Heaven・Earth・People in Korean Arts and Letters

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the histories, methodologies, and practices foundational to Korean visual, literary, oral, and performing traditions. Its central concern is how historical overlaps, ruptures, and interactions among diverse media and various cultural origins have shaped Korean artistic and cultural production-and contributed to its contemporary global visibility. The first half surveys Korean history, writing systems, and philosophical thought from ancient to modern periods, organized around the thematic framework of "heaven (ch'ŏn; hanŭl), earth (chi; ttang), and people (in; saram)." This triad has underpinned the Korean vernacular script (han'gŭl), indigenous belief systems, and artistic practices from antiquity to the present. The second half turns to intertwined studies of visual and literary sources ranging from the late Chosŏn period (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) through the pre-digital contemporary era-the era in which Korea was richly and irrevocably exposed to the world outside. Designed for undergraduate and graduate students with limited or no prior exposure to Korea who wish to incorporate Korean materials into their studies or deepen their understanding of Korean culture, the course requires no prior knowledge of Korea or the Korean language.