#  Korean History 119. Governing Bodies in Twentieth-Century Korea 

 



Sort    [   ![a poster depicting korea-themed spoke and hub networks superimposed on an aerial view of Seoul](/sites/g/files/omnuum3106/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/ealc/files/kh119.png?itok=hFGsCw1n) 

 ](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-222830/2023/fall/25504) 

    ![Youngeun Koo](/sites/g/files/omnuum3106/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/ealc/files/koo_youngeun_photo.jpg?itok=c5coqDHD) 

 

  
[Dr. Youngeun Koo](/people/youngeun-koo) This course aims to examine the history of modern Korea through the lens of families, women, and children, highlighting how their bodies constituted crucial sites of politics across the colonial, postcolonial, and neo-liberal eras. What does it mean to read Korea’s modern transitions through people’s “bodies”? How is it different from the familiar narrative of political formations that came into being in (the southern half of) the Korean peninsula such as the loss of sovereignty under Japanese rule; liberation and US occupation; the succession of authoritarian regimes; and the democratic transition? This approach steers us away from treating the state as the singular monolithic source of power and from an excessive focus on its institutional development. Instead, it directs our focus to the “art of governing,” encompassing questions of who governs, who is governed, and how.

 

    By delving into topics ranging from comfort women and mixed-race children to K-pop idols, we come to understand the pivotal role of women and children’s bodies in shaping and reshaping modern government in twentieth-century Korea. The emphasis on the “how” of governing also enables us to recognize that diverse non-state and transnational actors like missionaries, humanitarians, health workers, and social workers acted as key agents of government; they contributed to defining, standardizing, and institutionalizing the population using diverse old and new technologies, from family registry to international adoption and plastic surgery. In addition, this course explores how those subject to governing responded: from their maneuvering within the system to more direct forms of resistance. Through an exploration of governing practices and processes, this course will unveil the intricacies of political memberships in modern Korea, entangled along the intersecting lines of gender, race, class, disability, and sexuality.

 [Course website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-222830/2023/fall/25504)