Korean studies
Encyclopedia
Korean studies is an academic discipline, focusing on the study of Korea
. Areas commonly included under this rubric include Korean history
, Korean literature
, Korean art
, Korean music
, Korean language
, Korean sociology, Korean political science, Korean economics, Korean folklore, and Korean ethnomusicology
. It may be compared to other area studies
disciplines, such as American studies
and Canadian Studies
. Korean studies is sometimes included within a broader regional area of focus including: "East Asian studies
", "Far East Studies", "Oriental Studies", or "Asian studies
."
The term first began to be used in the 1940s, but did not attain widespread currency until South Korea
rose to economic prominence in the 1970s. In 1991, the South Korean government established the Korea Foundation
to promote Korean studies around the world.
, William E. Skillend
and Richard Rutt. A subcategory of Koreanologists is Historians of Korea, including Bruce Cumings
, James Palais
, Roger Tennant
and others.
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. Areas commonly included under this rubric include Korean history
History of Korea
The Korean Peninsula was inhabited from the Lower Paleolithic about 400,000-500,000 years ago. Archeological evidence indicates that the presence of modern humans in northeast Asia dates to 39,000 years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began...
, Korean literature
Korean literature
Korean literature is the body of literature produced in Korea or by Korean writers. For much of its 3,000 years of literature history, it was written both in Hanja and in Korean, first using the transcription systems idu and gugyeol, and finally using the Korean script Hangul. It is commonly...
, Korean art
Korean art
Korean art is art originating or practiced in Korea or by Korean artists, from ancient times to today. Korea is noted for its artistic traditions in pottery, music, calligraphy, and other genres, often marked by the use of bold color, natural forms, and surface decoration.-Introduction:The earliest...
, Korean music
Korean music
Traditional Korean music includes both the folk, vocal, religious and ritual music styles of the Korean people. Korean music, along with arts, painting, and sculpture has been practiced since prehistoric times....
, Korean language
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, Korean sociology, Korean political science, Korean economics, Korean folklore, and Korean ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
. It may be compared to other area studies
Area studies
Area studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing...
disciplines, such as American studies
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
and Canadian Studies
Canadian Studies
Canadian Studies is a Collegiate study of Canadian culture, Canadian languages, literature, Quebec, agriculture, history, and their government and politics. Most universities recommend that students take a double major and French, if not included in the course...
. Korean studies is sometimes included within a broader regional area of focus including: "East Asian studies
East Asian studies
East Asian Studies is a distinct multidisciplinary field of scholarly enquiry and education that promotes a broad humanistic understanding of East Asia past and present...
", "Far East Studies", "Oriental Studies", or "Asian studies
Asian studies
Asian studies, a term used usually in the United States for Oriental studies and is concerned with the Asian peoples, their cultures, languages, history and politics...
."
The term first began to be used in the 1940s, but did not attain widespread currency until South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
rose to economic prominence in the 1970s. In 1991, the South Korean government established the Korea Foundation
Korea Foundation
The Korea Foundation was established in 1991 by the South Korean National Assembly with the aim to enhance the image of Korea in the world and also to promote academic and cultural exchange programs. It is an independent organization affiliated with the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
to promote Korean studies around the world.
- The Academy of Korean StudiesAcademy of Korean StudiesAcademy of Korean Studies is a South Korean research and educational institute with the purpose of establishing profound research on Korean culture. It was established on June 22, 1978 by Ministry of Education & Science Technology of South Korea...
(한국학중앙연구원, AKS) est.1978 - The Korea Research FoundationKorea Research FoundationThe Korea Research Foundation is a grant organization supported by the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It provides support for research into new theories for the advancement of science, the arts, and the Korean culture in general. It also supports overseas research into Korean...
(한국학술진흥재단, KRF) est.1981 - The Korea FoundationKorea FoundationThe Korea Foundation was established in 1991 by the South Korean National Assembly with the aim to enhance the image of Korea in the world and also to promote academic and cultural exchange programs. It is an independent organization affiliated with the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
(한국국제교류재단) est.1991.
Notable foreign centers of Korean studies
A-Z order- University of British ColumbiaUniversity of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
- Centre for Korean Studies - University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
— Center for Korean Studies - University of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, Los AngelesThe University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
— Center for Korean Studies - University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
— Center for East Asian Studies - Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
— Weatherhead East Asian Institute - Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
— Korea Institute - University of HawaiiUniversity of HawaiiThe University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
— Center for Korean Studies - Indiana UniversityIndiana UniversityIndiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
- East Asian Studies Center - Indiana University BloomingtonIndiana University BloomingtonIndiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
- Center for Korean Studies - University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
- Korea Research Hub, UK, Leeds - University of London School of Oriental and African Studies — Centre of Korean Studies
- University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
— Nam Center for Korean Studies - University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
— Center for East Asian Studies - University of SheffieldUniversity of SheffieldThe University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
— School of East Asian Studies - University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
- Korea Studies Program, East Asia Studies, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies - Ohio State UniversityOhio State UniversityThe Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
- Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
— East Rock Institute
Academic Journals
- Journal of Korean StudiesJournal of Korean StudiesThe Journal of Korean Studies is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Korean studies. It was established in 1969. The original series had two issues numbered Volume 1 and 2 that were edited by David Messler...
(JKS) University of Washington, Seattle. - Korean StudiesKorean Studies (journal)Korean Studies is an international, academic journal that seeks to further scholarship on Korea and Koreans abroad by providing a forum for interdisciplinary and multicultural articles, book reviews, and essays in the humanities and social sciences...
(KS) University of Hawaii. - Korea JournalKorea JournalThe Korea Journal is a peer-reviewed, English language academic journal focusing on Korean Studies. It was founded in 1961 and is currently published quarterly. It is indexed in Institute for Scientific Information : Arts and Humanities Citation Index and Current Contents: Arts & Humanities...
Seoul, publisher Samuel Lee.
Associations for Korean Studies overseas
Koreanologists
The term Koreanologists indicates (typically foreign) academic scholars of Korean language and culture. Koreanists usually indicates a speaker or translator of Korean. Notable Koreanologists include James Scarth GaleJames Scarth Gale
James S. Gale was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary, educator and Bible translator in Korea.-Life:James Scarth Gale was born 31 January 1863 in Alma, Ontario, Canada. He married twice:...
, William E. Skillend
William E. Skillend
William E. Skillend was the first British academic specializing in the Korean language, and the first professor of Korean at SOAS....
and Richard Rutt. A subcategory of Koreanologists is Historians of Korea, including Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and the chairperson of the history department...
, James Palais
James Palais
James B. Palais was an American academic, author and scholar of Korean history. He was Professor of Korean History at the University of Washington; and he was a key figure in establishing Korean Studies in the United States....
, Roger Tennant
Roger Tennant
Father Charles Roger Tennant was an Anglican Priest, biographer of Joseph Conrad, and historian of Korea....
and others.
External links
- The Korea Foundation, Seoul 한국국제교류재단
- krf.or.kr, The Korea Research FoundationKorea Research FoundationThe Korea Research Foundation is a grant organization supported by the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It provides support for research into new theories for the advancement of science, the arts, and the Korean culture in general. It also supports overseas research into Korean...
한국학술진흥재단 - Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul and Korean Studies Net. 한국학중앙연구원
- Online database of Korean Studies specialists
- Yuldo.net: A Korean Studies Site