Marxism and Modernity in Colonial Korea



Spring 2011 Sunyoung Park

T 2:00-4:50 Office: TTH 378

VKC 161 Office Hours: 10-12:00 pm

Email: sunyounp@usc.edu

EALC 499

Special Topics:

Marxism and Culture in East Asia

Course Description: This course examines the cultural and intellectual history of Marxism in East Asia during the twentieth century. A constellation of doctrines known as “Marxism” has had a shaping influence not only on China, Vietnam, and North Korea, where Marxist thought survives today as a state ideology, but also on Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, where it has played a crucial role in postwar democratization movements. In this course, we will devote special attention to the cultural effects of these broad political influences. Our course mateirals will combine literary and cinematic works with theoretical and historical texts. Through their analysis, we will examine the many intersections of culture, politics, and ideology both comparatively and thematically, exploring issues such as nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, and fascism by using examples from multiple countries in East Asia. Among the questions to be raised by these examinations are: What traits of global Marxist discourses went lost in their application to the local realities of East Asia, and what traits were instead acquired in the process? How did Marxism interact with other powerful ideologies such as Confucianism, nationalism, liberalism, and fascism? To what extent did Marxism function as a modernizing discourse within the East Asian context, and to what extent did it rather offer a critique of modernity? Overall, discussion of these issues will give students a glimpse of the ramified influence of Marxism on the politics and culture of East Asia. This class will be primarily discussion-oriented with a supplementary lecture component.

Accommodation for Students with Disabilities:

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me or the TA as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism:

University policies concerning academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced, and students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with these policies. Plagiarism and/or cheating on exams is subject to the sanctions set forth in the Student Conduct Code and may include expulsion or suspension from the university. For a detailed description of plagiarism and other types of academic dishonesty and the sanctions pertaining thereto, the student is referred to “Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism” at .

Required Texts:

Kang Kyǒngae, The Wǒnso Lake, trans. Samuel Perry (Feminist Press, 2009)

Robert Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed. (Norton, 1979) [M]

Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature (Oxford University Press, 1977)

Trong Phung Vu, Dumb Luck (The University of Michigan Press, 2002)

Texts marked with [E] will be available online.

Requirements: regular attendance and active participation in class discussion (10%), bi-weekly response papers on the class bulletin board (40%), and one final research essay (15–20 pages; 50%).

1. Participation: Your active participation is essential for the success of a course of this kind. You are responsible for reading all assigned materials before coming to class, and you should make your best effort to contribute positively to class discussion. A typical class will start with a brief, 10 to 20 minutes presentation by two students—one raising critical questions about the day’s materials and the other commenting on them. Over the course of the semester each student will be expected to participate in at least two presentations.

2. Bi-weekly Response Papers: Starting from the 3rd week, students are required to post a bi-weekly response paper to the week’s reading on the course website by 9:00 pm on Mondays. A typical submission (2-3 pages) will offer your critical reflection on the weekly topic based on your readings. For critical texts, you are expected to outline the main theses with your own commentary. In the weeks of your presentation you may skip the posting assignments. Over the semester, you will be submitting 5 response papers in total.

3. Final Research Essay: In your final essay you are invited to engage in a substantial analysis of a socialist cultural text(s) of an East Asian origin(s). You are free to choose your own topic and text after consulting the instructor. Aside from the consultation, we will have two more pre-writing steps. First, each student will submit a one-page proposal that outlines the research topic, thesis, and materials for the instructor’s feedback. In addition, students will have the opportunity to briefly present their work in progress to the class during the week before submission.

■ Grading Scale for Essays

| |Criteria |

|A 100-90 % |creative, original analysis; well-organized, articulate writing; perfect or near-perfect documentation |

|B 89-80 |attentive, substantive analysis; organized, logical writing; good documentation |

|C 79-70 |Acceptable analysis, writing, and documentation with some flaws |

|D 69-60 |lack of analysis; poor writing; little or no documentation |

|F 59 |no assignment or plagiarism |

Schedule of Classes

Part I. Marxism and Socialist Theories of Culture

1/11 Week 1. Introduction

Introduction to the class and organizational meeting

Screening: Dziga Vertov, Three Songs about Lenin (1934), 59 min.

1/18 Week 2. No Class

1/25 Week 3. Reconsidering Marxism after the Cold War

Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Ideology: Towards a Radical

Democratic Politics, 1-6, 152-193 [E]

Immanuel Wallerstein, “Class Conflict in the Capitalist World-Economy,” in Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities, 115-124 [E]

Etienne Balibar, “From Class Struggle to Classless Struggle?” in ibid., 153-184 [E]

2/1 Week 4. Reading Marx: Philosophical and Political Writings

Karl Marx, The German Ideology, 146-200 [M]

Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, 66-125 [M]

“Manifesto of the Communist Party” 469-491 [M]

2/8 Week 5. Marxist Theories of Culture

Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature, 11-141

Georg Lukács, “Realism in Balance,” in Ronald Taylor trans. and ed Aesthetics and Politics, 28-59

Theodor Adorno, “Reconciliation under Duress,” in ibid., 151-176

Part II. The Proletarian Cultural Movement (1917–1945)

2/15 Week 6. Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union

Katerina Clark, The Soviet Novel, 3-90 [E]

Screening: Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potempkin (1925), 75 min.

2/22 Week 7. Imperialism and the Proletarian Cultural Movement in East Asia

V. I. Lenin, excerpt from Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, 85-98 [E]

Heather Bowen Struyk, “Proletarian Arts in East Asia,” Japan Focus (April 2007) [E]

Hayama Yoshiki, “The Prostitute” (1925), 143-156 [E]

Mao Dun, “The Spring Silkworms” (1932), 70-89 [E]

3/1 Week 8. A Fellow-Traveler in Colonial Vietnam

Trong Phung Vu, Dumb Luck

Nguyen Marshall Van, “Representing Poverty, Gender, and Nation in Vietnamese Literature,”

97-118 [E]

3/8 Week 9. Socialist Women’s Writings

Kang Kyǒngae, The Wǒnso Pond (1936)

Tani Barlow, “Women and Colonial Modernity in Early Thoughts of Ding Ling,” 127-189 [E]

3/15 Week 10. Spring Recess

3/22 Week 11. Leftist Intellectuals under Fascism

Yang Kui, “Mother Goose Gets Married,” 33-53 [E]

Bert Scruggs, “Narratives of Discomfort and Ideology: Yang Kui’s Short Fiction and Postcolonial Taiwan Orthodox Boundaries,” 427-448 [E]

Kim Namch’ŏn, “Barley,” 195-234 [E]

Sunyoung Park, “Everyday Life as Critique: Kim Namch’ŏn’s Literary Experiments 1934–1941,” 861-893 [E]

Screening: An Sokyong, Volunteer Solider (1941), 56 min.

Part III. Leftist Cultures during the Cold War (1945–1991)

3/29 Week 12. Leftist Cultural Activism in Postwar Japan

J. Victor Koschmann, “Intellectuals and Politics,”in Postwar Japan as History, 395–423

Sata Ineko, “White and Purple,” trans. Samuel Perry, 1-30

Screening: Oshima Nagisa, Death by Hanging (1968), 117 min.

4/6 Individual conferece to discuss the final paper topic

4/11 Final paper proposal due

4/5 Week 13. The Chinese Cultural Revolution

Mao Tsetung, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung (China Books, 1990)

Arif Dirlik, “The Politics of the Cultural Revolution in Historical Perspective,” 158-183

Screening: Xie Jin, The Red Detachment of Women (1961), 92 min.

Final paper proposal returned

4/12 Week 14. The North Korean Culture of Chuch’e Ideology

Charles Armstrong, “The Nature, Origins, and Development of the North Korean State,” 39-64

Kim Pukhyang, “The Son,” 186-213

Han Ungbin, “Second Encounter,” 1-16

4/19 Week 15. The South Korean Minjung Cultural Movement & Student Presentations

Jang Jip Choi, “Political Cleavages in South Korea,” 13-50

Cho Chŏngrae, “Land of Exile,” 200–243

Screening: Park Kwangsu, Ch’ilsu wa Mansu (1988), 109 min.

4/26 Week 16. Student Presentations

Final Paper Due on 5/6 (Fri.): E-submission on Blackboard

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