Lectures
Transnational North Korea: Crossing and Dwelling of North Korean Migrants (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar explores through critical reading and discussion, how the migrants’ life trajectories are intertwined with the secular-sacred politics and power, and such basic humane issues as love, family, home, and future.
Korean religions and diversity (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar surveys diverse religious traditions and practices of Korea from the early period to the modern era along with religious experiences and their impact on everyday life. Featured texts include writings on Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity and new Korean religions such as Wŏn Buddhism and Ch’ŏndogyo.
Korean Literary Screen Adaptations (E-school) (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar introduces students to the screen culture of the 1960s and 70s with focus on screen adaptions of Korean literary. Basics of film analysis will be taught.
Korea and Germany (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar examines the transnational realtions and the transcultural exchange between Korea and Germany.
Korea and the Global Society: Engagement and Reciprocity (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar explores multilateral engagement and reciprocity between Korea and the global community. The cultural, socioeconomical and political interactions that Korea as a nation - and Koreans as individuals - have with other societies in the global community and their influence on other individuals or societies will be discussed.
History and Development of Education in Korea (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar gives an overview of the development of education in Korea from premodern times to present.
Ethnography of South Korea (E-school) (winter semester 2020/2021)
This seminar examines how ethnographic works engage the historical, economic, and political issues that have defined modern Korean society and nationhood. Attention not only is paid to the important scholarly arguments and interventions that these ethnographies mobilize, but modern Korean cultural scenes, spaces, bodies, places, people, and media landscapes as a template will also be examined and analyzed through which students will conduct their own ethnographic research projects.
The Korean Peninsula: Past and Present (summer semester 2020)
This seminar covers various sociocultural and political issues concerning the Korean peninsula in the past and the present. Starting from the very current issue of COVID 19 and discussing themes such as social movements, gentrification, Korean housing, North Korean migration, classical literature, themed museums and heritage.
Reading and Analysing Webtoon: Korean Youth (summer semester 2020)
This seminar introduces Webtoon as a new form of media on the internet in the context of new cultural practices in South Korea and evaluates its cultural significance.
North Korea’s socio-economic transformation (summer semester 2020)
This seminar gives a deeper understanding of North Korea's socio-economic transformation as well as cultural and political aspects.
Literary Theory: Modern Korean Short Stories (summer semester 2020)
This seminar introduces a collection of literary theories and their application to modern Korean short stories.
Korea Online: Analyzing Everyday Content and Online Culture (summer semester 2020)
This seminar examines different online phenomena of present-day Korea.
Development in South Korea after the Korean War (summer semester 2020)
This seminar gives an overview of political and socio-economic developments after the Korean War.
Development Cooperation and South Korea (E-school) (summer semester 2020)
This seminar provides an introduction to development cooperation, with special reference to South Korea. The course is designed as a team-teaching of 4 faculty members who will cover specific topics based on his/her specialty. Students are expected to learn general overview of development cooperation as well as the most up-to-date issues regarding South Korean ODA with regards to economy, gender, and public policy.
Colonial Korea and the legacy of colonialism (summer semester 2020)
This seminar examines the society of colonial Korea and the impact of Japanese colonialism on Korean culture and society. The lectures and discussions will set out to underpin the understanding of various socio-economic, cultural or political aspects in colonial Korea such as health, sport, work, urban life, production, collaboration, memory and the colonial heritage.
Media and Journalism in South Korea (E-school, summer semester 2019)
This seminar focuses on media in contemporary South Korea, dividing between “traditional” and new forms of media, looking at its influence on different social issues as well as politics.
Political Economy of Development in Korea (summer semester 2019)
This course examines the post-war economic development. Issues related to the development are investigated in the socio-economic, cultural and political context.
Work, Sexuality and Family in Contemporary Korea (summer semester 2019)
This course provides students with an understanding on the contemporary Korean family, work and sexuality in which there exists a mixture of traditional and modern aspects. Topics discussed include: changes and crisis in Korean family, motherhood, marriage, family law and policy, work culture, non-regular workers, working women, discourse of sexuality, politics of the body, reproduction, prostitution and trafficking.
Women in Korean History (summer semester 2019)
This course gives an overview of the role and position of women in (South) Korea from pre-modern times to the present.
Complex Issues in Korean Culture and Society (summer semester 2019)
This course examines complex social and cultural issues in North and South Korea, such as urban development, North Korean development, ‘education fever’, regionalism, civil society, popular and traditional culture.
Anthropology of Food and Food Culture in Korea (summer semester 2019)
This block seminar combines an introduction to the anthropology of food in general and an exploration of Korean food culture in contemporary Korean society. Using insights from anthropology, this seminar approaches recent food-related phenomena in Korea.
From Kayo to K-pop (winter semester 2018/19)
This block seminar analyses different pop music forms in Korea since the 19th century in its historical and social context. Also looking at K-pop in an interdisciplinary perspective (history, production, music industry, cultural policy, gender, media, reception, fan culture).
Contemporary Politics in South Korea (winter semester 2018/19)
This block seminar introduces students to the political dynamics of contemporary South Korea in the framework of democratization theory. Furthermore, the political discourse of democratizing South Korea and its historical background as well as regionalism, political parties, civil society, etc.
Demographic Change in South Korea (Summer semester 2018)
This course analyses reasons, consequences and countermeasures of the demographic change in the second half of the 20th century in an interdisciplinary perspective.
Politics and Business in South Korea (Summer semester 2018)
This seminar gives an overview of East Asian and South Korean politics, culture and economy since the backdrop of the Cold War period.
Enviromentalism in Korea (Summer semester 2018)
This block seminar introduces major environmental issues in Korea since the 19th century and their impact on nature and society. It also examines the rise of environmental movements on the Korean peninsula and the philosophies, intellectual trends and beliefs that have informed and inspired these movements.
Korean Private Law (Summer semester 2018)
This block seminar introduces the private law of the Republic of Korea. It tracks the genesis of modern Korean law with special focus on Japanese colonial rule, looking at contemporary Korean law and its reactions to global legal discourses and connections and the relation between historical tradition and contemporary practice.
North Korea: Beyond the ‚Axis of Evil’ (Summer semester 2018)
This block seminar introduces students to North Korea as a nation with its own history and culture. Topics discussed: state formation, revolution, Juche Sasang, literature, art, film, human rights, food crisis, migration, nuclear developments, etc.
Korean Literature from Chosŏn Dynasty to today (Summer semester 2018)
This course created a space for reading and discussing excerpts from different Korean literature works in German translation.