Women in History: Korea

Examination of Korean history from perspective of women. Because gender roles and identities are social constructs and thus vary over time and place, consideration of how concepts relating to gender have been continuously reconstructed. Examination of how premodern women’s identities formed through continual negotiation by women and men with larger processes of political, social, and cultural changes, such as formation of centralized bureaucratic systems, rise of aristocratic social system, and propagation of, and challenges to, Confucian social norms. Examination of how after opening of Korea to West and its aftermath brought about changes in women’s education, employment, social/legal status, especially in context of colonialism, war, democratization, and economic development. Covers current issues concerning gender in 21st-century Korea.

P/NP or letter grading.