Topics in Early Modern Korea: Guns, Tobacco, and Sweet Potato: A History of Material Culture

This course is an introduction to both material culture studies and early modern Korea, through the use of compelling objects-from guns and ceramics, to drugs, foods, and artwork-as an entry point into Korean cultural history (with a focus on the period between 1592 and 1910). It starts with objects in times of crises, from the matchlock guns which wreaked havoc across the Korean peninsula, to the ondol heated floors which warmed Korean homes through the Little Ice Age. Then, it delves into a period of cultural efflorescence, when new material cultures emerged, by the hands of Buddhist papermakers, up-and-coming chungin ("middle people") painters, and aristocratic women. It ends with stories from the nineteenth century, when these "Korean" material cultures became closely entangled with their foreign counterparts-especially Western European-and how they were put on display at the world's fairs and expositions around the globe-in Japan, Chicago, Hanoi, and Paris. The overarching questions that run throughout the course are: What is material culture? How does the "material turn" change the nature of humanistic inquiry and expand the horizons of Korean/cultural studies? How may attention to "things" transform our understanding of the past and present, ourselves, and of the material world that we inhabit today? Fulfills premodern elective for EALC major.

Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM; AS LCD; FA HUM; AR HUM; FA VC; BU Hum; BU IS

Topics in Early Modern Korea: Guns, Tobacco, and Sweet Potato: A History of Material Culture

KOREAN 3250

Section 01