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Syllabus contents:
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JSIS A 469A/569A |
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Syllabus
Instructor: Clark Sorensen
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In this course we will take and intensive and critical look at the literature on North Korea society with an eye to answering the question “what kind of society is North Korea?” We will only peripherally deal with DPRK foreign policy issues, nuclear proliferation, and so forth. Historically there have been a number of answers proposed to the question of what kind of society North Korea is—Soviet puppet state, independent revolutionary communist society, totalitarian state, “Kim family dictatorship”, rogue state, and so forth—and this is only a sample of the labels that have been used in the US. The North and South Koreans, not to mention the other former socialist state, and countries of the non-aligned movement such as India have yet other ways of describing North Korea. We also need to take seriously the notion that North Korea may have gone through different forms during its 70 years of existence. I have tried this year to concentrate on the most recent high-quality publications on North Korea. In the first half of the course we will be going through North Korean history emphasizing the institutional and other changes that have occurred despite continued Kim family leadership. In the second half of the course we will take a more detailed look at North Korean current institutions in order to understand how they function, and to consider whether the North Korean state can continue to function in the future. I have translated some first-person accounts of life in North Korea. We will pay particular attention throughout the course to the nature of the North Korean economy. The last two weeks of the course will be devoted to current changes in North Korea including the spread of private market, opening up of information channels from outside, and semi-privatization of the economy. The aims of this course are threefold:
By the end of the course students will have the ability to critically evaluate news reports and policy initiatives regarding North Korea, and to make informed judgments about the future viability of an independent North Korea. North Korean issues are always controversial, so it is appropriate that we have ample time to discuss them. Of our two hour lecture sessions the second hour will normally be devoted to discussion of the readings for that day. Students should attend these discussions and be prepared to answer the study questions for each day listed in the syllabus or distributed by other means. I will be calling on students from the roll rather than simply relying on volunteers, and will note student’s ability to respond. Group study with your friends can be a very effective technique to prepare for class discussion, and I encourage it. Grading Policy As this course has both an undergraduate (JSIS 484E) and graduate (JSIS 584D) section, you will notice that there are some differences in the requirements for undergraduates and graduates. The lectures and discussion will be the same for both sections. However, the graduate students will have extra readings labeled “Graduate Readings” that the undergraduates will not be responsible for. Graduates should be prepared to answer questions on all the readings while undergraduates need only master the basic readings. Both graduates and undergraduates will be responsible for a research paper due March 8th in the penultimate week of class, but the undergraduate paper will be 5-7 pages, and the graduate paper 10-15. Graduates will be expected to dig more deeply into primary sources than undergraduates. For Undergraduates the two exams and the paper will be weighted 33% each with modifications up or down based on the number and quality of reading response papers.Six acceptable papers will be neutral, fewer will lower your grade, and more will raise it. For Graduate Students the exams will be weighted 30% each, the paper 40%. Weekly responses will not be required. There will be a Midterm on Tuesday, February 5th and an in-class final on Friday, March 22 2:30-4:20 all in MGH 251. Note that the final is on the last day of finals week, so plan your trips home accordingly. I will not give early or make up exams except for documented illnesses.
Required Readings The following books have been ordered for you and will be available at the University Bookstore. All are also available somewhat more cheaply as Kindle editions. I have asked that they also be put on reserve in the East Asia Library. Charles Armstrong (2013) Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992. (Cornell Press) Starting in 1950 as the Korean War breaks out, Armstrong shows how internal developments within North Korean society interacted with, or sometimes reacted to, international events. Using many newly available Eastern European documents he outlines how North Korea reached out to other socialist countries and the non-alighned movement while keeping a strictly defense-oriented policy at hom that has consistently hindered economic development. Byung Yeon Kim (2017) Unveiling the North Korean Economy (Cambridge Press) Studying the North Korean economy is extremely difficult since North Korea has not published statistics on its economy since the early 1960s. Existing studies focus on gocvernment policy. B. Y. Kim is almost unique in focusing on the interaction of the government with households and firms, and uses comparison with the better known economies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to highlight how the actual operation of the North Korean economy doesn't correspond exactly to government policy. This puts him in a good position to judge how North Korea is currently changing. Sandra Fahy (2015) Marching through Suffering: Loss and Survival in North Korea. (New York: Columbia) Based on interviews with survivors of the North Korean famine currently living in Tokyo and Seoul, the anthropologist Fahy focuses on the details of language--how people were able to talk about the famine (or not), and how limitations on communication affected how people perceived and reacted to the famine. The book gives one insight on what thinking like a North Korean would be like. Ken Gause (2015) North Korean House of Cards: Leadership Dynamics under Kim Jong-un (Committee for Human Rights in North Korea) In contrast to Armstrong and Lankov who are historians who base their analyses on documents, Gause is a Kremlinologist who analyzes leadership and power relations as related to policy choice, basing his analysis on close readings of North Korean sources and on interviews with defectors. This is one of the best works trying to analyze the internal politics of the Kim Jongun regime (2011-2015), though the details can be daunting to read. This is available as a free download from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea at https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_Gause_NKHOC_FINAL.pdf Daniel Tudor and James Pearson (2015) North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trenjds, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors. (Rutland, VT: Charles Tuttle) Written by a couple of Seoul-based British journalists, this book gives an accessible and up-to-date account of daily life in North Korea. As britain has diplomatic relations with North Korea, British journalists have better access to North Korea than US journalists, but Tudor and Pearson also interview travellers to North Korea, defectors, and read published North Korean reports. The additional readings for undergraduates and graduate students will be available electronically through University of Washington Libraries, or in pdf format under READINGS on this web site. Other Items: Since management of handouts can be a big administrative hassle, students who miss the handouts on the day they are handed out will also find them—along with the syllabus—on the course website http://faculty.washington.edu/sangok/NorthKorea. You can access this site directly when you are on campus. Sometimes from off campus computers you have to go first to http://faculty.washington.edu/sangok, and then click through to NorthKorea. (Notice that the capital letters on NorthKorea are obligatory). You may have to log in with your net ID to access the course web site.
Websites on North Korea That May Be of Interest
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Contact the instructor at: sangok@u.washington.edu
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