[KS] Leiden intensive course for graduate students

[Walraven, B.C.A.]

There are still some places in the international intensive course for graduate students, which will also allow participants to hear the first speaker in the AKS-Leiden Colloquium, Professor Nancy Abelmann, and attend the History as Social Process workshop. For more details, please see the original announcement below.

Boudewijn Walraven
Professor of Korean Studies
Leiden University


INTENSIVE COURSE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS: HISTORY AS SOCIAL PROCESS
Leiden, October 19-24, 2009

Within the framework of the research project “History as Social Process: unconventional historiographies of Korea”, sponsored by the Academy of Korean Studies, the Korean Studies Department of Leiden University will organize a one-week intensive course for graduate students on the various ways representations of history are created, maintained or changed through novels, poetry, films, televison dramas, etc., which interact in complex patterns with the historiography of professional historians and public opinion. 
One part of the research project is an e-journal Korean Histories (www.koreanhistories.org). The general description of this journal may be useful to clarify the aims of the research project.
Korean Histories is a new on-line peer-reviewed journal that focuses on historiography as a social process in Korea. It is devoted to research that heavily relies on other sources than the conventional written historical sources and highlights the role these unconventional sources play in the formation of historical visions of groups, communities and both non-professional and professional historians. Socially constructed representations of Korean history reveal much about the contents, dynamics and functions of historical narratives in society, in particular when unconventional, easily accessible and non-hegemonic sources such as music, art, religious concepts, the internet, blogs, advertisements or literary texts are used. Korean Histories intends to be a platform for articles that engage these issues and use these and other sources across a range of subjects and time periods. In the realization of its aim to present and to enhance the understanding of both widely accepted and alternative perspectives on Korean history, Korean Histories covers a wide range of topics, approaches and periods, unified by the use of unconventional and informal sources and a continuously present awareness of the social functions of historiography.
 
The course will be taught by Professor Boudewijn Walraven and will involve active participation by the students, who will be asked to write a 1500-word discussion paper on an issue related to the topic of the course before they come to Leiden. The choice of the issues to be dealt with will be determined in consultation with the teacher of the course.
Participation in the course will also allow students to attend the First AKS-Leiden Colloquium, on 19 October and the first workshop of the research project on 23-24 October. Guest speaker at the Colloquium is Nancy Abelmann, who will talk on "The Labor of Love: Families Past and Post in South Korean Contemporary Film and Memoir." The workshop will bring together researchers from Korea, the US, Australia, Germany, France, and the Netherlands who will read papers related to the theme of the project and discuss the future course of the project. 
If so desired, ways will be sought to extend credits for participation in consultation with students’ home institutions.
Participation in the course is free, but limited to 16 students. For each student, a subvention of € 400 will be available to assist with expenses for travel and accommodation.
Interested graduate students are advised to apply as soon as possible, so that accommodation may be arranged, but the final deadline for application is October 1.  

For further information and to apply please write to Boudewijn Walraven: B.C.A.Walraven at hum.leidenuniv.nl.