North Korea
Fall 2008
This undergraduate colloquium will focus attention on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea) from its founding in the late 1940’s through the year 2008. Much of the semester will be spent reading about and discussing the “Kim Dynasty”, i.e., Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, but students also will read material covering social, cultural and economic developments in the DPRK.
During the semester students will read such recent publications as Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era, Human Remodeling in North Korea, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, Two Dreams in One Bed, The North Korean Revolution, North Korea: The Politics of Regime Survival, and Crisis in North Korea. Students will be prepared to discuss assigned reading material during the weekly meetings of the class, and will write critical reviews of two of the assigned books.
The course grade will be based on participation in weekly discussion (2/3) and the review essays (1/3).