Remarks - The minor consists of a minimum of five courses. No more than two of the five can be language courses. Three of the five courses must be taken at Oberlin. At least one course must be beyond the introductory level. Students interested in a minor should consult with an EAS faculty member and/or the director in order to assure that the minor program is coherent.
   1. Korea-related Courses : EAST 163 - Korea: Past, Present and Future
      • Courses Remarks - This course is designed to introduce students to a broad survey of Korea’s history, both ancient and modern. It will examine various interpretive approaches to the political, social, cultural, and diplomatic history of Korea. We will also investigate contemporary nationalist theories of Korean development, including Japanese imperial legacies of colonial conquest, and how they have informed Koreans’ view of their ancient past as well as influenced current debates about the two Koreas’ reunified future.
   2. Korea-related Courses : EAST 276 - Modern Korean History
      • Courses Remarks - This course is designed to introduce students to a broad survey of Korea’s history, both ancient and modern. It will examine various interpretive approaches to the political, social, cultural, and diplomatic history of Korea. We will also investigate contemporary nationalist theories of Korean development, including Japanese imperial legacies of colonial conquest, and how they have informed Koreans’ view of their ancient past as well as influenced current debates about the two Koreas’ reunified future.
   3. Korea-related Courses : EAST 362 - The Korean War
      • Courses Remarks - This seminar is designed to explore the cultural, social and political history of the Korean War in the context of the recent debate about the ‘origins’ of the Cold War, Cold War ideology, American-Korean relationship in the context of the war, memory of the Korean War in South Korea and the United States, as well as specific battles, key players and contested memories about the war, among other issues.
   4. Korea-related Courses : EAST 364 - Seminar: The Japanese Seizure of Korea, 1876-1905
      • Courses Remarks - This course will examine Japan’s colonization of Korea. The course will also explore Korean responses to rising Japan and how its leaders responded to Japanese encroachment. By focusing particularly on Korean’s own responses to Japan, the course will explore the inner workings of Korean power politics, how Korea’s political elite tried to navigate the tumultuous waters of Japanese encroachment and why their efforts ultimately failed.
   5. Korea-related Courses : EAST 367 - Seminar: The Opening of Korea, 1876-1905
      • Courses Remarks - The Korean peninsula was at the center of the most dramatic upheavals of late nineteenth and early twentieth century East Asia. This seminar focuses on the diplomatic history of these years, including the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5 and the Russo-Japanese War 1904-5, as well as the repercussions of these international developments on Korean society, politics and culture.