LAS331 Researching Korea 1

Autumn 2025/26

20 credits

Module Organiser: Dr Derek Kramer (d.kramer@sheffield.ac.uk)

Overview

How do people make sense of the world they live in through the stories they tell about the past? This module engages with this question by way of a case study of modern Korea. In this course we will examine the numerous approaches to history that have circulated in the peninsula over the past hundred and fifty years. In doing so, our aim is to explore how the narratives and media of history have shaped, and been shaped by, shifting political, social, and cultural contexts. Formally, this is a course in historiography: the study of how history is written, interpreted, and used. But rather than treating this topic as a catalogue of facts, we will approach it as a dynamic field through which people have continually made meaning of their world.

The course begins with the writings of late Chosŏn dynasty historians and reformist thinkers, before turning to the accounts of foreign travellers in the late 19th century. We will then turn to the instrumentalization of history under Japanese colonial rule, and the ideological uses of the past in Cold War-era narratives. We will also focus on how historical storytelling mediates present-day understandings of an increasingly multiethnic and multicultural Korea. Readings will include a diverse set of genres and forms, from scholarly texts to political tracts and travelogues. Through readings, discussion, and assessments we will consider how differing visions of Korea’s past continue to inform how the peninsula is conceptualized today. 

Topics Covered

• History in the Chosŏn dynasty

• Nationalism as a medium

•  Historical analysis as a mode of colonial power 

• Anti-colonial historiography

•  Marxist and liberal accounts of development 

•  Science, religion, and nature as historical actors

Skills developed

• Academic Writing and Communication Skills

• Critical thinking

• Independent Learning

• Cultural intelligence

•  Digital literacy

Study Hours

The University recommends that you spend 200 work-hours on a 20-credit module. This includes:

• Lectures 11 hrs

• Seminars 11 hrs 

• Independent study 178 hrs

Assessment

• Seminar Portfolio 30%

• Research Essay 70%