University of California Press
The Koreas: The Birth of Two Nations Divided
Key Metrics
- Theodore Jun Yoo
- University of California Press
- Hardcover
- 9780520292338
- 8.5 X 5.8 X 1.4 inches
- 1.2 pounds
- History > Asia - Korea
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
What history, pop culture, and diaspora can teach us about North and South Korea today.
Korea is one of the last divided countries in the world. Twins born of the Cold War, one is vilified as an isolated, impoverished, time-warped state with an abysmal human rights record and a reclusive leader who perennially threatens global security with his clandestine nuclear weapons program. The other is lauded as a thriving democratic and capitalist state with the thirteenth largest economy in the world and a model for developing countries to emulate.
In The Koreas, Theodore Jun Yoo provides a compelling gateway to understanding the divergent developments of contemporary North and South Korea. In contrast to standard histories, Yoo examines the unique qualities of the Korean diaspora experience, challenging the master narratives of national culture, homogeneity, belongingness, and identity. This book draws from the latest research to present a decidedly demythologized history, with chapters focusing on feature stories that capture the key issues of the day as they affect popular culture and everyday life. The Koreas will be indispensable to any historian, armchair or otherwise, in need of a discerning and reliable guide to the region.
Author Bio
Theodore Jun Yoo is associate professor in the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. He taught as associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and was a member of the university's Center for Korean Studies.
He obtained his Ph.D from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations(EALC) at The University of Chicago. He developed the Korea Foundation-Social Science Research Council Dissertation Workship and Book Monograph Workshop with and for scholars in Korean Studies.
His research interests include modern Korean literature, Korean history, and contemporary Korean culture.
He is the author of The Politics of Gender in Colonial Korea: Education, Labor, and Health, 1910–1945 (2014) and It's Madness: The Politics of Mental Health in Colonial Korea (2016). He also contributed to Encounters Old and New in World History: Essays Inspired by Jerry H. Bentley (Perspectives on the Global Past) (2017). He is currently completing a book manuscript entitled The Two Koreas: Two Nations in the Modern World.
Source: Coursera
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