Week 07: The Imjin War

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 check your calendars and book an appointment with me using the appointment slots (“mid-term check-in”) for this week or next week (click this link to pick a slot). Book your appointment now, and change slots if your schedule changes. That’s better than last minute panic because our schedules don’t align. Meetings will be on Discord, I’ll create a Channel for you so we can chat in private and will share more details when I have figured it all out.

Even if you don’t need a mid-term grade, it’s good to see where we are at the middle of the semester and how you can make the second half count. Things we will discuss: what are you doing well? how are you working towards your goals/objectives for this course? how can we work better together to get you towards those goals in the second half of the semester? what have you learned so far you have not yet been able to demonstrate in an assignment? And the big question: how do you assess your work towards the chapter contribution so far?

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

• Abdellatif, Bahaa. “The Imjin War – With a Focus on the First Invasion.” In Korean History. Edited by T. D’Haeseleer, Muhlenberg College, 2022, https://open.muhlenberg.pub/koreanhistory/chapter/imjin-war-invasion1/.
  • This chapter gives a good overview of the main events.
• Li, Cundao. “Naming the Imjin War.” In Korean History. Edited by T. D’Haeseleer, Muhlenberg College, 2022, https://open.muhlenberg.pub/koreanhistory/chapter/naming-the-imjin-war/.
  • It turns out that there are substantial differences behind the different names in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean for this war.
• Primary source:  “1. Encounters with the Adversity of War.” In A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600: The Writings of Kang Hang. Translated by JaHyun Kim Haboush and Kenneth R. Robinson, 1-22. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.
  • ebook Trexler (Chapter 1 only!)
  • This translation documents a personal account of a Joseon (Chosŏn) official who was taken prisoner and brought to Japan. He does survive and returns to Korea. Questions to focus on: how can we use this document as a primary source? Kang, the writer, obviously wrote from the Korean perspective. What kind of information can we reliable use from this document? Which sections should we treat with more caution? Mark examples in your notes, and bring to class for discussion.

• Optional extras: [If you have time and find these interesting]
  • Textbook Seth, Michael J. A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. 3rd ed. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. Chapter 6: sections “Military and Foreign Affairs” and “The Japanese and Manchu Invasions”
  • Youtube videos (by request): it turns out to take a lot of time to find good ones! Two examples of “if only the good bits of these could be merged”. If you have other suggestions, please share in the Discord text channel!
    • The Dragon Historian: “The Japanese Invasion of Korea (1592): Every day“
      • The music is a bit … much? but the data visualization is helpful
    • Jabzy: “Three Minute History: The Imjin War“
      • Turns out you have to talk really fast to get it all in under 3 minutes and the automated captions aren’t very good with East Asian terms! Blink and you miss a key point if you don’t already know what’s supposed to happen.

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.

Bring to class what you have for your project so far:

• notes
• bibliographies/reading lists
• outlines, diagrams, summaries
• etc.

You’ll work on your project with your peers on hand for instant feedback and sharing ideas.

Based on the feedback you have been receiving, and your foray into available primary and secondary sources, you can now refine your topic for your final chapter a bit more. Use your initial pitch as the starting point and compare:

• Did you need to narrow or broaden the scope of your topic?
• What additional sources have led you to your revised topic?
• How does your topic contribute to/fill a gap in our current existing textbook?
• Where appropriate: have you connected with/how do you plan to collaborate with or prevent duplication of efforts from a student with a similar interest?

In short: assure me (the editor) that you’ve found a topic that needs to be covered and that you have good reason to assume you have enough sources to start writing soon.

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.

Write a 300 word abstract of your chapter, including the following:

• Working title
• Perspective/method you intend to use (e.g.primary sources, overview of secondary sources and historiography debate, analysis of literature, archaeology reports)
• Main research hypothesis or question you want to see answered and suggested answer
• Summary of what you intend to cover
• Main topic and 5 keywords