Week 06: Joseon science and hangeul

Time estimate: 15mins – 30 mins (depending on the number of items in your Reading Journal)

Submit a blog post that is a 5-15 report. Your “Reading Journal” comprises the texts you read for Wednesday’s class, and anything you may already have read in addition, e.g. for your Pressbooks Chapter project.

Remember to also add any tasks that are on your to-do list (not those scheduled for the whole class, but for you individually, e.g. sorting out a blog-related issue), and any open questions or issues you want to flag up for follow-up with me. These weekly reports are extremely useful for me to get an insight in how you’re working, what you make of the course and the materials, and how I can best support your learning and adjust the course.

TIP: for anything you’re not comfortable putting in a blog where others can read it, you can just drop me a message on discord OR post anonymously on the Padlet!

Please prepare before class! Time estimate: 2-3 hours to prepare, 75 mins meeting

For today’s session we focus on the scientific achievements under the reign of King Sejong (r. 1418-1450). A lot of Korean history is invasions, war, hardship, etc and we will see plenty of that in the coming weeks, so I thought it is worth to look more closely at one of the most amazing things that happened in the fifteenth century: the invention of the Korean script, now known as Hangeul (Hangŭl). There were other inventions too in the realms of agriculture, astronomy, meteorology (rain gauges and wind observations!) and more.

• Chŏn Sang-un, Sung Kyu Lee, and Robert Carrubba. A History of Korean Science and Technology. Singapore: NUS Press, 2011.
  • PDF (20 pages, illustrations included)
  • Reading tips:
  • 1) create a list of the inventions/discoveries from king Sejong’s reign (1418-1450), because it’s credited as a golden age for Korean science. Let’s check if it deserves that reputation!
  • 2) Which inventions across the assigned section (regardless of time period) stand out to you, and why? Be ready to share.
  • 3) If you are interested in these inventions, you can find out more in detail from this book in the later chapters. It is available in Trexler Library as an ebook.
• Primary source: King Sejong, “Preface to Hunmin chŏngŭm“, and Ch’oe Malli, “Opposition to the Korean Alphabet.” In Sourcebook of Korean Civilization: Vol. 1, from Early Times to the Sixteenth Century. Edited and translated by Peter H. Lee. Columbia Univ. Press, 1993.
  • PDF
  • Reading tips: What does the king hope to achieve according to the Hunmin jeongeum (Hunmin chŏngŭm)? And what are the main objections Ch’oe Malli raises? What do Ch’oe’s objections tell us about scholar-officials view on Joseon’s (Chosŏn) relationship with Ming China, with tradition, and on social class in Chosŏn?
  • Remember you can use “How to read a text” to start your analysis of a primary source; you may have to do a bit of additional resesarch to find answers.
• Background/optional extra: [i.e.: only read if you have time and want to dig deeper]
  • Textbook: Seth, Michael J. A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. 3rd ed. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
  • (Or the alternate version: A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present)
  • Chapter 6: historical background from start of chapter, stop at “Japanese and Manchu invasions” (20 pages)
  • Chapter 7: sections “Arts, Literature, and Science” and “Technology and Inventions” (5 pages)
  • Reading tips: Can you identify conditions that contributed to a climate supporting scientific discoveries under King Sejong?

Time estimate: 30-45mins (a generous estimate I think)

Below you find links to four blog posts from your fellow students. If one of the websites is your own, or it is twice the same person’s, refresh the page, and you should get new sites. [UPdated links coming on Tuesday.]

• Post 1:
• Post 2:
• Post 3:
• Post 4:

Leave feedback, questions, thoughts, insights about the contents of the posts of your fellow students, using Hypothes.is group HST259. You can ask for clarifications, point out similarities and differences with the material you covered, or with your interpretation. This should encourage you to nose around in the other materials you did not read in the first round.

Use the “Architect’s Model” of giving feedback, and engage with concrete issues. Go beyond “Yeah, I agree,” “I like” or “I think the same”, and instead explain why you have that reaction, or if you disagree, you can try to persuade the original poster of your idea or interpretation.

Remember that Hypothes.is allows for hyperlinks, e.g. to materials that support your argument, or you can include pictures (memes! [yes, there she is again]), videos etc. that help the original poster to learn more.

TIP: It’s all random, and it’s all good, so if you return to this page after commenting, you will see four different posts. As long as your comments are on four different posts in total, you’re fine! OR you can right-click and ask your browser to open the link in a new tab/window.

Estimated time: 1 hr

To ensure you have picked a viable topic, we need to check if you can find good quality sources (primary and secondary) to work with. This will allow us to adjust course if necessary, to expand the topic or redirect your energies and toward a successful chapter.

• Add a folder to our Zotero group library with the topic of your project, e.g. “Silla”, “Park dictatorship”, or “Goryeo Buddhism”.
• Add at least 3 sources (articles, chapters from books, books, or websites) you think you will use in your project.
  • You may use material we already saw in class, but you will need to add more. Trexler Library catalog and Google Scholar are two good starting points.
  • TIP: Remember the journal trawling exercise in Week 2/the library resources page? Once you have identified key search terms, you can use those same journals and search for more articles.
• In the “Notes” tab in the Zotero app, create a note for each item: indicate what the source is about, what you perceive as its strengths, and who might want to use it, or why it is not useful for your project. (Even if an item is not useful, it’s good to have it in our library with a note so we know we don’t need to bother with it any further.)

Time estimate: 1-2 hrs (to gather evidence, to reflect, and to write)

WHAT: a 500-800 word reflection, submitted as either a blog post, a Google Doc or a rtf doc (no MS Word files, please, my computer doesn’t do Word)

More details: We are now six weeks into the semester, and I would like you to take the time to reflect on your learning in this course so far. Write a 500-800 word piece, using some the following questions as a jumping off point for considering where you’ve been, what you’ve learned, and maybe even where you’d like to go. Engage with the themes of two of the bullet points below, and use these to craft a coherent piece that shows me how you’re taking this course as a way to hone your research and writing skills. Illustrate with concrete examples: show, don’t just tell!

• How have you engaged with the course materials? What would you like to improve in your preparation and participation (which includes writing the posts, as well as the “regular” coming to class, participating in the sessions by chat or voice/video? What are you doing well?
• What have you learned in this course so far, in contents and/or in historical skills? What are some of the threads or overarching topics you are identifying? What in your work so far makes you say: “yes, I am thinking like a historian”? Have you applied any of these skills in other courses?
• How would you evaluate your “thoughtful participation in the Learning Commons” so far? What have you done that fits with the syllabus description of that component, and how can you see yourself expanding that category and/or your participation in future weeks?
• What have you learned in this course that you have not yet been able to/ cannot share in an assignment?

WHY: These reflections help me understand how you learn, and how I can best support your learning. I also hope you use this as a moment to think about your goals for the course, and, if necessary how you can push the reset button on your engagement with the course, and commit anew to your goals for this course.

You will develop your metacognitive skills (knowing what you know) throughout this semester and the next with more of these reflections. This is a very valued skill for future employers and will also serve you well in a more independent career path, by the way.

HOW: Write as a blog post in category hst259, or email me a Google doc or rtf doc.

Submit a blog post that is a 5-15 report. Your “Reading Journal” comprises the texts you read for Wednesday’s class, and anything you may already have read in addition, e.g. for your Pressbooks Chapter project.

Details to follow soon! Ettinger – face masks!