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Thomas
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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 Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:29 am Post subject: Korea Overseas Information Service Books |
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The KOIS has a lot of books and materials available for more information on Korea. Here's a review of one of them:
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ISBN: 8973753029
Title: Korea: Its History and Culture
ed.by Korean Overseas Information Service
(Text and Maps by Chris Wright, Ph.D)
( Seoul : Korean Overseas Information Service) , 1996. 137 pp. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
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Contents:
(Part 1)
History
The emergence of a nation from pre-history to 668
The nation:its community and identity from 668 to mid-17th century
Movements for change:mid-17th century to 1864
Korea and the international stage:1864-1910
Japanese colonization:1910-1945
Division and the establishment of the republic of korea:1945-present |
Part 1 covers about 90 pages of the book and are well arranged by topic and time period. Each section contains a brief (and well edited) summary of the key historical points. An effort is made to tie in religious/philosophical influences, foreign influences, and key events� influences into the narrative for a bit �deeper� exploration of each topic. The text is fairly non-biased and doesn�t shy away from negative representations of Korea. Overall, for a book available from the Korea Overseas Information Service (free) or secondary sources (cheap), this is a real good general guideline of Korean history which covers the very beginnings to the 1990s in a general, non-biased way. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a general survey of Korean history.
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(Part 2)
Culture
Philosophy and religion
Language and literature
Fine art
Performing arts
Crafts |
The remaining 50 pages or so spotlight some key Korean cultural developments and their impact on Korea in general. The focus is mainly on ancient remains but these are contrasted with contemporary examples as well. The depth of this section is much less than the preceding section is more akin to a travel book description than a history text. Regardless, it does supplement the �history� part well and is lavishly illustrated.
Links:
http://library.mogef.go.kr/volcanoi/global/docs/s_detail.html?mastid=2112&p_hanja_display=0
KOIS: see http://www.korea.net/korea/korea.asp
Available: see http://www.amazon.com/KOREA-ITS-HISTORY-AND-CULTURE/dp/8973753029/sr=11-1/qid=1164642714/ref=sr_11_1/102-0058470-1917773 |
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Thomas
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:52 am Post subject: More resources for a greater depth of Cultural study |
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Nice DVD set produced by the Korea Foundation
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| Recently, the media support activities have resulted in the production of several informational DVDs, like Korean Arts & Lifestyle (I-IV), a documentary series on Korea's traditional as well as contemporary culture. Korean Arts & Lifestyle was originally produced in English by Arirang TV, under the Foundation's sponsorship. The four volumes have been broadcast twice, in late 2005 and early 2006, on Arirang's global-satellite network to audiences around the world. The programming has been well received for its educational and entertaining information on Korean culture. To expand its viewership, the content has been dubbed/subtitled in six languages, including Chinese, Spanish, French and Arabic. |
I have the set of I to III and they are all very well put together with a high production quality, excellent editing, and really good content in general.
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Korean Arts & Lifestyle
The Dynamic Culture of Contemporary Korea (Volume 1) introduces various aspects of Korea's contemporary culture. It reveals the dynamism of Korean culture with scenes of samulnori, a form of traditional percussion music, Nanta, a high-energy non-verbal stage performance, and the frenzied "street cheering" during the 2002 World Cup. There are also highlights of the hallyu (Korean wave) phenomenon, which has led to the spread of Korean pop culture throughout Asia and beyond. |
This is my least favorite from an educational point of view. The material is very �current� and spotlights recent movies, art work, and such. As things change so quickly, it�s not really relevant beyond a certain point of time and gets outdated quickly (already is)
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| The Clothes, Foods and Houses of Korea (Volume 2) is a general overview of the Korean ways of living. This includes a description of a traditional Korean house, hanok, and its noteworthy characteristics: ondol, underfloor heating system, maru, traditional wooden floor, and jeongwon, a Korean-style garden. In addition, it explains about the dietary practices of Koreans, like kimchi and soy-bean uses. |
This DVD is excellent. It uses real places and graphics to show how the Korean heating system works, the various elements of Hanbok from underclothes to outer clothes and quite a good overview of Korean food. It goes into a great deal of depth on topics that Korean love to talk about� and you can probably pick up some details and trivia that most Koreans don�t even know.
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| The Life of Koreans (Volume 3) provides information about the world of Korea's traditional customs and rituals, including, dol, a first-year birthday celebration, as well as practices related to the rite of passage, wedding, funeral, and memorial services in Korea. |
This was a nice eye-opener of how Korean traditions and rites tie in the culture from birth to death (and beyond). This is a great and easy way to get a ton of background information on rituals and Korean culture underpins society. Most of this stuff is rarely covered in regular Korean resources. I highly recommend this for students learning about Korea, for foreigners living in Korea and especially for people marrying into Korean culture.
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The Beauty of Traditional Korean Arts (Volume 4) explores various genres of traditional Korean art, including traditional fine arts, such as calligraphy, pottery, and landscape painting; traditional music forms like pansori and minyo, and musical instruments gayagum and geomungo; and Korean dance, such as salpuri (exorcist) and buchaechum (fan dance).
http://www.kofo.or.kr/newsletter/english/contents.asp?vol=65&sec=77&lang=English&no=715 |
I don�t have this one but it looks promising.
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The book listed below was produced by the Korea Overseas Cultural and Information Service as well (like the book in the first review)
A Guide to Korean Cultural Heritage, Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service (Seoul, Korea:2001) ISBN � 89-7375-376-3
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This is a combined edition of two volumes of "Korean Heritage" [ISBN 1-56591-077-X (vol. I) and 1-56591-078-8 (vol. II)].
Each volume of Korean Heritage I & II is a compilation of 20 items from every corner of Korean life.
� $29.95
� 382 pp.
� ISBN: 1565912136 (new ISBN)
� LC# N/A
� Softcover
� 14x20cm.
http://www.hollym.com/details.asp?ID=37EA46C2-2F2B-4E82-93AE-4488FEB777CF |
This book is quite a solid handbook covering all sorts of Korean Cultural things, most of which is done with a great deal of depth and with lavish illustrations. The obligatory sections on Kimchi, Bulgogi, Mask Dances, Hangeul, Ginseng, Musical instruments, Mountains, and Pottery are well done and contain a few more details than normal.
Additional sections on stuff like Decorative Building Colorings, Personal Ornamnets, Embroidery,Paper crafts, Wrapping cloths, Garden, Sesi Customs, Ssirreum, Shamanism and Rites of Passage are excellently done and provide insight on topics that may not normally come up. Could be great for a better depth of knowledge , for conversation or as topics to use in Adult ESL classes. Overall, a really nice source of information.
The only negative I have about this book is the section on Taekwondo. It follows the �5,000 year old Taekkyeon becomes Taekwondo � myth and skips over the more �historical� version (see Dakin Burd ick�s excellent article http://www.goviamedia.com/Korea-DB.pdf?PHPSESSID=640e1513cf2fc6c6c3121b651d136788)
As a companion to the DVD set above or just as a handy book for a bit more depth of knowledge on Korea, I highly recommend it. |
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